Grzegorzewski has transformed the text by Różewicz turning the existential gloomy reality of the poem into an existential operetta. All protagonist of the play are above all decadent artist and suspicious vagabonds fascinated by empty formal experiments. The boxing ring is in fact an artistic cafe which is very funny and perfectly set. Nothing real happens here. Even the boxer who comes frequently onto the ring to fight all (the Pope Innocent included – the very Pope portrayed by both Bacon and Velazquez) is not serious. It may be assessed, however, that the primitive mass culture impersonated by its idol, the boxer, intruded upon the artistic world. I think, that Grzegorzewski’s interpretation is above all a joke, a variation with a Poet, a game between two masters. The game is unfair since the last word obviously belongs to the Director and not to the Author.

Piotr Gruszczyński “Tygodnik Powszechny”

Bacon was famous for his expressionistic pictures depicting decay and deformation of bodies. He wondered whether Gioconda hides rotten teeth behind her mysterious smile. Grzegorzewski went even a step further confronting Różewicz’s poetry with the struggle that – as has been recently proved – evokes far greater emotions than the last exhibition of the contemporary art.
The theatre for the intellectual elite turned into a boxing match, the snobbish audience became a crowd of sports fans – only such modern art may survive – suggests ironically Grzegorzewski, keeping himself in mind, as well.

Roman Pawłowski “Gazeta Wyborcza”