Bulgakov Six Plays (World Classics) - Softcover

Mikhail Bulgakov was born in Kiev in 1891. A playwright and a novelist he was the son of a professor of theology. Bulgakov studied medicine at the University of Kiev and practised with the Red Cross before turning to writing in 1920. The following year he moved to Moscow and became a journalist, working for a number of revolutionary papers. In 1924 his story The Diaboliad was published, followed a year later by the first two parts of Belaya Gvardia (The White Guard). An invitation from the Moscow Art Theatre to turn this into a play was the prelude to all manner of difficulties with the Central Repertory Committee because of the sympathetic light in which officers of the White army were portrayed. Revisions, including a change of title to Dni Turbinykh (Days of the Turbins) did little to disarm criticism, and permission was granted for performance only by the Art Theatre. The production opened in 1926 but was removed from the repertoire in 1929 at the same time as rehearsals were discontinued for Beg (Flight); Zoykina Kvartira (Madame Zoyka or Zoya's Apartment) and Bagrovy Ostrov (Crimson Island) were taken off at respectively the Vakhtangov and Kamerny theatres. When Moliere (originally Kabala Svyatosh) was also banned, Bulgakov wrote a letter of protest to the Soviet government. This provoked the personal intervention on his behalf of Stalin, who approved The White Guard on the grounds that it showed Bolshevism triumphing over a powerful and intelligent opposition. The production returned to the Art Theatre stage and remained in the repertoire until the sets were accidentally destroyed in 1941. Though much of his work was still banned, Bulgakov was able to work at the Art Theatre as an assistant director. He adapted Gogol's Myortvye Dushi (Dead Souls) for the stage in 1932 and turned it into a film script in 1934. At the same time he began work on a fantastical and influential novel, Master I Margarita (The Master and Margarita), which was banned, later filmed, and staged in 1977 by Lyubimov, and a biography of Moliere. His play on the French actor/playwright had been released for performance but rehearsals continued from 1932 until 1936, when the production ran for only three weeks at the Art Theatre. Bulgakov left to work at the Bolshoi and began another novel, Black Snow (originally known as Tetralnyi Roman). This 'theatrical novel' catalogues the experiences of a young playwright suffering from the vagaries of a world-renowned director who has a 'method', a thin disguise for Stanislavsky. Bulgakov's last years saw further disillusion, with abandoned productions of Posledniye Dni (The Last Days) and Ivan Vasil'evich in 1936, and Batum, about the young Stalin, in 1939. He did complete a number of opera libretti but fell ill with a kidney disease in 1939 and died the following year. He was said to have written over 20 plays but several have been lost. Others include Adam i Eva (Adam and Eve, written 1931) and Blazhenstvo (Bliss, written 1934).