Synopses & Reviews
"His plays survive through their sheer emotional intensity."—Guardian
Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) was hailed by Anton Chekhov as the voice of his time. Chekhov described Gorky as "the first in Russia to have expressed contempt and loathing for the bourgeoisie, and he has done it at the precise moment when Russia is ready for protest." These four plays offer a panoramic view of Russian life during the revolutionary years and are here given accurate playable translations by Cathy Porter.
The Last Ones: "A single main conflict, that between two brothers predominates. If Enemies marks the end of Gorky's first period of play writing, then The Last Ones opens the second."—Barry Scherr
Vassa Zheleznova: "It is a startling play, clearly the work of the author of The Lower Depths, and the central responsibility it gives to women is fascinating."—Financial Times
The Zykovs: "Gorky is writing about a bourgeois society in a state of perilous drift. But what gives his play its guts and spirit is his feeling that all these characters have human potential that is being fruitlessly squandered."—Guardian
Egor Bulychev: "The study of a man at grips with the whole problem of existence ... it is the real stuff of tragedy."—The Times
Synopsis
Gorky Plays: 2 Four key new translations of plays (including three previously unpublished works) written at the turn of the 20th century, charting the descent of Russia into revolution
Hailed by Chekhov as the voice of his time, Gorky's four plays offer a panoramic view of Russia in the throes of revolution.
THE ZYKOVS is set shortly before the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917. Antipa Zykov is a merchant adventurer. His young wife, Pavla is an unworldly convent-bred girl, too weak to realise these ideals in her stormy marriage.
EGOR BULYCHOV is set on the eve of revolution as the rich businessman of the title is given power, after the Tsar's abdication. But the songs of the demonstrating crowds outside his window show that his days are numbered.
Subtitled 'The Mother' and hugely controversial at the time of its first production VASSA ZHELEZNOVA, is a tragic portrait of a woman with an iron will determined to root out the corruption in her family in order to keep control of the family business.
Written during his most religious phase, THE LAST ONES is about a corrupt police chief and his family who face death at the hands of revolutionaries as he tries to fight back by lynching a young man.
Synopsis
Brand new English translations of the late plays by Russia's revolutionary playwright.