Word: mrozek
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...COUNTRY IN THE WORLD is producing drama as exciting as the stuff that has come out of post-war Poland. Anybody who's seen Akropolis, the film of Jerzy Grotowski's Polish Laboratory Theater, can bear me out on that. Slawomir Mrozek has already made his mark on modern theater with such widely produced plays as Tango and Police. Like many of his Polish contemporaries, he is preoccupied with the lessons of the Hitler regime. (Grotowski's actors, for instance, wear army fatigues no matter what play they are doing, while dismembered department-store mannequins and blood-stained clothing...
...also the shortest of the three plays. For unknown reasons, two strangers suddenly find themselves trapped in a single room, and in between rationalizing their behavior, they obey the directions of a gigantic hand, which gestures to them to remove their clothes. The gimmick alone is clever, and Mrozek, with a fine sense of the dramatic, skillfully brings out the contrast between the feeble human discussions and the powerful silence of the Hand...
...PLAY is more than just a gimmick. Mrozek expands on the absurd situation with dialogue that is eerie because of its casual tone of day-to-day realism. In the short time we spend with them, we develop definite feelings about Mr. I and Mr. II. Through their comments, even the Hand acquires a distinct personality ("Somebody's fingernails could use a good cleaning, if I may venture an opinion," comments...
...that I was before. As you may have noticed, I did not even get up from my chair." Mr. II, on the other hand, is an activist. With his endearing, common-sense approach, Mr. II makes Mr. I look like a pedantic old fool. Yet it is part of Mrozek's blind justice that they both receive the same fate--Mr. I may not be any better off than Mr. II because of his refusal to act, but neither is he finally worse...
...connections to the Hitler era are obvious: the unquestioning obedience to authority, the abnegation of responsibility, the refusal to alter ordinary patterns of behavior. But these issues apply to other political situations as well, and the play does not depend on the memory of Hitler for its power. Mrozek has created a situation which alludes to the war years and at the same time transcends that specific period. Placed in such a situation, we would be just as likely as Mr. I or Mr. II to act the way they do. We cannot find excuses or explanations for their actions...