Submitted on 12.12.2025 by Marta Sadurska

Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival in Krakow

Divine Comedy Festival press materials, Graphics: Victor Soma

Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival, organised by Łaźnia Nowa Theatre in Krakow, begins already on 4 December 2025. Its 18th edition is held under the motto “Waiting for the Barbarians,” and offers audiences more than forty performances, an opportunity to meet international stars, and the Inferno competition with a review of nine selected performances. The Adam Mickiewicz Institute is a partner of the event.

“Waiting for the Barbarians” – the motto of this year’s Divine Comedy Festival

Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival has been continuously organised by Łaźnia Nowa Theatre in Krakow since 2008. It is one of the largest theatre festivals in Poland. Its 18th edition is held under the motto “Waiting for the Barbarians,” which is an invitation to discuss the new world order and ask about the potential hidden in utopian imaginings. The motto, proposed by the Festival Director Bartosz Szydłowski, alludes to a poem by Constantine Cavafy, reflects the anxieties of modern times, and opens up to the question: will we live to see a world in which no one divides people into the civilised ones and the barbarians?

Various takes and transformations of this year’s motto will be offered for viewing from 4 to 14 December 2025. The time will be filled with nearly forty performances divided into three sections referring to the Dantean topography of the underworld: INFERNO, PURGATORIO and PARADISO.

The Festival’s INFERNO is a competition section featuring the most interesting Polish performances of the past season, as chosen by the selectors. An international jury representing institutions and festivals from Taiwan, Germany, the U.S., Mexico, and Estonia will select the winner of the Festival’s grand prize and the Divine Comedian statuette, to be awarded at a gala on 12 December 2025, from among the nine performances presented within this section.

Divine Comedy Festival programme – performances, debates, and accompanying events held on Krakow’s stages

This year’s festival will be inaugurated on 4 December 2025 with the play “The Vegetarian” from Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Krakow, directed by Paweł Miśkiewicz. That same evening, audiences will also see the choreographed “I love ballet” directed by Ramona Nagabczyńska, as well as a special event – the Polish premiere of “A Year Without Summer” by Florentina Holzinger, an artist whose work is currently being requested by the most important theatre stages around the world. This performance, co-produced by the Divine Comedy Festival, will only be staged on 4 and 5 December 2025 at the ICE Krakow Congress Centre.

The programme will also include three performances created by male and female artists from Ukraine, who for several years have been intensely co-creating Polish art, including theatre – negotiating a space for themselves, searching for their own languages, establishing international alliances, and gathering around them an audience willing to listen to them and engage in discussions with them: “Eros and Psy” directed by Kostiantyn Vasiukov, “Spy Girls” directed by Magda Szpecht and “I Didn’t Leave Ukraine,” directed by Merle Karusoo.

Divine Comedy will host not only performances, but also debates centred around the most important problems of the theatrical environment, as well as accompanying events – among them the electrifying “Postpornoterrorismo” complementing the staging of “Hexes” prepared by Polski Theatre w Podziemiu based on Agnieszka Szpila’s novel.

Detailed schedule and information about tickets is available at boskakomedia.pl.