Slawomir Mrozek~TANGO~1968 Paperback~2nd Printing~Evergreen~Grove Press~Rare Gem.

Tango

a play by

Slawomir Mrozek

translated by Ralph Manheim and Teresa Dzieduscycka

"Tango unmistakably establishes Mrozek as one of the leading European dramatists. Tango is lively enough and witty enough to command attention in any circumstances, but apart from its intrinsic attractiveness, it must also be seen as a parable of modern history, with the Bohemian family reflecting the disorder of life between the wars and Arthur expressing the nostalgia of reaction. ... Tango belongs to Mrozek's continuing war against power's savage parody of logic. -Henry Popkin, Tulane Drama Review

In Tango, as in Mrozek's earlier plays, perfect logic is energetically applied to illogical ends. Arthur lives with his Bohemian family in appalling disorder: His mother sleeps with a vulgar hoodlum; his father looks the other way, meanwhile writing avant-garde plays; and his grandmother plays cards incessantly. Arthur's elaborate coup d'état, by which he seeks to establish his kind of order in the house at the point of a gun, leads to his total defeat and ends in one of the most chilling moments in the literature of the modern theater.