“HIGHWAY” PERFORMANCE | 13th Days of Polish Culture

Theatre: Aleksander Węgierko Drama Theatre in Białystok
Author: Michael McKeever
Duration: 80 min.
Age restriction: 16+

Charlie Cox is over forty. He has a boring job, leads an uninteresting life and, as it unexpectedly turns out, suffers from an incurable illness. To make matters worse, Wally, a hitchhiker whom Charlie picks up on the highway, claims to be Death and constantly reminds him of it.

After all this, Charlie’s car breaks down in the middle of the desert and scorching heat, while his mobile phone stops working. Could things get any worse? Of course! In a run-down motel standing in the middle of a road to nowhere, Charlie meets the woman of his life, Blind Love, as well as a jealous car mechanic.

His life begins to change, but Wally – Death and his travelling companion – has no intention of giving up so easily.

“Highway” is a bright and at times very funny story about love, death and living life to the fullest. The performance brings to mind Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and the best films of Woody Allen.

The world premiere of the play took place in 2003. Its author, Michael McKeever, is one of the most prominent contemporary American playwrights.

In Poland, his play Postcards from Europe was directed by Krystyna Janda at Warsaw’s Och-Theatre, while Hotel Maneuvers was directed by Mirosław Bieliński at the Stefan Żeromski Theatre in Kielce and Marcin Sławiński at the New Theatre in Zabrze. In June 2017, the Polish premiere of McKeever’s play The Opening Season took place at Warsaw’s Kwadrat Theatre, with Ewa Kasprzyk and Daniel Olbrychski in the leading roles.

“Highway” (Running With Scissors), directed by Andrzej Mastalerz, is the first Polish production of this play.