The Magic Mountain

It seems that no one has yet interpreted isolation in terms of a spell. In Mann’s novel, a metaphor for the crisis of European culture, the sanatorium in the mountains was a place where patients could detach from socio-political reality and focus on the inner processes set in motion by their illness. Immersed in the daily routine of the spa and absorbed by their own selves, they succumbed to the spell of isolation.

In Michał Borczuch’s play, it is the COVID lockdown that makes the occupants of a tenement indulge in conversation, philosophising and practicing silent rituals of self-care. Wrapping themselves in blankets or painting walls, they conduct various protocols of control and are absorbed by reading The Magic Mountain. Under a spell, they function in a suspended state between seemingly contradicting desires: for the state of suspension to last as long as possible and for life to return to normal as soon as possible.

Under the spell, they also become aware of their own privilege. They begin to notice individual people and entire social groups that they had not noticed before. They see class differences and class-related aspects of human labour. Just like the patients of the sanatorium, they engage in lengthy discussions about time, their subjective perception of public space, their sense of agency, changing social relations, new ways of working and practicing self-care. They reflect on how to make it possible for human and non-human beings to live together. 

Can the theatrical space become a space of caring for each other? What kind of spell do we need for this?