"When asked about the communism time in Poland, my mum would always recall those women called QUEUERS, who used to stand at the butchers' for whole days to buy meat for the others and themselves. It was their job. I found this both fascinating and absurd. What do you do when you just have to stand in a queue and wait day after day, week after week, month after month? My mum, a busy business woman even back then, couldn't tell me. So I had to imagine it all…" Zuza Scherer

The very first production of The Meat Queue was a sell out success


"Creativity, high energy and fun – that's our rehearsals and performance nights in short."
Marina Volkova as Gienia

"As a play write Zuza created recognisable and distinctively strong characters.  Actors wait for such roles!" 
Natalia Goloub as Jadzia

"As a director Zuza made everyone feel appreciated and valued.  "My wonderful cast!" - that is how she used to called us all. It was a real treat to work with Zuza."
Josie Dodds as Wanda

"Zuza had a strong vision of what she wanted to achieve in her play, but at the same time she was open to suggestions and discussions."
Leon Williams as Tony

"Talented, passionate, with a script so good I couldn't put it down until I read it to the very end – that's how I would sum up Zuza."
Anastassia Smirnova as
Blond Beauty

It is 1980. Poland is flooded by strikes. The popular support for Solidarity - anti-communist opposition movement lead by Lech Walesa - is growing as inflation, food shortages and economic crisis bring the country to the verge of revolution.
Jadzia, Gienia and Wanda, three old friends, wait in the queue for the meat to arrive.
Who will win if Communism collapses and who will loose – and who will betray whom?
The Meat Queue is a black comedy in which everyone wants their piece of meat.

Written and directed by Zuza Scherer

Special edition of "The Meat Queue"
To view the interactive version click on the image below. Click on the lower corners to flip the pages.


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This special, limited (10 copies only!) edition of “The Meat Queue” play has been prepared for the occasion of Lech Wałęsa’s, former President of Poland, planned visit to New Zealand in November 2009. The leader of Solidarity was to be a guest speaker at the conference commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Communist regime. 4 copies of “The Meat Queue” have been presented to the following prominent individuals:

Copy Number 1 – the former President of Poland, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Lech Wałęsa.

Copy Number 2 – Mr Stanisław Stoczyński, Polish Consul in New Zealand.

Copy Number 3 – Dr Penelope Ridings, New Zealand Ambassador in Poland.

Copy Number 4 – His Excellency Mr Andrey Tatarinov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation in New Zealand.