Love, money and social conventions form the backbone of Bolesław Prus’s *Lalka* – one of the most significant tales of ambition, social advancement and disillusionment with the modern world. It is a penetrating portrait of an era in which Warsaw becomes the setting for a clash between dreams and the ruthless mechanisms of class and society. In this new production at the Dramatyczny Theatre, Mikita Iłynczyk (director) and Goran Injac (dramaturg) interpret this legendary novel through the prism of the political reality of the late 19th century: a time of partition, a time of subjugation, a time of adapting to a culture that was not one’s own.