Seven Plays by Witkiewicz Format: Paperback

One of Poland’s most important artists and writers of the 20th Century, this collection includes: The Pragmatists, Tumor Brainiowicz, Gyubal Wahazar, The Anonymous Work, The Cuttlefish, Dainty Shapes and Hairy Apes, and The Beelzebub Sonata. Also included is “A Few Words about the Role of the Actor in the Theatre of Pure Form,” a key section of his major theoretical treatise.

Overflowing with hyper-vivid characters and precipitous actions, these dramas constitute Witkiewicz's "portrait of the artist," offering a panorama of a demented era headed for disaster as well as a cracked mirror reflecting the author's own protean faces. Lucille Lortel Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center, City University of New York; Executive Director, Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; editor, Slavic and East European Performance; editor, Routledge Harwood Polish and East European Theatre Archive; author of Witkacy, Guillotine: Its Legend and Lore, Theatre/Theory/Theatre, and translations of Polish and Russian drama.