Gianni, Jan, Johan, John?
Teatr 3/4 and Chopin Productions

Special Theatrical Mention ~ R Christiansen Chicago Tribune. Critics Choice - Chicago Reader

"Somewhere between the hand puppets of Senor Wences and the elaborate mime constructions of Mummenschanz lies the performance art of theater 3/4, a small, engaging Polish troupe that is paying a brief visit to Chicago through this weekend at the intimate Chopin theater...There are four performers-two men and two women-in the piece, each one dressed in black and altogether an exuberant quartet.


1/12/95 - 1/21/95


Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune 1/18/95 - “"Somewhere between the hand puppets of Senor Wences and the elaborate mime constructions of Mummenschanz lies the performance art of Theatre 3/4, a small, engaging Polish troupe that is paying a brief visit to Chicago through this weekend at the intimate Chopin Theatre...There are four performers-two men and two women-in the piece, each one dressed in black and altogether an exuberant quartet...., the actors ingeniously create several imaginative characters sculpted from hand shapes"



Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader January 20, 1995 - “World-class European theater can raise the ire of unsung local directors, who are often heard grumbling after a blistering international performance, "Well, sure, if my theater were state funded..." Let's hope those cranks stay away from the 3/4 Theatre-Zusno's thrilling puppet cabaret Gianni, Jan, John.... They might never recover.

Founded in 1992 by Krzysztof Rau, then managing director of the Bialystok Puppet Theatre, the 3/4 Theatre-Zusno is Poland's first private theater company. Yet their expertise rivals any of the world's great nationally bankrolled troupes. They twist their bare hands--and occasionally their feet--into some of the most graceful, ingenious, and expressive puppets imaginable, bringing them to life with such care and precision that even their tiniest gestures speak volumes. Gianni is an existential everyman who rises from infancy to become a godlike figure, dismantling and rearranging sections of the earth hoping that new combinations will produce something other than gunfire. The five performers' bare hands create peculiar permutations of the title character--my favorite being a surgeon so hell-bent on completing an operation that he lops off his patient's head and feet because they get in his way. In one of several delightful surrealistic effects, the head of a bombastic public official turns into a pair of clapping hands applauding his own eloquence. This production, which runs just over an hour, literally offers a thrill a minute”


1/12/95 – Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times - POLISH HANDS: During the past few years, Zygmunt Dyrkacz, who runs the Chopin Theatre at 1543 W. Division, has been single-handedly trying to showcase the world of contemporary Polish theater, appealing to the large Polish-American community here, as well as to the many local theater artists who can learn from the Poles' inventive techniques.

Next up at the Chopin will be "Gianni, Jan, John . . .," a production by the 3; 4 Company, a puppet-based ensemble from the hamlet of Zusno in northeastern Poland. The company, the first privately run company in postcommunist Poland, has traveled throughout Europe and arrives here after a date in New York.

The story of "Gianni" is told primarily through the manipulation of the actors' hands and other body parts, along with music and a smattering of multi-lingual dialogue. It chronicles the passions and obsessions of an everyman character from childhood, through adolescence, maturity and a sad retirement. The one-hour show will be performed at 7 tonight; 11 a.m. Friday; 7 p.m. Jan. 18-19, and 4 p.m. Jan. 14, 15, 21 and 22. Tickets are $15; $12 for students and seniors. Phone: (312) 235-2028.

Author
Krzysztof Rau

Director
Krzysztof Rau

Performers
Edyta Lukaszewicz, Jolanta Rogowska ,Tomasz Bielawiec, Darek Jakubaszek, Bohdan R. Rau

Production
Krzysztof Rau, Andrzej Dworakowski, Bogdan Szczepanski

Tags: Polish, Theater, , 1995