Bad fairy tales

“Bad fairy tales” is a performance for adults who were once children. A return to the forgotten, repressed and brutal versions of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, in which there is no place for the illusion of a “happy ending”. The inspiration was the collection They lived happily ever after until they died in Eliza Pieciul-Karmińska's choice and translation.

Violence does not cease to exist if we pretend that it does not exist. It does not disappear if we close the child's eyes. It does not disappear if we keep silent about it at home, at school, in the church, in the theatre.On the contrary, violence loves silence. She will always find a place under the carpet, in the closet, under the cassock, in the children's room.

In this sense, the play refers us to the archetype of the forbidden chamber from the fairy tale of Sinobrody. What is forbidden is true. And the truth is that the stories that were supposed to protect us were often tools of oppression. So it's not about throwing them away. It's about coming back to them — consciously, grown-up, with responsibility.

Therefore, “Bad Fairy Tales” is not addressed to children, but to former children who want to finally understand what they were “fed” with. What they soaked up when they were young. It is an act of courage, to open the door to the chamber where the past is hidden and not to look away.

There are stories on the scene about parents who hurt, about children who are silent or take revenge, about bodies that get dirty but not forgotten. Each story is a separate episode — formally and aesthetically different — connected by live music and bodily choreography. Mirek Kaczmarek's scenography and Hashimotowiks' choreographies create a world bordering on the dream, ritual and nightmare of childhood.

The spectacle does not shock for the sake of effect. Its purpose is to confront what is repressed. As in the tale of Sinobrody, the Forbidden Chamber hides what we were not supposed to know. But adulthood is about opening that door and looking the truth in the eye and confronting the truth. Violence doesn't go away when we pretend it doesn't exist. Silence is her best ally. This show is an attempt to break that silence. It's an invitation to be an adult and responsible.

P.S. As a child, always before going to bed, when I spent the night at Halinka's grandmother, I asked her to tell me a “terrible fairy tale”. It was our daily ritual of falling asleep.

In white, fluffy bedding, in my grandmother's arms, I imagined that I was a brave knight who defeats all the monsters invented by my grandmother and defends us from them. I've never felt safer than I did then. I miss those times and Grandma Halinka.

Tell you a terrible fairy tale?

Marcin Liber