Alice in Crazyland

young adults, grown-ups

Flisar’s sequel to Alice in Wonderland is set in the fictional land of Poterunija, where Alice and her uncle Skočir find themselves after being sucked into one of the Triglav lakes. The world they land in is at first glance fantastic, but the imaginative and humorous elements that seem absurd and exaggerated reveal some of the most pressing issues of the modern world, such as ecology, capitalism and politics that no longer serve the “little man”.

It is the author’s dramatisation of his own novel titled Alice in Wonderland (Vodnikova založba (DSKG), 2008), which was nominated for the Večernica Award, 2009.

Original title: We are falling, we are falling! (prvotni naslov: Padamo, padamo!)

POTTPOT: Too many products have served their purpose for too long.

POTTEROLA: There aren’t enough new products.

POTTPOT: The minister can’t keep up with people’s demands.

POTTEROONKO: There’s a serious lack of material for support pillars. How’s the minister going to prevent us from plummeting down headfirst?

PROFESSOR: Well, I’ve invented lifebelts!

POTTS: The problem with the lifebelts – and that’s by far the ugliest thing – is that they’re too durable! Not only durable, but also indestructible! Are you aware that due to this serious mistake I have started dismissing employees?

POTTEROLA: To make matters worse …

POTTS: To make matters worse, we’ve realised that the new invention for harmonising mutual relations cannot be implemented successfully.

PROFESSOR: What invention?

POTTSPOT and POTTEROONKO: (Raising their right hands.) The awl!

POTTS: People have grown tired of slapping each other. Potti silencers have become a mere social ritual, like a cup of tea. That’s why Mr Potteroonko invented a third form of expressing annoyance. If you wish to show someone they’ve crossed the border of your tolerance, you just pierce their lifebelt with an awl. Mr Potteroonko, a demonstration, please.

(The two moustached little men each grab an awl and try to pierce each other’s lifebelts. Without success.) See what I mean?

PROFESSOR: But isn’t durability the feature that makes it useful to have lifebelts in the first place?

POTTS: To have, perhaps. But not to produce. If they don’t pay, we won’t have them either.