Comedy

A bitter comedy that many directors such as Meyerhold and Stanislavski wanted to stage, but which Stalin himself forbid. The consequence? The author, a genius writer, was deported to Siberia and condemned to remain anonymous. After his death, this play gave the playwright the international celebrity. The Suicide is nowadays performed all over the world, re-launching a dramatic question: does life make sense?

The play is a tragicomic indictment to ferocious selfishness, a farce in which life is measly, and death is speculated for the benefit of one's own interest.A show of shocking and painful timeliness about the crisis of a man on the waves of society's crisis.A play of mad courage written in totalitarianism, a desperate cry for earning the right to whisper.

About the author:

Nikolai Robertovici Erdman, Russian playwright and scriptwriter, was born in Moscow on November 16th, 1900, and not in 1902, as practically all dictionaries and encyclopaedias state. His plays (TheMandate and The Suicide), unfortunately little known to us, are considered masterpieces of the genre and connect Gogol's satirical theatre to the theatre of the absurd after World War II.

As a poet, he is part of the Imagist group, an artistic current initiated by Serghei Esenin. He signs sketches, vaudevilles, and parodies that are played on theatre stages in Moscow.

In 1924, he entrusted the Mandate, his first play to the famous director Vsevolod Meyerhold. The premiere in Moscow was a triumph and the show was performed for more than 350 times in Meyerhold's theater, but also in other major cities in the Soviet Union, Germany and Japan.

In 1928 he writes The Suicide, a play with a turbulent artistic trajectory. Meyerhold also wants to enact this text, but his attempts are impacting against the categorical refusal of the authorities. Neither the Vahtangov Theatre, led by another famous director, Konstantin Stanislavski, shall be able to stage the show. Desperate, Stanislavski sends a letter to Stalin in which he compares Erdmanto Gogol and describes Gorky's enthusiasm for this play. But here is Stalin's answer:

Dear Konstantin Sergheevich,

I do not hold a good opinion about The Suicide. My closest comrades consider this play a bit empty and harmful. Attached documents will provide you with information about REPERTKOM's opinion and arguments. The Repertkom report does not seem far from the truth. However, I do not object to the theatre making an experiment and showing the product of your work. It is not excluded that the theatre shall reach its goal. The propaganda-culture section of our party's Central Committee (Comrade Stetsky) will help you with this issue. You will be supervised by comrades who are good at artistic matters. I am a dilettante in this area. Greetings, I. Stalin.

As a last chance by the authorities of the theatre, a representation takes place in front of an official delegation led by Lazar Kaganovici. Stalin was expected to arrive himself, but he did not appear. After the viewing, the rehearsals were interrupted and Erdman was deported to Siberia for three years.

He shall get permission to return to Moscow only at the end of the Second World War. Silently, Nikolai Erdman managed to survive, but he did not write theatre plays anymore. However, he had a sustained literary activity until the end of his days in 1970.

Translated by Simona Nichiteanu  

Partner: