Drama
Subject:
Old Age
Relationships

Text in::he

English

Polish

Yona Popukh, waking up beside his wife Leviva in the middle of the night, realizes he is tired of his life and decides to leave home in search of a better life—and perhaps new love. He quarrels with Leviva, questions the meaning of his life, and is joined by Gunkel, a hypochondriac friend whose own misery offers Yona an even starker perspective on his discontent. The play unfolds as a night of confrontation, nostalgia, missed opportunities, and bitter humor, revealing the compromises, disappointments, and longing that form the “labor” of life. Ultimately, Yona resigns himself to his fate and dies, letting go of his unattainable dreams. The entire play takes place on a single winter night in the Popukh family bedroom