Prześluga, Malina

Here's a story that happened and didn't happen. There are people in it who aren't there – dead, or have they never existed? Maybe they had no right to exist, because their existence is conditioned by the perception of the countryside by people "from the outside". And for many, the countryside remains terra incognita. According to some, it is the habitat of all pathologies: alcoholism, violence, darkness. For others, it is an idyllic scenery straight from a sentimental postcard. The Polish countryside seems to have no identity of its own.

The play Not there arises from this observation. The action takes place in the village of Żabki Małe, populated by residents who want to break out of this hell at all costs. The prose of life is disturbed by a peculiar danse macabre - the dead are wandering around the village, as if they felt equal to the living. This liminal suspension does not have to end with the resolution of the conflict - both the inhabitants and the spirits are "tied" to the ground, they cannot go either way to change their average life in any way. Kaśka wants to go to Spain and become a flamenco dancer, although we know that this is just a dream. The turn of events has led her to lose her outfit - she has to return to Żabki to her father - an abuser. Similarly, Gosia called Beata, accidentally found herself in the countryside even though she's was in the city - all attempts at denying her true identity have been of no use. These and other characters form a somewhat grotesque - but most of all, a deeply sad parade of people lost in life. In the finale, the only possible destination for an "escape" is the cemetery.

A play for adults by Malina Prześluga written in 2013-14 starts off on Christmas Eve - a holiday on which we promise ourselves harmony and joy, and often go to sleep with a sense of greater emptiness than usual. The situation at the Christmas table shows, in a nutshell, the family's relations: lack of understanding, quarrels over the smallest things. The only person representing the old order, peace, confidence, and warmth is grandma.

The characters are surrounded by a multitude of layers and phrases that express nothing true about them, that hold no feeling. According to the author, what is important are feelings, the ability to love, express and share affection.

Ctule sticks a play dough beak on the Ball to make her into a real Gull. Ctule himself would like to be at least a „yesctule”, the only logical opposite of a „noctule”, just like “thing” is the opposite of “nothing”, or “yeswhere” is the opposite of “nowhere”. Ctule suffers, because he feels incomplete and meaningless. They were both invented by a small girls who doesn’t speak all that well yet. They decide to get some advice. That’s how they and up visiting the Logoped and the Polish Language, at whom they stick out their tongues and ask for a diagnosis and the missing words. Polish also has a problem – at school he’s treated just like any other subject. They also meet a Dirty Word. The Gull learns what it means to be a real bird, squawking and not understanding much, and it doesn’t fit her personality all that great. Malina Prześluga’s witty text talks about creativity, imagination and accepting who we are.

The Dirty Word is very lonely. The great censor known as Bleeper keeps shushing it, decent people are ashamed of it, and naughty children keep spitting it out like a chewed up piece of gum. It can’t even find shelter in the esteemed Dictionary. It simply doesn’t know how to define its identity. Thankfully, it meets the Ball (known from the first part of the play), who’s since become the mother of the first three letters of the alphabet.

That’s the start of an adventure on which our heroes will try to break stereotypes and have fun. Polish Dirty Word meets, among others, its cousin from Czechia, the Internet, which dishes out many interesting tidbit, and the aforementioned conservative Dictionary. We’ll also meet the Ctule, Ball’s partner, who has incredible news to share: the baby letters started teething with vowels and are starting to become full-fledged words.

Just a word 2 is a drama full of creative songs, linguistic puns, and, most of all, filled to the brim with positive energy. It’s a story about tolerance, acceptance, self-identification, all those elements that form life. In this context the play is a continuation of the first part of the drama, although it introduces new characters and the side-plots of some of them (especially the Dirty Word) are explored in more detail.

It’s a beautiful story, which shows how our language creates the vision of the world and, at the same time, how a language itself is a microcosm.

Swallowtail Butterfly (pl. Queen's page) is accused of infidelity for doubting the existence of the Queen. As a punishment, he is locked up in a bus terminal with all other outcasts from the world of arthropods. Among them, there is Daria - a pupa who's been locked for two years in a cocoon, which she does not want to leave because she is afraid of being a fat and nasty butterfly whom nobody will like. Victor shows up - the hull of a spider, with all his legs ripped off by people. Daria and Victor came there themselves, because they consider themselves worthless. There are also Antonio and Banderas, cockroach brothers, banished here for being filthy and stinky, and the wasp Mańka, who lost her sting. However, the most intriguing of all is Bleeh - a disgusting pile of dirt, dust, mud, fern and undefined secretions. Nobody knows who Blee is and what they are there for. Mostly they are silent, talking nonsense and depressed, but they seem to pay a special attention to the Swallowtail... The other arthropods do not trust the beautiful butterfly, thinking that he came to mock them. To give his miserable companions some sorely needed self-confidence, Swallowtail decides to organise a talent competition. It is a chance for arthropods to be liked and appreciated. They are preparing to perform: Bleeh sings a song by Edith Piaf, the cockroaches recite Romeo and Juliet, Mańka gives a flamenco show, Daria does a performance in the middle of the cocoon, Victor does impressions of everyone. The insects prepare the hall and sing a song of talented arthropods. Gradually, however, they find out that no one will come to the show and that Swallowtail has deceived them. The sad butterfly wants the Queen, in whom he lost faith, to come and comfort him. Bleeh suggests Pazi that the best audience is made up of the insects on the bus. Daria slides out of the cocoon as a beautiful butterfly, and Bleeh turns out to be the long lost Queen, who was in hiding because she couldn't stand that everyone was looking after her. The insects are beginning to see the bright side of their imperfections.

