język polskijęzyk angielski

The suicidal sunday boom

Genre
Drama
Female cast
Male cast
Original language of the play
Details
German version of the play by Marie Hauptmayer
Original title
Najwięcej samobójstw zdarza się w niedzielę

Anna Burzyńska's play was influenced by the article published in "Polityka" and dealing with the circumstances of young Polish businessmen and the plague of suicides, which happen on Sundays. The author was probably frightened by the vision of a well arranged and planned life of thirty-year-olds, who, like young piranhas, are climbing the career-ladder in new and big foreign managerial companies. These are also the protagonists of "Most suicides happen on Sunday" - Klara and Nikodem. Both educated, determined to change their fate by running away from home, a provincial town, changing their name as Klara did, freeing themselves from their own personality, or denying family values like Nikodem. They both believed in the durability of their brilliant careers and even in their genius in a difficult professional market, where tens and hundreds of similar people are fighting among themselves for better cars, impressive offices, mobile phones, membership in elite clubs, living in exclusive housing estates, and above all for prestige in their own eyes. They believe in their exceptionality and good fortune. They are not prepared to fail, nor to accept the fall.

The author's skillful dramaturgical approach has the characters facing the collapse of their world. They lose their jobs and do not admit the failure to their partner. They construct a fictional world, pretend to be normal, which has not been normal for a long time. Their contacts are recorded by a telephone answering machine, their intimacy comes down to a few minutes of a morning snuggling. They don't really know anything about each other, and yet they live together and consider themselves happy.

It is only the crash on their professional stock exchange that reveals emptiness, real loneliness, helplessness. It becomes a paradox that the mutual rapprochement occurs at the moment of departure - they are planning a joint suicide. Escape. A terrifying Sunday conversation, with an even more terrifying conclusion, ends like at the office. On a calendar - on Monday - they put an "S", with a capital letter, and even change the recording on the answering machine: "This is Klara's and Nik's apartment. We're not here. Beep..." But was it something strange? They were never at home anyway, and the answering machine was their confidant and now it will probably keep their secret too. The world of illusion that was created for them and that they built themselves fell apart like a house of cards.  Small piranhas were devoured by big sharks.