“It is late afternoon at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn. The windows of the interior open onto a fantastical garden, resembling more a tropical jungle or a prehistoric forest from the era of giant ferns, when living creatures still had fins instead of legs and scales instead of skin. The jungle is dominated by vivid colors, especially now as it steams after the rain. Huge flowers on the trees look like organs torn from a body, glistening with fresh, uncoagulated blood. From the garden come unpleasant cries, hisses, rustles, and cracks, as if it were inhabited by beasts, snakes, and birds – all wild and dangerous.”

This is how the opening stage directions of Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams begin. In one of his lesser-known texts, the American theatre classic constructs an artificial space where psychological conflicts and human desires gather a force capable of turning reality upside down and redefining the fundamental rules of human relationships.

Based on a new translation by Jacek Poniedziałek, Michał Borczuch’s production brings together portraits of three women and three men, who—during a single afternoon in an eccentric residence—begin to unravel the mysterious death of the poet Sebastian Venable. In this family confrontation over an inheritance, characters clash in a battle not only for money but also for desire, utter despair, and survival. Emerging from the mist is the wounded and hypersensitive Mrs. Venable, who meets the long-absent Catherine, temporarily released from a psychiatric hospital and carrying a secret she must reveal and understand, along with her mother, Mrs. Holly, who is reliving various versions of her life. The family-institutional drama also includes Felicity, a hospital attendant; George considered the best-looking in the family and dreaming of a world without work; and the mysterious, seductive lobotomy specialist Dr. Cukrowicz.

Performed today, this text from the era of star-studded cinema can suddenly malfunction and begin to act on stage as a ghostly spectacle grounded in current dramas and confessions. What does lobotomy mean today? Has it evolved into something else? What do the times of brain surgery force us to think about? Can desire become the foundation of a new order?