Abstract
Born in 1938, Janusz Glowacki is a novelist; dramaturge, script-writer and essayist as well as being a playwright. He has a degree in philology from Warsaw University and has published five collections of short stories, two novels and also two volumes of essays. He has written the scripts of a number of films, among them one by Andrzej Wajda. Four of his plays have been staged in Poland and abroad. In December 1981 the Royal Court theatre in London put on his play Kopcíuch.
The following is a fragment from the play Fortinbras Got Drunk; the title Guards was given to the extract by the editors of PULS (London), where it was first published. (See also box on p. 14.)
Night. In this play the night is continuous. Everything should take place in semi-darkness, broken only by the glow of torches, or dim light, possibly moonlight. The audience should have the feeling that the events are taking place during a single night. Maybe it is really so; our knowledge about the duration of Norwegian nights, and especially of that night, is limited. On the stage stands a large tree covered in snow. At the back of the stage, which ought to be deep, there are the outlines of something like a huge ornamental tent. One can hear the wind blowing. Maybe snow is falling lightly. Long shrill screams are heard. Then the first Guard, till now unseen, slowly moves out from under the tree. He is about 20 years old, has a cuirass, sword, and is wrapped up in rags of some sort to keep out the cold. He shakes off the snow, moves about to keep warm, takes out a leather flask from under his rags and starts to struggle with its top which has got stuck. He tries every way he knows: his teeth, banging the bottom of the flask, hitting the bottle over his knee, against the tree, stamping his feet on the flask … Finally, when he has nearly given up, the top eases off. He raises the flask, trying to drink, but as he swallows the first sip, the piercing painful screams start again. He begins to choke, shudders and spits. In comes the second Guard, about 40 years old. On his shoulders he carries two swords, well wrapped in rags.