The Morality of Mrs. Dulska

“The Morality of Mrs. Dulska”, written in 1906, is a self-called ‘petty-bourgeois tragic-farce’. The story is set in the apartment of the Dulskis in Lviv (there is also another version of the play set in Cracow). Its main problem, that is the crisis of bourgeois morality, is presented by revealing the narrow-mindedness of the Dulskis family, in particular by unmasking the protagonist, the owner of a tenement house. Mrs. Dulska tolerates her son seducing a maid as long as it is not made public. The intrigue is simple: Zbyszko Dulski seduces Hanka, the maid, with the quiet approval of his mother, then for a short while he pretends to make amends and be a gentleman, but the truth is, he is willing to withdraw from the scandal and let his mother take care of “the problem”. The play has a pessimistic overtone; both Zbyszko, the son who becomes rebellious for a moment, and the frail daughter Mela, the youngest of the Dulskis family, fail to oppose the social order.

Written by: Marcin Wrona

Director of photography: Jan Holoubek

Production design by: Anna Wunderlich

Costume design by: Aleksandra Staszko, Małgorzata Karpiuk

Sound: Wacław Pilkowski, Marcin Kijo

Editing: Beata Barciś

Make-up: Liliana Gałązka, Ludmiła Krawczyk

Production manager: Anna Kulawik-Rzońca

Producer: Mirosława Łukaszewicz

Produced by: Polish Television, Instytut Teatralny im. Zbigniewa Raszewskiego (Warsaw)

Cast: Magdalena Cielecka, Robert Więckiewicz, Jakub Gierszał, Jaśmina Polak, Zofia Wichłacz