7 solitudes – Polish premiere: 29 May 2026

Direction, set design, lighting concept: Robert Wilson
Direction and adaptation: Charles Chemin
Polish premiere: 29 May 2026
Wilam Horzyca Theatre in Toruń

On 29 May, the Polish premiere of the Wilam Horzyca Theatre’s international co-production, 7 solitudes, directed by Robert Wilson and Charles Chemin, will take place.

The 30th International Theatre Festival Kontakt in Toruń will open with the Polish premiere of 7 solitudes — the final project developed by Robert Wilson, the legendary American director, creator of a groundbreaking visual language in theatre, and one of the most important artists of the contemporary stage.

It will be the most significant event of this year’s festival edition, as well as a profoundly symbolic moment for world theatre.

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“This is a project we have been working on for more than a year,” says Renata Derejczyk, Director of the Horzyca Theatre and Festival Kontakt. “Together with the National Kaunas Drama Theatre, we began working on a Robert Wilson production that was to have two versions — Lithuanian and Polish. Wilson had previously worked in a similar way on his stage version of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, which we presented at Kontakt two years ago: The Düsseldorf premiere featured Christoph Friedl, while the Kaunas version was performed by two Lithuanian actors.”

The performance is based on the works of Oscar Milosz — a poet, writer and thinker connected with Lithuania and European culture, and a distant relative of Czesław Miłosz. Wilson was responsible for the direction, set design and lighting concept. During rehearsals, he was already aware that he might not live to see the premiere, which is why he worked with extraordinary intensity to bring the project to completion and pass on all the key artistic principles to the team. Before he passed away on 31 July 2025, he also made it clear that he wished the performance to be completed in full accordance with his artistic vision.

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Today, 7 solitudes is not only a new theatrical premiere, but also a unique testimony to the final stage of Robert Wilson’s artistic work. It is one of only two of his works to be presented publicly after the artist’s death. Every element of the performance — the rhythm of the scenes, the light, the actors’ movement, the music and the composition of the image — is being created in accordance with the principles of his distinctive theatrical language, which has inspired artists around the world for decades.

At the director’s own request, the creative process is being completed by his long-standing artistic team. The adaptation of the text and the completion of the direction are entrusted to Charles Chemin — Wilson’s close collaborator and co-creator of more than twenty of his productions.

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„In adapting the texts and continuing work on the production, I wanted to pay tribute to Wilson’s poetic vision of theatre and his singular understanding of stage space and time. Miłosz’s writings — and the spiritual journey behind them — became the substance of this work.” Charles Chemin said in Kaunas.

Also involved in the production are set designer Stephanie Engeln, costume designer Flavia Ruggeri, lighting designer Marcello Lumaca, hair and make-up designer Manuela Halligan, and video designer Tomasz Jeziorski. The cast includes Małgorzata Abramowicz, Ada Dec, Joanna Rozkosz, Agnieszka Wawrzkiewicz, Maciej Raniszewski, Michał Marek Ubysz and Grzegorz Wiśniewski.

“I was very happy that the central figure of the performance would be Oscar Milosz, because I have always seen him as a true European — a man born in Lithuania, whose first language was Polish, but who wrote in French. His life shows that it is possible to belong fully to Europe while moving between different languages and different worlds.” says Renata Derejczyk.

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7 solitudes is not a conventional literary adaptation, nor an attempt to explain Milosz’s texts. It is a poetic, hypnotic stage experience in which word, image, light, music and movement create a multidimensional story about solitude, spirituality, memory and the search for meaning.

“At the centre of the performance stands the Poet — an elusive presence whose words make the world feel at once more complex and more understandable”, explains Charles Chemin. “In his search, the Poet summons a fictional double: Don Juan, the legendary figure drawn from two plays written by Miłosz. Through him emerge both an insatiable hunger for life and a longing for redemption, forcing Don Juan — and the Poet himself — to look inward.”

The Polish premiere during Festival Kontakt will be the first opportunity for Polish audiences to see this exceptional performance — the final theatrical world created by Robert Wilson.

The performance is being produced as an international co-production between the Wilam Horzyca Theatre in Toruń and the National Kaunas Drama Theatre in Lithuania, bringing together artists and ensembles from Poland and Lithuania around Robert Wilson’s final project.