''The Marriage'' ( pl, Ślub) is a play by the Polish writer

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937 he published his f ...

, written in Argentina after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The narrative takes place in a dream, where the dreamer transforms into a king and plans to marry his fiancée in a royal wedding, only as a means to save their integrity. A Spanish translation was first published in 1948, followed by the original Polish version in 1953. The play was first performed in 1960.

Plot

Henryk has a dream where his childhood home has been turned into an inn. His father is the innkeeper and his fiancée, Mania, is a serving maid. Drunkards begin to cause trouble and pursue the father. The father, to defend his dignity, claims that he is untouchable, "like a king". This would make Henryk a prince. Henryk is then promised a marriage with Mania, a marriage worthy of a royal in order to restore her purity. As the marriage is prepared—it will be celebrated by none other than a bishop—Henryk begins to have doubts about the validity of the dream. The drunkard enters and is about to fight Henryk when the scene changes into a court banquet. The drunkard is now an ambassador of a hostile nation. The drunkard makes Henryk's friend Władzio hold a flower over Mania's head. He then makes the flower disappear, leaving the two in an improper position, to Henryk's indignation. Henryk becomes a dictator who rules over the whole world. The marriage is still in preparation. Henryk is worried since he has doubts whether his power has any meaning when he is omnipotent. He therefore asks Władzio to sacrifice himself, as a way to confirm his power, and also to satisfy his jealousy. Władzio agrees and goes on to kill himself. Henryk regrets what he has done, and the marriage is cancelled.

Background

lived in Argentina from 1939 to 1963. He began to write ''The Marriage'' in August 1946 and it was finished in September the following year. It was first published in a Spanish translation in 1948, and in its original Polish version in 1953, together with the novel '' Trans-Atlantyk''. An English translation was published by

Grove Press Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...

in 1969.

Production history

''The Marriage'' was first performed in

Gliwice Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional cap ...

, Poland in 1960, under the direction of Jerzy Jarocki. The production was stopped by the censors after four performances. In 1963, the French director

Jorge Lavelli Jorge Lavelli (born 1932, Buenos Aires) is a French theater and opera director of Italian ethnicity and Argentine origin. The son of Italian immigrants in Argentina, Lavelli has lived in France since the early 1960s. He became a French citizen in ...

staged the play at the

Théâtre Récamier The théâtre Récamier was a Parisian Theater (building), theatre located at 3 rue Récamier in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, inaugurated in 1908 and closed in 1978. History Originally, it was an entertainment venue built by Charles Blonde ...

in Paris, to critical success. The

Royal Dramatic Theatre The Royal Dramatic Theatre ( sv, Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The the ...

in Stockholm performed the play in 1966, with

Alf Sjöberg Sven Erik Alf Sjöberg (21 June 1903 – 17 April 1980) was a Sweden, Swedish theatre director, theatre and film director. He won the Palme d'Or, Grand Prix du Festival at the Cannes Film Festival twice: in 1946 for ''Torment (1944 film), Torment ...

as director and

Ernst-Hugo Järegård Ernst-Hugo Alfred Järegård (12 December 1928 – 6 September 1998) was a Swedish actor. Biography Järegård was born in Ystad. He received his acting training at Malmö City Theatre. From 1962 he was an actor in Sweden's prominent Royal Dra ...

in a role. The first full-scale Polish production was directed by Jarocki in 1974 for the Teatr Dramatyczny in Warsaw.

Opera

Volker David Kirchner Volker David Kirchner (25 June 1942 – 4 February 2020) was a German composer and violist. After studies of violin and composition at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory, the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, he w ...

composed an opera based on the play, ''Die Trauung'', which premiered on 27 April 1975 at the

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden ('Hessian State Theatre Wiesbaden') is a German theatre located in Wiesbaden, in the German state Hesse. The company produces operas, plays, ballets, musicals and concerts on four stages. Known also as the ...

, conducted by Siegfried Köhler.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marriage, The 1948 plays Polish plays Works by Witold Gombrowicz Polish-Argentine culture