Days of the Turbins, The (Dnt Turbinykh)

AT: The White Guard A: Mikhail Bulgakov Pf: 1926, Moscow Pb: 1955 Tr: 1935 G: Hist. drama in acts;
Russian prose S: Kiev, winter 1918-19 C: 24m, If, extras

Kiev, capital of the Ukraine, is, before their defeat in the First World War, temporarily in the hands of
the Germans, who have appointed Skoropadsky as Hetman (Commander-in- Chief). Colonel Aleksei
Turbin and his younger brother Nikolai of the Russian White Guard have come to Kiev to defend the
Hetman against the nationalist Cossacks in the east and against the Russian Red Army in the north.
As the Germans withdraw, some of the White Guard leaders desert. Aleksei's sister Yeliena is
treacherously abandoned by her husband, and the Hetman flees to Berlin. As the Cossacks enter
Kiev, Aleksei finds himself isolated. Refusing to despair, the Turbins hold a party, at which Yeliena
becomes engaged to an opera singer. Aleksei encourages his brigade of cadets to disband, but he
and his brother fight bravely to cover the retreat of the Whites, Aleksei falling in battle and Nikolai
being wounded. As the Red Army approaches singing 'The Internationale', Nikolai recognizes that it
is with them that the future lies.

This stage adaptation by Bulgakov of his novel The White Guard of 1925 is the most significant
dramatic treatment of the Russian civil war and one of the few that gave asympathetic view of the
White Army. Despite a successful premiere by Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre as the first
new Russian play since 1917, the subject matter caused considerable controversy and led to
frequent banning of the play. However Stalin, who had seen it 15 times, intervened, praising it as
showing that the adversaries of the Revolution were 'intelligent and powerful'.

Antons čehovs “Lācis”

1888. gads
Farss vienā cēlienā.
Dzīvojamā telpā, muižā
2M, 1F
The play takes place in the drawing room of Elena Ivanovna Popova's estate exactly seven months
after her husband's death. Since her husband died, Popova has locked herself in the house
in mourning. Her footman, Luka, begins the play by begging Popova to stop mourning and step
outside the estate. She ignores him, saying that she made a promise to her husband to remain
forever faithful to his memory. Their conversation is interrupted when Grigory Stepanovitch Smirnov
arrives and wishes to see Elena Ivanovna Popova.

Although Luka tells Grigory Smirnov to leave, he ignores Luka's requests and enters the dining room.
Popova agrees to meet him and Smirnov explains to her that her late husband owes him a sum of
1,200 roubles as a debt. Because he is a landowner, Smirnov explains that he needs the sum paid to
him on that same day to pay for the mortgage of a house due the next day. Popova explains that she
has no money with her and that she will settle her husband's debts when her steward arrives the day
after tomorrow. Smirnov gets angered by her refusal to pay him back and mocks the supposed
'mourning' of her husband, saying:

Well, there! "A state of mind."... "Husband died seven months ago!" Must I pay the interest, or
mustn't I? I ask you: Must I pay, or must I not? Suppose your husband is dead, and you've got a state
of mind, and nonsense of that sort.... And your steward's gone away somewhere, devil take him,
what do you want me to do? Do you think I can fly away from my creditors in a balloon, or what? Or
do you expect me to go and run my head into a brick wall?
Smirnov decides that he will not leave the estate until his debts are paid off, even if that means
waiting until the day after tomorrow. He and Popova get into another argument when he starts
yelling at the footman to bring him kvass or any alcoholic beverage. The argument turns into a
debate about true love according to the different genders. Smirnov argues that women are
incapable of loving "anybody except a lapdog", to which Popova argues that she wholeheartedly
loved her husband although he cheated on her and disrespected her. The argument deteriorates
into another shouting match about paying back the debt. During this argument Popova insults
Smirnov by calling him a bear, amongst other names, saying, "You're a boor! A coarse bear! A
Bourbon! A monster!"

Smirnov, insulted, calls for a duel, not caring that Popova is a woman. Popova, in turn,
enthusiastically agrees and goes off to get a pair of guns her husband owned. Luka overhears their
conversation, gets frightened for his mistress, and goes off to find someone to help put an end to
their feud before anyone gets hurt. Meanwhile, Smirnov says to himself how impressed he is by
Popova's audacity and slowly realizes that he has actually fallen in love with her and her dimpled
cheeks. When Popova returns with the pistols, Smirnov makes his love confession. Popova oscillates
between refusing him and ordering him to leave and telling him to stay. Eventually, the two get close
and kiss each other just as Luka returns with the gardener and coachman.

