Aleksander Fredro: Three Plays,

Book excerpt: The extraordinary career and impressive literary output of the Father of Polish comedy, Aleksander Fredro, was the subject of much celebration in Poland in 1993, the bicentenary of his birth. These new translations by Noel Clark of three of Fredros best known plays should do much to repair the relative ignorance of his works in this country. Virgins Vows generally regarded as Fredros most accomplished comedy and The Annuity, both reflect the authors awareness of the disadvantages suffered by young women in a male-dominated society. Revenge is a seemingly innocent social comedy about a property dispute, but the Russian censors of his day were not slow to spot the subversive potential of the play. Noel Clarks translations of Revenge and Virgins Vows have been broadcast, to much acclaim, by the BBC World Service