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In 1953, Sławomir Mrożek wrote an article that was published in the press urging the Polish government to carry out the death sentences decided by a Polish court for three priests convicted on false charges of treason. When asked about the affair later, Mrożek observed that had he lived in Germany during the 1930s he would have been a Hitlerite. However, despite his personal failings Mrożek was one of the great men of polish theatre for his era. His plays will be revived in Poland and taught at universities for years to come.

The text of the play that I read was in an English-language anthology of nine notable plays for the period from 1944 to 1975. Among the distinguished authors represented in this book were David Mamet, Tom Stoppard, Bertolt Brecht and two Nobel laureates (Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter). Mrożek in other words keeps distinguished company even outside of his native country.

Tango has the potential to enjoy a long posterity survive in the English- speaking world because it offers a superb example of the theatre of the absurd. It has uproariously weird characters and bizarre situations that violate the norms of conventional drama with the purpose of making the audience member wonder if life has any meaning. At the same it has excellent Shavian qualities presenting multiple sides of a philosophical debate in a manner guaranteed to provoke discussion among theatregoers at a café after a performance. The intrigue is very solid being taken from Molière's Tartuffe.

Tango presents a generational conflict between a father (Stomil) who believes in experimental art and personal life styles versus a son (Arthur) who wants to restore formalism in art and the actions of individuals in society. The debate is resolved by character named Eddie who penetrates the household like Tartuffe seducing first the father's wife and then the son's fiancée. Eddie appears to be a Bolshevik being working class, blunt and brutal. At the end he kills Arthur to thwart his counterrevolutionary plans, declares himself to be the head of the household and leaves the stage with Arthur's former fiancé on his arm.

In Tango Mrożek has certainly left the stage director with excellent material with which to stage an entertaining production. I personally will not be attending.