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Synopsis

Moscow, 1938. A dangerous to place to have a sense of humour; even more so a sense of freedom. Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. And then he s offered a poisoned chalice: a commission to write a play about Stalin to celebrate his sixtieth birthday.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 2 November 2011

There is a famous West End photograph of an impresario as puppet master called “Binkie pulls the strings,” an image replicated on the programme cover for John Hodge’s fascinating new play about Joe Stalin and Mikhail Bulgakov, the latter tangled up in his master’s typewriter.

While it’s true that the dissident playwright accepted a commission to write a celebratory play about Young Stalin while secretly sweating over his last great novel, The Master and Margarita, Hodge goes further and suggests a Faustian pact in which Bulgakov in effect becomes an instrument of the Great Terror.

This outrageous calumny is a small price to pay for the real theatrical point, which is that of any complicity between politician and artist, manager and worker, National Theatre boss and employee. In a series of underground meetings, Stalin takes over the writing himself while Bulgakov signs off the steel order ultimatums.

ItR...

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Latest User Review

DCH - 20 February 2012:

Great fun and good to see Mark Addy getting his rightful share of applause at the end as he joined the two 'greats....

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