Goła Baba - a monodrama by Joanna Szczepkowska

"Goła Baba" is a monodrama - or rather a "monocomedy" - written and performed by Joanna Szczepkowska since 1997 on stages across Poland and in many other countries.

The actress embodies two completely different women competing with each other as artists. The first is an idealist practising "untainted" art: her concert of playing silence demands a special state of mind from the audience. The second embodies vulgarity and shamelessness: primitive jokes and a hurried striptease.

Both characters engage with the audience, who cannot remain passive - the performance unfolds here and now, and the spectators become its essential participants. An unexpected twist leaves the viewer with a question: is what made them laugh not also a human tragedy.