Themes[edit]

The Bear's comedy derives from the characters' lack of self-knowledge. The widow Popova fancies
herself inconsolably bereaved, while Smirnov considers himself a misogynist. They are both stock
examples of alazons: figures made ludicrous by pretending to be more than they actually are.

Dragon, The (Drakon)

A: Evgeny Shvarts Pf: 1943, Leningrad Pb: 1960

Tr: 1963 G: Satirical fairy tale in 3 acts; Russian

prose S: A mythical city, indeterminate period

C: 19m, 6f, extras

For 400 years a Dragon who can assume different human shapes has ruled over the city. Everyone
has adjusted to the Dragon's rule and even his victims accept the need for him to devour a virgin
annually. The smooth running of the city is upset by the arrival of the brave knight Lancelot, who
regularly campaigns for people's rights and moreover falls in love with Elsa, this year's virgin
sacrifice. Despite efforts by the local populace to prevent him, Lancelot, aided by a Cat who provides
him with weapons and a helmet of invisibility, prepares to do battle with the Dragon. Elsa falls in
love with Lancelot and refuses the Dragon's order to murder the knight. After a sky battle during
which the townspeople are given misleading reports, the Dragon is defeated. However, Lancelot is
badly wounded and disappears.

A year later, the Burgomaster, who takes credit for defeating the Dragon, now rules the city as
tyrannically as the Dragon had done. Just as the Burgomaster is about to force Elsa into an unwanted
marriage, Lancelot returns and throws the Burgomaster and his son Henry into prison, releasing those
that had been incarcerated, demanding: 'Why did you submit and go to prison? There are so many of
you!' Lancelot, taking Elsa's hand, now realizes that he must stay in order to continue killing dragons.
The Dragon ran for only three or four nights before being banned by the authorities in 1943. Its
reference to the replacement of the tyrannical Tsar by the even more tyrannical Stalin was all too
obvious, although Shvarts insisted that he was not anti-Communist but opposed to any political
system that threatened personal liberty. When his plays were published in 1960, two years after his
death, they soon became internationally famous.

Mousetrap, The

A: Agatha Christie Pf; 1952, London Pb: 1954

G: Drama in 2 acts S: Monkswell Manor guesthouse, c.1950 C: 5m, 3f

Giles and Mollie Ralston have recently opened Monkswell Manor as a country guesthouse, and are
about to receive their first guests in a heavy snowstorm. First to arrive is a mature lady, the fussy
Mrs Boyle. Then come: amiable Major Metcalf; Christopher Wren, a delicate and sensitive young
man; a somewhat manly woman Miss Casewell; and finally, the rather

sinister Mr Paravicini. By next morning they are totally cut off by the snow. The local police phone to
say that Detective Sergeant Trotter is making his way out to them on urgent business. Trotter duly
arrives on skis and reveals that he is investigating a murder. Some years previously, three local
children were sent to be fostered by a farming couple called the Stannings, who abused them so
seriously that one of the children died. Stanning was sent to prison, where he died. Now Mrs
Stanning has been murdered in London. The guests wonder what they have to do with this matter,
when suddenly Mrs Boyle is found murdered, and it turns out that she was the magistrate who
issued the court order for the children to be fostered. There appear to be six possible suspects left,
but this may not be the whole story...

Christie adopted a dependable formula for country house mysteries in both her novels and plays: a
well-to-do, isolated locale, with a line¬ up of potential suspects, each with a possible reason for
murder. The horror of the crime becomes submerged in the intellectual fun of spotting the
perpetrator, and is therefore arguably a profoundly immoral exercise. However, one cannot deny
Christie's popularity with amateurs and some regional theatres, nor the remarkable fact that The
Mousetrap has played for an unbroken record run for over half a century, now as established a
London tourist attraction as the Changing of the Guard.

Hanneles debesbraukšana Hauptmanis

The play is the first in recorded world literature with a child as its heroine.[3

Naturālists, bet viņš radīja arī virkni darbu ar neoromantisma un simbolisma iezīmēm.
Tiem piederīga luga “Hannele” (arī “Hanneles debesbraukšana”, Hanneles
Himmelfahrt, 1893), ko autors nodēvējis par “sapņu dzeju” (Traumdichtung)
The play tells the story of a neglected and abused peasant child, who, on her deathbed,
experiences a vision of divine powers welcoming her into the afterlife. It was first published in
1894