Dorota Masłowska (1983) is a young Polish writer whose debut novel, written in 2002, has catapulted her among the best-selling and most translated Polish authors. The play No Matter How Hard We Tried (2008) was commissioned by the Berlin theatre Schaubühne where it premiered to a great success in March 2009. It is a story of three generations of women. A girl, a mother and a grandmother live in a modest apartment and cannot afford most of what is nowadays considered as taken for granted. Through their limited worlds an image of life is being composed which is »recycled« from memories, discarded objects, senseless commercial slogans, advice for healthy living (which they do not follow) and a wide range of everything that is unattainable to them. Masłowska is an insightful, sharp and immensely entertaining observer of social absurdities and contemporary alienation increased more and more by the so-called »lifestyle« pieces of advice. The play No Matter How Hard We Tried speaks about the identity crisis of deprived man who cannot be a consumer both in a radical and very witty way. It makes fun of media and the so-called pieces of art which feed on sensational stories and social issues in order to justify their sheer existence.