Created on the basis of an Enlightenment comedy, this performance terrifies audiences, making them laugh until they cry: “Drunkenness in all its variants, very insinuatingly enacted by the actors, is (forgive the pun) the spiritus movens of Wysocka’s production. This initially sluggish tale (…) accelerates with every shot glass. The set is veristic at first, presenting a hideous urban courtyard with garages, a carpet-beating rack, an old bathtub, and a barbeque, then becomes increasingly Expressionistic (…). And, somewhat as in commedia dell’arte, our laughter at the consecutive, increasingly macabre illnesses that strike our protagonists, and the increasingly grotesque methods by which they are cured is paired with a certain discomfort – and this grows larger the louder we guffaw. The fun in The Drunks is much less innocent than it might seem,” warns Anna R. Burzyńska in dwutygodnik.com. In this play, which shows Poland through the lens of its eternal addiction, euphoria blends with a powerful hangover…

Barbara Wysocka’s “The Drunks” is not a campaign against alcohol. It neither condemns, nor shocks, nor relies on formulae. There are none of the typical theatrical drunken caricatures in this brilliant ensemble piece. There is a discreet realism that serves more to set the characters apart than to make a powerful effect. Bohomolec’s 18th-century text rings graceful and true on stage. Because the various scenes with inebriated people – men and women both – strike us as entirely natural. And this is the terrifying part about Wysocka’s play.
Justyna Nowicka, Rzeczpospolita