Maryla

Can we turn a blind eye to the violation of democracy, freedom of speech, and human rights in the name of sport and the Olympic ideal? Are we powerless as individuals against the reality surrounding us - or do we simply choose to remain powerless? Can a single solitary gesture become the spark of greater change?

This inquiry is prompted by the story of Maria Kwaśniewska, a javelin thrower who won a bronze medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Her gesture with lowered arms, her posture of defiance without submission - reportedly impressed Hitler. The photograph she despised became her personal wartime passport, a pass to saving lives.

The play explores the mechanism of propaganda: how the German fascist state exploited the Olympic ideal to construct an illusion of a just system. Before the eyes of athletes, officials, and committees from around the world, Hitler's circus and theatre took shape. Did the Berlin Olympics serve as a warning? No - because we have encountered this mechanism repeatedly since: Berlin, Munich, Moscow, Beijing, Sochi, Qatar, Montreal, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Korea, Brazil, Paris...