My Dad's Universes

Is it true that in the whole cosmos, dad loves his baby the most? Will he find them everywhere, even if they hide in the darkest hut or in the grass... or in the closet... or in the farthest corner of the universe? Or rather, universes. After all, every dad, though bearded as a bison on top, bald as the moon, tall as a tower, spherical like a planet, is deep down an astronaut who travels for his daughter — and with her — the Universes of Dad.

Dad and Lila live in a completely new place every day, and the only constant thing in their lives is Rocket. Lila is a girl whose dad knows everything and can do everything - Lila thinks so. Dad has a thousand faces, but they all like to smile at Lila and fool around with her. However, even in front of such a dad, sometimes comes the desire to hide and not let himself be found, and then completely unexpected things begin to happen...

We invite you on a journey through space, which is every relationship between Dad and Daughter. And also after several microcosms, in which spiders live, and mites spread their charms.

[...] what is most important in this performance happens outside the reception of the children's audience. “My Dad's Universes” can be read as the story of a father raising a child alone, engaged in the trucking business, forcing his child to work. In this context, the multicolored behavior of dad, the ideas that he comes up with, are an attempt to compensate the child of a difficult childhood. This can be evidenced by a famous scene in which the father cannot afford to buy ice cream for his daughter. He transforms a humiliating situation for himself into “playing with food.” The child does not see the reasons for this situation - for him it is just another fascinating idea of the parent. In fact, in such moments (as in by far the most beautiful scene on the ladder), the unconditional love of the father for his daughter, the desire to protect him from an evil, unfair world, is manifested.

Piotr Gaszczyński, Theatre for All

On the other hand, the representation of the elements of “games and games” with which the imagination of a little girl lives, has a lot of charm and can be addictive. Quite a few effects are introduced by costumes and props, such as a spider costume, animated by several actors at the same time, or the appearance of talking mites in the form of luminous dots. The workshop of working on the use of puppet techniques, although not necessarily those to which one could have been accustomed so far, is at a high level here and deserves recognition.

Mateusz Leon Rychlak, Theatre for All

“Universes...” is just such a story for a viewer of any age, in which joy and fun have a bittersweet taste, and the main characters lack neither heroism, nor patience, nor - above all - imagination, which helps them get through a difficult time.

Kinga A. Wojciechowska, PRESTO #41 Fall 2023

Distinctions and trips:

The performance was awarded in the summary of the 2023/2024 theater season of the Theater Monthly in the category best performance for children/youth and best puppet theater performance.

Performance presented at the Little Divine Comedy Festival, organized by Łaźnia Nowa Theatre | 28.09.2024

The performance took part in the 30th National Competition for the Exhibition of Polish Contemporary Art.