A new play by Polish playwright Tadeusz S這bodzianek, Nasza klasa (Our Class), is in rehearsal at the National Theater in London.

The play, translated by British playwright Ryan Craig and directed by Bijan Sheibani, is set in Poland. It begins in 1925 when a group of schoolchildren, Jewish and Catholic, discuss their dreams and ambitions: one of them wants to be a fireman, another one a film star, still another a pilot or a doctor. As the children grow up, their country is torn apart by the invading Soviet and German armies. Internal grievances deepen as fervent nationalism develops; friends betray each other; violence escalates.

S這bodzianek confronts his country's involvement in the atrocities of the 20th century while following the stories of his one-time classmates amid weddings, births, deaths and emigrations.

S這bodzianek is one of Poland's leading playwrights. His plays Turlajgroszek and Merlin won the Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993 and 1994. S這bodzianek founded the Laboratorium Dramatu in Warsaw in 2003 to support the development of drama.

More information at:
www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/49663/productions/our-class.html