It is famously subtitled a "comedy with corpses" because characters frequently die or return from the dead without the expected tragic weight.
While it is one of Witkacy’s works closest to a realistic setting, it uses that setting specifically to dismantle the conventions of stage realism. w_malym_dworku_stanislaw_ignacy_witkiewicz_1969...
To everyone’s surprise, the ghost of the mother actually appears and begins participating in the family's daily life as if it were perfectly normal. It is famously subtitled a "comedy with corpses"
(In a Small Country House) is a classic 1921 drama by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy) that serves as a grotesque parody of 19th-century realistic theater. The 1969 production typically refers to the Television Theater (Teatr Telewizji) adaptation directed by Helmut Kajzar , which brought Witkacy's absurdist "comedy with corpses" to a wider audience. Production Details (1969 Adaptation) (In a Small Country House) is a classic
The story is set in a fictional Polish manor house where the owner, , lives with his two daughters.
A year after his wife, Anastazja, died under mysterious circumstances, the daughters hold a spiritualist séance .
The play is a prime example of Witkacy’s , which aimed to provoke a "metaphysical shudder" in the audience by moving away from realism toward a more mystical and abstract theatrical experience.