"The Crucible" at Warsaw's Teatr Polski premieres on 22 October

The Teatr Polski in Warsaw is staging "Czarownice z Salem" (the Salem witch trials story, known in English as "The Crucible"), directed by Tomasz Fryzeł. The premiere is scheduled for 22 October 2026.

What the production is about

The show draws on the witch trials held in 1692 in the American town of Salem. The creators do not aim to reconstruct history, however. As Polish Radio describes it, the historical costume is meant to offer a distance from characters who, though they belong to a faraway world, turn out to be close to modern audiences in their fears, desires and choices.

In this telling, Salem is a kind of laboratory. Private emotions, desires and conflicts begin to reinforce one another until they turn into a collective mechanism of violence. The community moves from growing fear and pressure to gradual disintegration.

The questions it raises

According to the production's description, it asks where the line lies between the responsibility of the individual and that of the group. It also considers what happens to values when they start to be used to judge others. Finally, it asks about the moment when another person stops being a neighbour and becomes a potential threat.

Onet Kultura reports that the staging is meant to prompt audiences to reflect on their own choices.

For audiences in the UK

The production is being staged in Warsaw. People planning a visit to Poland can check the programme and ticket availability on the Teatr Polski website. We found no information about guest performances in the UK.