LIVERPOOL’S many Polish links make The Glass Mountain a fitting choice for the Unity’s autumn season. The production, by Trestle theatre company, mingles traditional myth with contemporary issues of migration.

Olek, a baker by day and dreamer by night, boards a bus to England only to find himself on a much bigger journey than he anticipated.

Olek is played by Jacek Wytrzymaly, who moved to London in 2007 to pursue his acting career.

“It’s also based on a Polish traditional tale about a princess who was locked in the top of the glass mountain by her father and only one person can save her,” he explains.

This story parallels Olek’s experience as he attempts to flee Poland with a young women escaping her possessive parents.

The stage set is vital to ensuring the two parts of the play interlink without becoming confusing.

“We have two spaces,” says Wytrzymaly.

“In one, you can see the world of the bus, where the story of the journey from Poland to London takes place.

“In between, there are scenes of the glass mountain tale.”

The production is inspired by the methods of the Polish company The Song of the Goat, which has been hailed as the most innovative of the country’s new avant-garde theatre movement.

Ex-Goat Christopher Sivertsen and Anna-Helena McLean, formerly of Gardzienice theatre company, are vocal and musical associates on the show.

“But we like to do things our own way,” says Wytrzymaly. “Everyone in the company brings something different to the play.”

Trestle was founded in 1981, specialising in mask theatre.

The Glass Mountain is its third “unmasked” production, using a combination of movement, music and story-telling to convey the plot.

“Our journey began with my interest in finding a meeting point between the enormously respected theatre made by Grotowski influenced theatre companies in Poland and the struggles experienced by recent Polish migrants to England,” says artistic director Emily Gray.

“It is thrilling to be working with performers who come from the intense physical and vocal training of Polish theatre and together we hope to find humour, playfulness and contemporary relevance in the Polish myth.”

THE Glass Mountain is at The Unity from October 9-10.