Theatre Performance
“AN IMAGINARY ENCOUNTER BETWEEN WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA AND UMBERTO ECO”
as part of the “Wisława Szymborska Week” in Israel
Magid Center, 63 Nordau Boulevard, Tel Aviv-Yafo
December 4, 2026, 11:00
On the 30th anniversary of Wisława Szymborska’s Nobel Prize in Literature, a new theatre production stages an imaginary encounter between the Polish poet and Umberto Eco, one of the greatest Italian authors of the twentieth century.
The performance sets two perspectives on the world, and on the ways we try to understand it, side by side. On one side is Eco’s interest in encyclopedias, libraries and the classification of knowledge. On the other is Szymborska’s poetic gaze, which dwells on the contradictions of reality and on the boundaries that knowledge cannot cross.
Through this imaginary dialogue, the show explores the relationship between order and complexity, knowledge and mystery, and between the interpretation of reality and whatever escapes every attempt at explanation.
The production is a collaboration between the Italian Cultural Institute of Tel Aviv, Beit Ariela – Tel Aviv Central Library, and the Polish Institute, as part of “Wisława Szymborska Week” (December 2–4, 2026) in Israel.
Concept and creation: Yuli Shapira and Ola Preminger
Performers:
Dror Keren
Ola Szczyr-Salekter
Video Art:
Katya Shpalevia / Ernest Aranov
Translation from Polish: Rafi Weichert
Music:
Arnon Zimra – piano and musical direction
Janusz Horovitz– accordion
Raziel Tzur — mandolin