It is 1791 and emotions ride high in Warsaw. A militant mood was catching on in Warsaw: the outbreak of the Kościuszko Uprising and the third partition of Poland were imminent. King Stanisław August seemed not have a care in the world. Enter happy vaudeville, Wojciech Bogusławski's Cracovians and Highlanders, interpreted as a political allegory, accessible to all, welcomed with euphoria by the audience. Full-blooded, believable characters fill the stage, dancing to the rhythms of mazurka and the energy of krakoviak (Kraków region folk dance). Music composed by Jan Stefani is a mix of Polish folklore with classical forms. The work is certainly the document of the past epoch but remains current to this day, "playing to say what’s necessary when it’s necessary".