The School of Seduction // Generation After 10. Showcase
director: Magda Szpecht
Trigger warnings: This performance is for audiences aged 18 and over; it deals with themes of sexual violence, gender-based violence and the experience of war. The performance contains intense audiovisual stimuli and nudity, and may involve interaction with the audience and an invitation for the audience to participate actively.
The School of Seduction // Generation After 10. Showcase 04.09.2026, 16:30
accessibility information for the event: + pętla indukcyjna
accessibility information for the event: + pętla indukcyjna
“Is it a miracle? No, it’s just that programmers have hacked into a woman’s brain.”
Following r*ssia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a r*ssian celebrity and ‘seduction guru’ arrives in Warsaw to lead his own training course on picking up girls. One of the participants on the course is our main character, an amateur spy. He works undercover, using camouflage and a false identity, to delve into the secret art of winning women over. We’re also introduced to the world of the manosphere, incels, oligarchs and influencers from the realm of the r*ssian internet.
Meanwhile, the creative team is gathering information on the controversial pick-up artist’s activities. It soon becomes clear that the instructor has links to the kremlin and ambitions to enter high-level politics – he wants to become the next President of r*ssia. The methods of seduction he presents are controversial, based on the sexist and objectifying treatment of women.
A relationship model based on manipulation, lies and self-interest is representative of the way in which totalitarian r*ssia treats its citizens. ‘Seduction’ is understood not as a game between equals, but as a means of acquiring power for one’s own benefit.
Through a combination of participant observation and Open-Source Intelligence, the performance sheds light on the connections between patriarchy and imperialism, love and war, and the seduction strategies used by modern alpha males and far-right political ideologues.
“The School of Seduction” is a mockumentary that blends theatrical and cinematic genres. It pits performative practices against the reality of online models of masculinity and the world of con artists who profit from the naivety of young men. What was once a seedy corner of the internet has become mainstream and extremely toxic. Technological acceleration and the constant need to cut everyday living costs mean opportunities for human interaction are shrinking all the time. This creates a vacuum that the manosphere and its ‘gurus’ are only too happy to fill.
Audience members will take part in a training session, acting as guinea pigs while the r*ssian influencer tests his methods on them. Will we succeed in making them fall in love with us?
Team
Cast: Lena Schimscheiner, Janek Sobolewski
Director, screenplay: Magda Szpecht
Set design, costumes, lighting: Janek Simon
Music: Krzysztof Kaliski
Choreography: Katarzyna Szugajew
Video: Michał Rogulski
Self-defence consultant: Kajsa
Wigs: Michał Dastig
Feedback & dramaturgical advisor: Szymon Adamczak
Bios
Magda Szpecht is a theatre & opera director, author of many installations and performances in Poland and Japan (in collaboration with Festival/Tokyo); she was studying Drama directing at the The Ludwik Solski State Theatre School in Kraków. Previously, she graduated Journalism and Social Communication with specialization in Creative writing at the University of Wrocław. She is interested in creating post-post-post- postdramatic theatre. Political, but intense and intimate, balancing between dark humor, sincere emotional experience and a surrealist, abstract world. Szpecht often explores non-human perspectives and unobvious ways of describing reality. She often combines elements of movement practice, film work, documentary archives, visual arts and contemporary music. When war in Ukraine started on February 24th 2022, she decided to become a Cyber Elf and dedicate herself to support Ukrainian people and to fight with Russian disinformation, fake news and propaganda.
Szymon Adamczak is an artist working in the field of performing arts, playwright, writer, dramaturg. In his work, he combines the language of art with an activist attitude, creating a form of engaged artistic research. An important aspect of his practice is the context of cultural heritage related to the subject of HIV and AIDS.
Krzysztof Kaliski is a composer, lutenist, and multi-instrumentalist. Renowned for his experimental electronic work and theatrical scores, he has composed music for over 50 productions.
Janek Simon is the author of interactive installations, video, sculptures, objects, and artistic actions. In his works, he draws inspiration from scientific theories as well as fields of knowledge such as geography and economics, which evolve with civilization’s changes. Simon’s installations and objects are often based on mathematical, physical, and statistical data. He has exhibited his works at various venues including the Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, the Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow, the Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, the Center for Contemporary Art Zamek Ujazdowski in Warsaw, Art Initiatives Cologne in Cologne, and the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) in Vilnius.
Michał Rogulski performing arts curator and producer, founder of ÆFEKT Productions. From 2015 to 2019 2nd Theatre Expert at Adam Mickiewicz Institute, member of What’s Next? team responsible for AMI program. Over the period 2020-2022 associated with JK Theatre in Opole as International Project Manager and experimental Modelatornia Stage Co-curator, where he curated Danse Macabre (2021) by Renata Piotrowska-Auffret and ROHTKO (2022) by Łukasz Twarkowski, among others.
Co-producer
HAU Hebbel am Ufer
Co-financing
The event is co-financed by the Warsaw City Hall as part of the Komuna Warszawa – Social Institution of Culture project.
