Feeling othered and unwelcome in London, Daisy returns to Poland just before Christmas after almost a decade of absence. What unravels is a tale of tragedy and an intimate look at the meaning of home.
A wonderfully fresh perspective that is dying to be heard.
Playing out entirely in conversations between two sisters, F*ck Polite is both a small story about the struggles of two different lives and an exploration of much bigger themes of the immigrant experience and how languages frames and impacts our life.
Adrianna Pavlovska and Barbara Blanka both turn in moving performances as the conflict and story escalate to new levels when the two sisters worlds collide as they find themselves unable to understand the other's experience.
While a play of constant arguing between two sisters would indeed be a bleak experience, F*ck Polite beautifully blends in flashbacks to earlier years before their separation. Played out in softer light and spoken entirely in Polish, one doesn’t need to understand the language to see the poetry between the past and present.
It is these scenes in which the strength of the two actors shines through. I understand no Polish at all yet the meaning of these scenes is not obscured in the slightest. It is an artistically bold move that beautifully captures the subtler themes of the play along with the explosive moments of confrontation.
The only gripe I can muster is that the dialogue and conflict can feel a bit repetitive at times as the same lines are shouted back and forth and every moment of common ground quickly descends into a new conflict. This is, however, a minor nitpick in solid show.
F*ck Polite is a powerful and personal performance by superb actors. It explores a wonderfully fresh perspective that is dying to be heard, particularly in a post-Brexit referendum landscape, and delivers a memorable experience.
