Joël Pommerat: Little Red Riding Hood

Translated from French by Akvilė MELKŪNAITĖ

Paulius Tamolė: “Pommerat’s *Little Red Riding Hood* is about a little girl and her loneliness. Do we, as parents, ever stop to think about how lonely our children can be when they lack the attention of those close to them? How does loneliness affect a child? What is the relationship between children and parents, in general? What do we mean by children’s independence? This fairy tale speaks of an encounter between three generations. A daughter, a mother and a grandmother communicate here. Our fears, complexes or strangers are embodied in the character of the wolf. All of this lies within this authentic work, whose plot comes from the original *Little Red Riding Hood*.

The play is very spare: as you read it, you realise that only as much as necessary has been written. On the other hand, this concise and precise language leaves a great deal of room for the imagination. I am raising my five-year-old daughter Elzė; she is my Little Red Riding Hood. Ideas and thoughts come to me as I watch her and spend time with her. The stories of little girls remain much the same as they were in the time of the Brothers Grimm; only the context has changed. That is what we will try to talk about with the audience through the performance.

I imagine a theatre for families. After all, children usually come to children’s performances with their parents. I really want them all to enjoy the time they spend together at the theatre. In the information age, it is important for time, racing by like lightning, to stop for a little while at the theatre. It is important, too, that after the performance there be a place and time to continue communicating with the child, to share thoughts about what they saw, felt, understood and learned.”

*Attention! The performance is interactive, and children will be invited to draw during it, so please arrive dressed appropriately, in clothes you don’t mind getting accidentally stained.

Joël Pommerat was born in Rouen in 1963. After acting with a local theatre troupe from the age of 18, he began writing texts for the theatre in 1986. The playwright’s works are staged in various countries around the world. From 2010, J. Pommerat worked at the Odéon Theatre and also at Belgium’s National Theatre. In 2014, Philippe Quesne and Nathalie Vimeux invited J. Pommerat to join the artists’ association at the Nanterre-Amandiers Theatre. J. Pommerat has received more than 15 national and international awards. In 2015, he received the Académie française’s Grand Prix du Théâtre for his dramatic works, and in 2016 he received the Europe Theatre Prize’s “New Theatrical Realities” award.