Marcin Wierzchowski’s play, produced by the Ludowy Theatre in Kraków and presented as part of a special Divine Comedy Festival section showcasing the local theater scene, is inspired by Andrew Jarecki’s documentary Capturing the Friedmans. An award winner at Sundance, the biggest independent film festival in the world, the movie tells the story of a well-to-do Jewish family whose life is turned upside down when the father and youngest son are accused of pedophilia. The director allows the audience to move around the theatre, significantly reducing the distance between them and the actors, as he explores the mechanisms of a modern-day witch-hunt. The search for a new theatrical model is paired with bold social and cultural observations on the perpetual need to find a scapegoat. Wierzchowski suggests that nothing is black and white and the devil is in the proverbial details.
