język polskijęzyk angielski

Unfinished Story

Genre
Drama
Female cast
Male cast
Original language of the play
Characters
...for 30 characters, choir and a brass band
Details
winner of the Metaphors of Reality 2009 competition (Audience and Journalists' award)
Cast details
ensemble piece, but can be staged with a smaller cast: 2F+M; 2F+2M; 3F+2M, the choir can be off-stage, the actors can recite the choir’s lines, taking turns, to signal that they’re out of character at the moment
Original title
Nieskończona historia

What are the inhabitants of a typical Polish tenement house like? Aniela Dąbkowa and Wiktoria Dworniczek are two pious old ladies. They often visit each other and go to church. One day Dąbkowa finds the absence of her friend terrifying. It soon turns out that the old lady fell in the hallway and died. Her death is reported by successive residents of the tenement house, whose names do not accidentally refer to the biblical ones. Andrzej - an ambulance driver, waiting for the body of the deceased - tells a well-known radio presenter his dreams about angels. Aniela Dąbkowa is visited by her grandchildren, Anna and Paul... but they actually just give her a pot of anti-wrinkle cream and run away quickly. Jacob, pushed by some mysterious force, makes a purchase in the antique shop "Gilgamesh". In his dreams, Matthew learns the secret of the Holy Trinity, but just after waking up he forgets everything. In Artur Pałyga's play, even everyday objects get their chance to shine, such as the Calendar or A Piece of the An Old Yellowed Newspaper.

The drama shows the protagonists right after waking up, when the boundaries between sleep and reality are still blurred. It is a poetic fresco about the crisis of faith and passing away.

 

  • translated into German