"...human things," notes Socrates in Book VIII of Plato's 'Republic,' "are fated to decay, and even the perfect City will not escape from this law of destiny." This sober teaching seems to be at the heart of Director Jan Klata's rendition of "...daughter of Fizdejka," which may well disabuse viewers of the illusion that any human politics can exceed the limits of human nature.

The original "Janulka, Daughter of Fizdejka," performed in 1923, recounted the XIII century attempt by neocrusaders to civilize the barbarian hordes of Lithuania, only to find themselves, almost in the vein of Conrad's Mr. Kurtz, whispering upon unhearing ears "the horror! the horror!" Poland's Jan Klata, a young director known for his gritty and uncompromising adaptations, revamps the play, performed in the "Szaniawski Teatr" in Wałbrzych. Situating the action in Walbrzych, an impoverished Polish city, racked by unemployment and homelessness, the neo-neocrusaders, if you'll forgive the phrasing, are none other than EU bureaucrats, enthusiastically attempting to remake the tumults of Walbrzych into citizens of the global homogenous state. Some critics point out that the play, which opened not long after the ascent of Poland into the European Union, does a disservice to the event which transpired after more than a decade of effort on the part of the country's statesmen and was w