"The Mannequins' Ball by the Polish Futurist poet Bruno Jasienski is an outstanding example of the joining of left-wing politics and avant-garde interest in human mechanization that characterized the experimental theatre of the inter-war years. Stalinism and the purges cut short Jasienski's career and prevented productions of his play for many years - except for a brilliant constructivist staging in Prague in 1933. The Mannequins' Ball can now take its place along with Capek's R.U.R. as one of the major twentieth-century dramas making use of the themes and techniques of human automata."--BOOK JACKET.