Ivona, Princess of Burgundia

The performance was honored with the main awards, incl. at the XXIV National Festival of Puppet Theaters (Opole 2009), the International Theater Festival SPOTKANIA in Toruń (2009), a special award for Marian Pecko during the XXXV Opole Theater Confrontations "Polish Classic 2010", a special prize of the XXIV International Festival of Puppetry Art in Bielsko-Biała (2010) ); winner of the Golden Masks for 2009

From Review:

The performance by Slovak artists is a brilliant production that brings to the surface the most important thoughts from Gombrowicz's drama, which, thanks to the form imposed by the director, form an ironic image of society. Pecko treats the text of the great Polish writer, sometimes with a grain of salt, allowing the actors to play their roles freely and use the absurd and grotesque at will. It serves primarily to emphasize the humorous dimension of the piece, and thus to reveal its true meanings. The actors must therefore be very careful not to succumb to the temptation and not to play their roles only the so-called thick line. It must be admitted that they do it skillfully and with sensitivity, creating important, interesting, but sometimes also hilarious creations. In a few fragments (including the ending), however, the performance is deadly serious. The clash of these two values: seriousness and humor allows the director to surprise the audience (...). Pecko decided to put on a performance that largely focuses on the form of drama theater. However, he enriches them with perfectly used dolls that accompany the actors, but are only their clear, consciously used (or at other times almost ostentatiously put aside) accessory. "Ivona, Princess of Burgundy" is a performance (...) that has a chance to interest a wide audience.

Aleksandra Konopko Gazeta Wyborcza - Opole May 26, 2009

"Ivona" begins quite (...) biased for Gombrowicz. On the stage, surrounded on two sides by the audience, enter eight funny and a little scary figures straight from the world of the Adams. Sitting on the chairs, they look haughtily and ironically at the audience, while the "narrator" briefly summarizes the text of the drama and presents four basic assumptions of Gombrowicz's philosophy. Great make-up for demonic, exaggerated characters with whitened faces, red lips and huge co-shapes, attracts attention from the beginning of the performance to the last scene. (...) Pathos, emphasized by great music, is constantly mixed with grotesque, exaggeration and laughter. Outstanding acting performances are an undoubted advantage of the Opole spectacle

Monika Leonowicz New Critical Force 01-06-2009