Błażewicz, Andrzej

Little Red Riding Hood is a story based on fairy-tale scheme, but targeted at adults and, above all, viewers entering adulthood. Its main focus is the initiation, transgression, entering successive life stages, which is usually a process laced with pain. The protagonist becomes a young woman. She tries to come to an understanding with her Grandma, who gazes upon her granddaughter with envy of her vitality and naivety. Communication between them is difficult because of a generation gap, but it is much harder for Little Red Riding Hood to communicate with her father – the Hunter. He worries about her adolescent daughter, feeling that he sacrifices her to the cruel adult world (especially to men – symbolic devourers). In this structure the Wolf is not only a personification of danger, but also a guide leading characters to the other side. The Wolf could be perceived as a Death figure, but it is worth to look at him as a catalyst of a change (that is, death perceived symbolically, as a change, a threshold in life, the end of a certain stage). Błażewicz shows us that change is the core of every fairytale – but change always has its price. Author mixes poetic language with pop culture references and therefore he creates the suggestive image of metaphorical vast dark forest and Wolf’s stomach – the only place where characters can be finally reunited.

„Hajduks – what a weird name. Hajduk is a name of fish. Hajduk is a name of a footman serving the aristocrats, dressed in traditional Hungarian garment. Hajduk is a bandit ravaging the Balkans. Hajduk is a refugee from Montenegro fleeing to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Last but not least, Hajduki (Hajduks) is a name of the village located in the Opole region. The main hero reminisces about a place, which, in a sense, is the beginning and the end of everything. Hajduks is a story about an attempt to define yourself in a world in which you are obliged to profess certain values and have certain attitudes. Is it really possible to avoid defining oneself in this reality, to stay neutral? It is also a play about the burden of loneliness, about a need of mutual closeness” – the author says.

It’s a clever travesty of “Hansel and Gretel”, but also, first and foremost, of all non-conformist, rebel, delinquent popculture icons. Johnny and Maggie, a brother and a sister, resemble Natural Born Killers (or, shall we say, “Children of the Revolution”, bearing in mind their main motivation). They travel together to Baby Jane (a place equivalent to the gingerbread house from the fairytale), committing various crimes on their way – or rather fantasizing about them. But they are not driven by an irrational will to do something against the law on a whim. Johnny and Maggie want to trigger a global revolution against politicians and cruel, filled with exploitation reality created by them. The siblings draw their strength from believing in a utopian concept of Baby Jane – though adults no longer have that passionate faith.  
Mother tries to convince their children to come back: “The world has no ideals / God is dead / Everybody will get depression and cancer”. Johnny and Maggie constantly use English, they reprimand themselves when they involuntarily switch to Polish; this kind of linguistic relativity is one of the greatest powers shaping the characters’ mindsets. Some parts of the text are skillfully and intelligently weaved from many quotes: mostly from songs and films, “No Country for Old Men” among them.

The rythm of the author’s family life is set by multiple ceremonies – weddings, funerals, communions. These meetings provoke the main character to discover traces of the forgotten past. Błażewicz tells this story in a pulsating, rap flow, which may evoke DorotaMasłowska’speculiar style, but it has its own individual touch nonetheless. Intheauthor’s language there are two discourses which intertwine with each other: the present of Polish middle class and postmemory inherited by the youngest generations. Difficult past is being told by the language of popculture. Thousands of references and interpretations obscure the truth, which is ready to be unveiled. But can we possibly discuss the one objective truth? This polyphonic monologue redefines national phantasms, attempts to find or to create a new identity; it also refers to the traps of modern illusions of stability.

“After the stage reading of this play I started to imagine surprisingly defined, but also conceivable theatrical form, I can hear a new tone and feela new emotion which could stem from a performance based on this text. […] The Narrator, who delves into family celebrations, observes herd mentality and behavior, with fascination rather than hatred. It’s an art of life, not death. Or, should I say, the storyteller intuitively looks for some kind of «first death» in his relatives’ past, in their own version of 20th-century history, while being a part of their mundane, well-organized life in present days”.

• Łukasz Drewniak, Dziesięć piosenek i Hator, Hator, Hator…