Żeromski: Backstage is Weronika Zajkowska's unique adaptation of Stefan Żeromski's Dzienniki (Journals), undertaken as part of the Żeromski Dramaturgical Residency. The director explores the relationship that emerges between an author and the readers with whom he shares his private thoughts.

The core concept underpinning this performance is the backstage – the hidden dimension of any literary, dramatic or staged work. By entering the author's mind, the director attempts to dissect him in vivo: “I wanted to see how performative reading, which both follows and precedes a staging, can contribute something new to a text or its interpretation.”

Using performative tools, Zajkowska probes the links between Żeromski's journal entries and her own experiences, biography, and memories. She explores the concept of reading as such, searching for new possibilities and looking at how an event can be expanded and reclaimed as something that is both a stage occurrence and a new theatrical form.