American actor John Malkovich will fly to Poland to play in the unconventional play “The Infernal Comedy: Confession of a Serial Killer”. Performances at the National Forum of Music in Wrocław will take place on August 13 and 14. 

This is Malkovich’s second visit to the capital of Lower Silesia. Earlier, the actor visited Wrocław in 2016, when he was working on Lech Majewski’s film “Valley of the Gods”, produced at the CeTA Audiovisual Technology Center and at Książ Castle. 

The play “The Infernal Comedy: The Confession of a Serial Killer”, written by Martin Sturminger in 2008, is a combination of an opera and a solo performance. In addition to Malkovich, who will play the lead role there, the play is also starred by opera singers Chen Reiss and Susanne Langbein. They will be accompanied by the Orchester Wiener Akademie and the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra. 

John Malkovich will play the role of Jack Unterweger, nicknamed “The Strangler of Vienna”, an Austrian writer and serial killer responsible for the deaths of many women, mainly prostitutes. Unterweger committed crimes both in Europe and in the USA. He was arrested in 1992 and committed suicide two years later. 

Nobody could play this character better than John Malkovich himself, who hypnotizes during the performance, alternately transforming from a fragile, charming creature into a psychopathic madman. It draws the audience into dialogue, seducing and at the same time causing anxiety. His monologues are interwoven with operatic arias. The performance creates a fascinating and powerful experience. 

Renown from the films “Dangerous Liaisons”, “Con Air”, “Being John Malkovich” and “Empire of the Sun”, 68-year-old Malkovich will play the role of Unterweger not for the first time. Since the play’s premiere in 2008, he has performed this role several times in the United States and Europe.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński