język polskijęzyk angielski

A road slippery with grass. The time a devil passed through a village...

Genre
Drama
The place of action
countryside
Female cast
Male cast
Original language of the play
Details
tragicomedy; received an award for the best dramatic text in the National Polish Competition for the Production of Polish Contemporary Play
Original title
Droga śliska od traw. Jak to diabeł wsią się przeszedł...

On Christmas Eve, Bogdan returns to the village. From prison. He's coming back and he's disturbing the festive mood. Fear has once again entered the hearts of the villagers. The only person who is not afraid of the newcomer is Jasiek. He's got his faults, and he's impulsive and ready to fight. Strict and brutal for his own family, however, he has some sense of justice in him. And a weakness for his sister, Sabinka. He resists, but finally accepts her relationship with Paul, Jehovah's son. But evil is hard to stop. Bogdan sets fire to Jehovah's possessions, and the barn, grain, and cows go up in smoke. Everyone knows he did it, but they remain silent. They fear for their lives and their loved ones. Acceptance of evil triggers greater evil. Bogdan murders Jehovah and Paul. Jasiek finds the murderer's bloody clothes by the river and sets off to meet him. He is overpowered by Bogdan and his wife, Marysia, who, like a hypnotized woman, has passed to his side. They want to hang Jasiek. In the barn. Quickly, don't let him suffer, because he was good to them... Meanwhile, Jasiek's mother brings the whole village to the rescue. With pitchforks, stanchions, shovels. They've already found Jehovah and Paul's corpses. Bogdan tries to save himself by jumping into the river, but the peasants do not let him go ashore. He's sinking. The village doesn't go to communion for a year, because the priest wouldn't give the, absolution anyway. And then a big flood washes half the village away. Is that God's punishment? Have the trespasses been redeemed? Evil driven away? Or is it just lurking and waiting...

  •  „A ballad balancing on the verge of improbability about people who wake up to evil - and who become its victims. A dark, emotionally dense story that takes place in a village where everyone has two faces. The past is intertwined with new conflicts: love clashes with hatred, forgiveness with crime, fear with euphoria. No one will get out of here unscathed.” (source: Teatr Modrzejewskiej in Legnica)
  • „…Under the guise of a folk ballad, we are presented with a dark thriller, close to the poetics of Wojciech Smarzowski's films. And although the whole thing starts with a Christmas Eve supper, we will not find here a refreshing image of community - it is replaced by hypocrisy and emptiness hidden in ritual gestures. Here, the devil, who has stopped in the village for a while, is actually unnecessary. Because people are cooking up a hell on earth for themselves." (source: Gazeta Wyborcza)