Karhu, E.L.LeipäjonoballadiBread Line Ballad

Year of writing: 2009
Roles in total: 4

What is hidden behind the word ”poverty”? Shame, suspicion, uncertainty, apathy and hunger. A bread line is a meeting point of hundreds of individual stories and destinies. The wild cavalcade shows us a family struggling with the demands of everyday life, a man enlightened against his will, a late-rising woman who hasn’t understood her situation yet, and Saint Francis of Assisi, who preaches voluntary poverty.

The short flashes of E.L. Karhu’s play form a kaleidoscope-like picture of the corrosive effect of poverty on the human body and mind, and eventually on the society itself. Bread Line Ballad blends absurd and realism in a darkly funny and wildly imaginative way.

The play has been translated into English, French and German. It has been produced by Theater Blaue Maus in Munich.

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