Malina Prześluga's play with songs about doubt and faith, overcoming complexes and finding beauty within oneself.

Mr Carrot confides in his Barber while having his leaves trimmed – because, as is well known, barbershops are the best places to gossip. With the possible exceptions of bars, like the Salad Bar. That’s how this humorous story about living life to the fullest starts, a story based on many unusual relations between the characters.

By coincidence, Mr Carrot gets stuck in the head of a certain Snowman, becoming his nose. The vegetable, as more experienced (after all, it escaped the torturers ready to make it into broth), shows his new friend around the world. They bring a pigeon back to life, meet people who are celebrating New Year's Eve, as well as a slightly enchanted Carrot bartender with a charming name - Greek Salad. Above all, however, the Snowman wants to see the endless sea - and when it starts to melt, he wants to become one with it. There is only one way out - to find the end of the sea. And for that they need to go to the North Pole...

I don’t sea why not is a warm story about a journey. About a friendship which is not afraid of the chef's cleaver, expiry date or positive temperatures... But Prześluga's play is not only a tapestry weaved of retort and brilliant jokes, sometimes with an eye on an adult viewer. It has a deeper message - everything flows, life is short, so you should take full advantage of it. Sacrifice in the name of friendship makes this experience even more complete.

Carrot and Snowman are the main characters, Greek Salad and the Pigeon have smaller roles, while Barber Fred, the Lemon, and people are background roles – the play may well be staged with a smaller cast.

"The world's first adaptation of the cult Czechoslovakian series watched with equal interest by children and adults. One day Mr. Majer, an actor telling fairy tales for children on TV, runs into a second category wizard - Rumburak. Together they are transported to the World of Fairytales, where he kills the Talking Wolf due to an unfortunate coincidence... The punishment for this is borne by Rumburak, who, with his desire for revenge, shockingly changes the content of the fairy tales and, what is more, impersonates Mr. Majer. The anxious fairy tale ruler, King Jacinta, sends his two daughters, Arabella and Ksenia, accompanied by the magician Vigo, to the realm of men. They are to persuade Majer to restore order in the fairy tales. Arabella and Majer's son, Petr, fall in love. Rumburak, who himself desired Arabella and half the fairy tale kingdom, deceitfully, with the help of a magic ring, kidnaps the princess and imprisons her in his castle. However, Arabella manages to escape to her beloved Petr. Their happiness does not last long. Petr inadvertently puts on a magic coat and disappears. During this time, terrible and incomprehensible things are happening in the Fairytale World... and this is only the beginning of the events that were to change this magical world forever. But everything, as is usually in fairy tales, ends well".

(Source: www.teatrwybrzeze.pl.)

Tony – a television antenna – has issues with her name, as she’s a woman. A plastic bag from a corner store believes that got caught on the antenna believes that she’s a real frog and wants to escape from the tar paper covered roof where they both dwell and that’s regularly visited by a cat. They are joined by pigeon poop who believes that it’s a real pigeon. One day, due to heavy wind, the plastic bag gets free and flies off to the lawn, taking the poop with it. It tries to convince the antenna to run away with them, but she decides to stay on the roof and fulfill her destiny.

Malina Prześluga’s one-act play about the power of faith in dreams and in friendship.

Since the girl does not get up, the slippers are free and can have a super-slipper day. A teddy bear, bald Joe, shaved by the girl, which mainly says "mmm", but also knows the most about what happened to the girl, emerges from under the bed - she is said to have ended up in Sad Bed, that is, in hospital. Now the items from the girl's bedroom have to be packed into a bag and go where she is. Without a girl who has sometimes been cruel to her objects, their lives have no meaning. Bald Joe explains to the objects that people and teddy bears have a small piece of wire inside, which sometimes goes out. The Slippers, the Alarm clock and the Pillow try to light up the rod in the girl again, because they love her very much. Despite this, the girl fades away and gets progressively more pale. Bald Joe and the Girl go together to the place of many colours...

A beautiful and sad play by Malina Prześluga about transience and emotional bonds, awarded in the XXII Competition for Theatre Play for Children and Youth.

Premiere directed by Zbigniew Lisowski at the Baj Pomorski Theatre in Toruń (2012), another premiere at the A. Smolka Theatre in Opole directed by Marian Pecka (2013).

A funny and touching play by Malina Prześluga about the encounter between a man and a dragon (the so-called stranger who, by definition, arouses fear), getting rid of prejudices and fostering tolerance towards otherness. Human and dragon worlds live side by side and function according to similar principles, but are full of mutual antagonisms. Dragons, just like people, go to work, school (where they learn, among other things, the difficult art of flying), have their own government and president, but instead of similarities they only look for differences. Dragons, like people, tell fairy tales... about people who once sowed fear in the dragon world, kidnapping dragons' sheep and princesses - the brave Drak Ewka protects dragons from the destructive actions of man. This is what Daddy Dragon passes on to his son Roar. Dragons' hostility has its source in human prejudice - it is well known that people see larger and physically more powerful dragons only as enemies. Charles is particularly obsessed with this - he deeply believes in the existence of dragons, so everyone considers him crazy. Charles and his Piglet, who want to kill all the dragons of the world, travel to the dragon world for this purpose. There they meet the little dragon Roar, who seems very nice and harmless to them. Rejecting prejudices, they set off together on a very dangerous but important mission... Thanks to this meeting, the human and dragon worlds will turn out to be surprisingly similar and the differences between them will prove to be fascinating.