XVII MFG Iwona Princess Burgundy

Competition performance of the XVII International Gombrowicz Festival. National Comedy Theatre in Skopje, North Macedonia

Witold Gombrowicz's “Iwona, Princess of Burgundy” is a story about silence that changes the world around her. Iwona does not speak, and her silence acts like a mirror, exposing the hypocrisy, weakness and fear of everyone around her. Prince Philip sees her in a moment of boredom. What begins as a minor outdoor joke quickly becomes the main problem of the story. Every attempt by the prince to “decipher” her silence makes him treat her as a reflection of the lake into which Prince Narcissus falls, loving and hating her, while she takes no action. The royal family, unable to cope with its otherness, gradually disintegrates under the weight of its own secrets, and the masks of politeness and decency, reinforced by royal protocol, slide off their faces in the face of Iwona's gaze.

The scenery is minimalist and metaphorical: we find ourselves in a castle and at the same time we see the reflection of the river. Without physical changes, mental and mental spaces emerge before our eyes, and the stream of thoughts of the characters becomes visible to viewers. Characters are present even when they are not there; their fears and desires are revealed, creating an atmosphere of observation that is both intimate and uncomfortable. Iwona's silence evokes absurd situations, tickling humor bordering on disgust and hysteria to expose the violence hidden behind the guise of order and protocol. Although the text was written before World War II, its relevance is striking today when we place the play in a contemporary context, where cases of femicide are as (non) visible as collective blindness and forgetfulness. Iwona is not just a character; she is a potential for change that the system and the world around her are trying to destroy. Her death is not only physical, but also symbolic: the destruction of the possibility of facing the truth.

The show explores the absurdity of human existence, the contradictions between good and evil, entertainment and sadness, boredom and passion. Viewers come face to face with laughter and a breakdown of moral values, a sense of hysterical and tragic absurdity, which leaves them with questions that are simple yet inevitable: if she had spoken, would anything have changed? Would there be anyone who would listen to her? And to what extent are we prepared to face our hypocrisy? Ivona, though distinctly human: breathing, thinking, feeling, is seen as a mirror, a catalyst and a warning against the lowest human passions. The scene becomes a place where silence speaks louder than words, and power and humanity collide in their purest and most absurd form.