Nikolai Erdman

The Suicide

comedy

Translated by:: Dalos RImma

Konstantin Stanislavsky called the play "the work of a genius", while Stalin branded it an "empty and harmful" piece. The latter stigma condemned Erdman's text to dust and banishment. It was banned for decades, until its rediscovery on the stages of Europe and, gradually, the world, for both the characters in the play and the text itself is doomed to live. It is doomed to live by the author's amazing sense of humour, his insight, and his outstanding theatrical sense. Erdman weaves the nothingness of everyday life into a visionary funhouse mirror.

The play's main character, Semyon Podsekalnikov, is a jobless petit-bourgeois with a grudge and a good appetite.  One evening he wants to eat liverwurst, but in the course of a heated marital argument, he is so deeply offended that he takes a fateful decision. This insignificant situation sets in motion a mad race in which the intellectuals, the clergy, the artist, in fact, the whole society, parades before us to convince Podsekalnikov and us that nothing is more important than their own cause and their own personalities.

Erdman saw how grotesque one can be when bowing down before oneself. And his pen, trained on cabarets, texts written for contemporary comedians and scripts, helps us to laugh with him at this grotesque circus. At the same time, his poetry and playwriting genius ensures that his grotesque behaviour is represented by respect for life.

Cast of characters:

Premier: 2022.04.01