Stranger than Poland

THEATER

When martial law was declared in Poland in December 1981, Janusz Glowacki was in London attending the British premiere of his play Cinders— a political allegoiy about contemporary Poland. Choosing

not to return to his captive homeland, Glowacki eventually settled in New York, where he's lived and worked since 1982. Apparently it hasn't all been a bed of roses. Glowacki's new play, Hunting Cockroaches, explores the plight of the 6migr6 artist set adrift in the wilds of Manhattan without money, friends, connections, or a reputation for anything other than having been victimized by oppression. A bittersweet comedy, alternately poignant and burlesque, the play follows a Polish couple (a playwright and his actress wife) through a sleepless night in their tenement apartment on the Lower East Side. They battle insects, memories, and each other. Surreal characters, embodying their fears and anxieties, pop in and out from under the bed, while the odd reference to Macbeth knits up the several themes of guilt, insomnia, and theatricality. Highly autobiographical, Hunting Cockroaches is a departure from Cinders in that it draws America within the compass of Glowacki's satirical embrace. His feelings about the K.G.B. haven't changed, it's just that now he can poke fun at some of our sacred institutions—Susan Sontag, the Village Voice, "compassionate" liberals. Oh well. If a Polish 6migr£ can't criticize the West on the New York stage, what's the free world all about? Manhattan Theatre Club. New York. (2112-3122)

MIMI KRAMER