Why the Child is cooking in the Polenta?

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t is a monodrama by Joanna Pietrzak based on the novel by Aglaya Veteranyi. A nomadic family of circus performers, refugees from Romania, travels through Europe and Africa by caravan. The mother’s death-defying act causes constant anxiety for her two daughters, who voice their fears through a grim communal fairy tale about a child being cooked alive in polenta — but their real life is no less of a dark fable, and one that seems just as unlikely to have a happy ending. Veteranyi was acclaimed for her book with various awards, including Chamisso Award and grants in Switzerland and Germany. In 2001 in Zurich there was a theatre performance based on this book.