The show, The Second Woman, stars Magdalena Cielecka, one of Poland's most celebrated stage actresses.
In just three days, 705 men submitted applications to appear alongside her.
Applicants included doctors, architects, lawyers, IT workers, students, retirees and public figures.
No acting experience was required; the directors sought maximum diversity of temperament, background and life experience, with queer applicants welcome.
Around 140 men will be selected: 100 to perform in the show itself, and roughly 40 for rehearsals in Warsaw and Poznań.
Those who rehearse will not appear in the final production – a deliberate choice to ensure Cielecka does not know in advance who she will meet on stage.
Her management will review the shortlist solely on safety grounds.
Participation is unpaid.
The same scene, a hundred times over
The Second Woman is the work of Australian duo Nat Randall and Anna Breckon.
Over 24 uninterrupted hours, the lead actress repeats the same scene roughly 100 times – each time with a different partner.
Each 10-minute encounter depicts a couple at an emotional turning point, ending with the partner choosing between two declarations: "I have always loved you" or "I have never loved you."
Everything else is unscripted.
Performances are filmed and projected live, allowing audiences to catch expressions invisible from the stalls.
Spectators may come and go freely throughout.
The production has been staged at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna, and in Athens, Barcelona and London.
At London's Young Vic, Ruth Wilson took the lead role, with audiences queuing for hours for even a glimpse.
The show won the Evening Standard Theatre Editor's Award and received a Helpmann Award nomination.
The Polish premiere, with Cielecka as Virginia, is scheduled for June 26-27 at the 36th Malta Festival in Poznań.
(ał)
Source: trojka.polskieradio.pl