Hansel was born on Thursday, the day of vegetable soup, and immediately introduced uncertainty into Gretel’s life. The younger brother deprived the older sister of her sense of parental closeness and the previous attention of mum and dad. Her life lost its balance and jealousy increasingly overshadowed everyday life.

When the parents left the children in the forest, the children, seeking shelter, ended up at the Witch’s house. There, exhausted and hungry, they were finally able to eat. Although we all remember what it was like to eat in Baba Yaga’s hut. At one point, Gretel felt an overwhelming temptation to push her brother into the oven. She gathered up all her resentments and bad emotions towards Hansel. The grievances she had accumulated over the years swirled around in her head and pulsed to the fire buzzing in the cooker. And then Gretel came to her senses – after all, without her brother… she wouldn’t be Gretel.

To celebrate its 95th anniversary, the Baj Theatre has invited highly acclaimed artists from Canada’s iconic Le Carrousel. The unique, lively text by the highly acclaimed author Suzanne Lebeau, full of twists and turns and highlighted emotions, corresponds with the classic fairy tale we all know so well. However, it puts the accents in completely different places and offers a reflection on reality and family relatability.

The performance is realised as part of the project 95 Years of the Oldest Puppet Theatre in Poland, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for the Promotion of Culture – a state-earmarked fund.

“Gretel et Hansel” is a production of Teatr BAJ Based on an original creation by Le Carrousel, compagnie de théâtre (Québec), in co-production with Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne (Québec), Muni-Spec Mont-Laurier (Québec), and Le Théâtre, Scène nationale de Narbonne (France). The script received an Aide à la création grant from Centre national du théâtre (France).