The Redheads [Les Rouquins]

In this short 30-minute play, Grumberg sketches a brief glimpse of everyday life. A couple meets up over a meal; they exchange pleasantries and discuss the “final solution” taking place in the country. After the extermination of albinos, the ethnic cleansing extends to redheads. As the two protagonists, husband and wife, sit in front of the TV in the evening, they indiscriminately judge these different groups of individuals as dangerous, and their indifference to the events exemplifies Primo Levi’s "gray zone." However, the prejudices exposed during the conversation between husband and wife are eclipsed by the farcical nature of the performance itself. The play is part of the collection The Others (Les Autres)—with Holiday (Les Vacances), Brawl (Rixe), Michu, and The Gnoufs (Les Gnoufs). All focus on the fear and the threat of otherness.

Format: One-act play

Cast Size: 1M/1F

Running Time: 30 minutes

Original or Prominent Production:
First performed in 1990, directed by Jean-Louis Colinet, Théâtre de la Reinaissance, Liège, France.

Original Language: French

Publisher:

Part of a collection of works. (“Les autres”: “Les Vacances,” “Michu,” “Rixe,” “Les Rouquins,” “Les Gnoufs”) edited by Actes Sud Papiers, 1985. Also in “Les courtes” Babel N° 159 (Coédition Actes-Sud, Labor, L’Aire, Leméac).

Experience(s) Chronicled: Germany, Hitler and the Growth of Nazism | Allegoric or Metaphoric Representations