Officially, DEATH WITH ME is a performative show featuring three performers’ bodies. These bodies carry experiences, traumas, ecstasy, closures, transformations, fears, and dreams. Each individual body is seen holistically, composed of: movement range and style, skin, breath, sounds, bodily fluids, organs, thoughts, and emotions.
Unofficially, however, it’s a troupe of charlatans disguised as professional mourners—women who charge for mourning souls. We want to reach you, human, and we know you dislike boredom, so let us present our offer.
We know exactly how much you spend on creams, perhaps even plastic surgery; we know with what envy you look at millionaires who spend fortunes on prolonging life and can even transfuse their own son’s blood. We know—but set aside your worries, pay for our services, and make peace with death—it’s cheaper that way. Don’t miss the death-laden rave; let your body and soul unite with ordinary mortals, for whom all they have is this one fleeting moment.
We invite you to a performative spectacle or a grotesque event in tribute to finitude. Three professional mourners create a space where audiences can confront the taboo of death and join in corpse-like rituals to explore the boundary of eternity.
Performers: Dorota Baranowska, Karolina Czarnecka, Paula Czarnecka
Script & Direction: Karolina Czarnecka
Choreography: Dorota Baranowska
Costumes: Maria Duda
Music: Mike Johnson, Karolina Czarnecka
Lighting Design: Bogusław Kasperuk
The core of the ensemble creating this performance is the trio of artists (Dorota Baranowska, Karolina Czarnecka, Paula Czarnecka), who combine their skills to craft a unique vision that goes far beyond traditional theatre boundaries. DEATH WITH ME is the premiere production of the brutto collective.
Brutto derives from a pursuit of values “before deductions,” “before corrections,” without “beautification.” It contrasts with netto to achieve raw, unprocessed authenticity. The group draws inspiration from art brut, brutalism, and primitivism, while exploring questions of value in products, bodies, work, and art, juxtaposing rawness with irony, distance, and humor.
The performance DEATH WITH ME, directed by Karolina Czarnecka and created by the Podlaskie Dance Association, was developed within the OFF Polska Program organized by the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute. It was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
DEATH WITH ME
Performance directed by Karolina Czarnecka
Do you have a problem with death? Do you try to push it out of your mind, yet still feel its breath on your neck? Don’t worry. The DEATH WITH ME ensemble will help you come to terms with it. Weddings, christenings, or maybe private home parties? We’ll perform anywhere to make your finite time tangible. Prepare some incense, cut a lily from the garden, and call us! We’re coming to you!
