by Witold Gombrowicz
The sunset is beautiful, life at court is rich and carefree, the prospect of becoming king one day is appealing and the women seek his company. Everything is going well for Prince Philip. And yet he is bored - or is that precisely why? The lush monotony of the court seems to make him tired.
On a whim, he throws the royal court into turmoil: he introduces the bourgeois Yvonne as his fiancée. Yvonne is completely different from everyone else.
Like a termite in a wooden palace, she appears in royal society and gnaws at its smooth, functioning surface.
But the most peculiar thing is that Yvonne does not speak. She remains silent, even when evil jokes are played on her. She is mocked, teased, maltreated - and she always remains silent. This is almost unbearable for the court society. Why? Do the nobles perhaps feel that they have been caught out?
The aristocracy feels increasingly provoked by this, caught out in their own sins and finally seeks bloody revenge.
Witold Gombrowicz plays with the nebulous fear of the stranger in his bitterly evil play.
