By Maciej Zalewski and Tomasz Damulewicz (Białostocki Teatr Lalek)
As a pedagogical framework for the GPS spectacle produced at BTL as part of ConnectUp, we decided to offer our viewers a multimedia game – a historical guide based on the pre-war city plan of Białystok.
The complicated fate of post-war Poland, the politics effectively conducted for decades, have made the contemporary resident of Białystok completely unaware that eighty years ago the streets of our city echoed with languages from many corners of the earth. Not much from before the war has survived. Fragments of architecture, fragments of the pre-war street grid, everything was destroyed. There are no more Jews in Białystok, there are no Jewish schools, theatres or shops. Only fragments and graves remain underfoot (the title GPS – is an abbreviation of the Polish phrase “graves under feet”).
The multimedia performance walk we are creating is a combination of a historical tourist guide and a city game. Participants will be tasked with following a designated route and completing tasks at designated points. The route runs between the most important remnants of Jewish culture in our city and places mentioned in GPS’ spectacle – it gives you the opportunity to imagine how different pre-war Białystok was from the contemporary city of the same name – how much was destroyed and wasted. The tasks at the points are related to the content of GPS – in this way we want to combine and expand the experience of the theatre with a playful approach to learning. This is our goal – to restore the memory of places and people. (Like the only remaining evidence of the old Jewish synagogue in this picture).
Developing the GPS project took place in several stages. The first step was to learn about the history of the city and the Jews of Białystok. We began our research by learning about the city plan from before World War II. As a result of warfare and post-war reconstruction the city plan has completely lost its former character. The next step was to collect literature on pre-war history, and the recording of historian Andrzej Lechowski turned out to be invaluable. The next stage was to develop a survey. The goal of the survey was to examine the level of knowledge of Białystok residents about the history of Jews in our city. We sent the survey to pupils at several secondary schools with which BTL regularly cooperates. Later we organised a discussion panel in one school, during which we discussed the survey’s results with the youth, and the ideas we had collected so far regarding the scenario of GPS.
We also listened to many interesting stories that our youth had heard from their grandparents in their family homes. We also invited our young partners to visit BTL. They looked at the process of designing and producing scenographic elements and went into the recording studio to listen to the soundtracks developed for GPS.
Pupils from schools that regularly cooperate with BTL will also be the group on which we will test the Site-Specific Performance Walk that is currently being developed. Its’ premiere is scheduled for September 2024.
