Poland's troubled history takes center stage Courtesy of Teatr Na Woli

On February 17, Teatr na Woli will host its first English-supertitled performance of “Our Class” (“Nasza Klasa”), an acclaimed play by stage writer and director Tadeusz Słobodzianek. The theater intends to repeat the event once a month thereafter.

Mr Słobodzianek is a Polish playwright, but the official premier of “Our Class” was held at London’s Royal National Theatre. The original production enjoyed a successful run, lasting from September 2009 to January 2010, and it earned strong reviews in The Guardian, The Independent and The Telegraph, to name a few.

The supertitles displayed during the monthly performances will be taken from the script used for the London performances.

The play’s title, “Our Class,” is itself a play on words referencing Nasza-Klasa.pl, a popular social networking service in Poland. But make no mistake, this is no “Social Network” style drama about start-ups and modern technology.

The script centers on 10 school friends, a mix of Jews and Christians, from a small Polish community which, although unnamed, is modeled on Jedwabne, the northeastern town infamous for the massacre of hundreds of Jews in 1941. “Our Class” chronicles the characters’ lives from school days to (sometimes gruesome) deaths as Poland passes through World War II, communism and into the post-communist era.

With a length of about three hours, the play has been chided for dragging in its second half, but most reviews during its British run gave it a solid four-out-of-five stars. Another production will open this April in Toronto and, according to a spokesperson for Teatr na Woli, talks are currently underway for runs in Hungary and Spain.