Loose Screws

An unprecedented anthology of contemporary Polish drama, Loose Screws brings together nine previously untranslated plays by prominent playwrights who have emerged in rapidly changing postcommunist landscapes. The plays expose ways in which individual and social violence impinge upon each other, disrupt notions of a monolithic Polish identity, and try to find meaning within the post-9/11 global context. This comprehensive collection offers an account of Polish history and politics though plays that range in subject from communism to mental illness, criminal and social violence, and working-class life and globalization. Serving as the cornerstone for the collection, Malgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk's Loose Screws examines the ways in which various psychopathologies play themselves out in the private and public spheres in postcommunist Poland. The anthology includes a substantive introduction that situates each play within its historical, political, and theatrical context.