''Collaborators'' is a 2011 play by British screenwriter and dramatist
John Hodge about the "surreal fantasy" of a relationship between two historical figures,
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( ; rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright. His novel ''The M ...
, the prominent Russian writer, and
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
, the dictator of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. The play takes place from 1938 to 1940, when Stalin was implementing the
Great Purge
The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
in which several million people were exiled, imprisoned, or executed. The play is Hodge's first, although he has had a long career as a screenwriter.
The play received its première at the
National Theatre, London, on 25 October 2011;
Nicholas Hytner directed, with
Alex Jennings as Bulgakov and
Simon Russell Beale
Sir Simon Russell Beale (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor. He has been described by ''The Independent'' as "the greatest stage actor of his generation". He has received various accolades, including two BAFTA Awards, three Olivier Awar ...
as Stalin.
The production subsequently won the 2012
Laurence Olivier Award
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply The Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognize excellence in West End theatre, professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of We ...
for the best new play produced in Britain. The play has been published in the United Kingdom and in the U.S.
Plot summary
The story takes place in Moscow in the years 1938 to 1940 and the drama centers around the apartment of Mikhail Bulgakov and his wife Yelena.
Bulgakov has just finished his play ''The Life of Monsieur de Molière'' which his friends acclaim a masterpiece. The night after the premiere, he is visited by two secret policemen from the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
. They tell him the play is banned and will never be shown again unless he cooperates with them in writing a "
hack
Hack may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Games
* Hack (Unix video game), ''Hack'' (Unix video game), a 1984 roguelike video game
* .hack (video game series), ''.hack'' (video game series), a series of video games by the multimedia fran ...
" play on the life of the young Joseph Stalin. At first Bulgakov resists their bullying and refuses to cooperate even though this could endanger his life. Their terrorizing of Bulgakov intensifies until he pretends to start but sits at the typewriter unable to put words to paper. Then one night he receives a phone call, and a mystery voice offers him help if he goes to a certain metro station and enters a door hidden in the tunnel. Bulgakov follows the instructions and finds himself alone in a room beneath the Kremlin with Joseph Stalin himself. Stalin says he has always admired Bulgakov's work and offers his assistance in the play. Stalin sits at the typewriter and produces scenes which delight the NKVD with their depiction of Stalin as a heroic and glorious leader fighting Czarist oppression. While Stalin types Bulgakov relieves Stalin of the burden of some of his state papers. Inadvertently Bulgakov becomes involved in issuing the orders which bring about the
Great Purge
The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
of Stalinist Russia. The play is finished but the monster of the purges consumes his friends' lives one by one. The strain on Bulgakov leads to an intensification of his inherited disease,
nephrosclerosis, and his eventual death.
[National Theatre London, performance programme. John Hodge's notes, May 2012]
Historical context
The play is a fictional device to examine the conflict experienced by a writer who is trying to portray a recognizable depiction of the human condition in a tyrannical world which systematically represses such expression.
Bulgakov did receive a phone call from Stalin out of the blue at an earlier stage in his career in 1930 in which he was favoured with a new post. He knew that the dictator admired his work and followed his output.
No formal collaboration between Stalin and Bulgakov existed but the figure of Stalin as a monster inside Bulgakov's mind existed, and this was reinforced physically through the NKVD.
Bulgakov did indeed write a play to order on the life of the young Stalin around the time depicted, entitled ''Batum'', which is regarded by modern critics as stilted and shallow. The terror of the tyrant led him to produce a play on demand which might have been written by the dictator himself.
Bulgakov's play ''Molière: The Cabal of Hypocrites'' (1936), of which there are brief extracts within this play, examines the life of another author,
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
, at the court of a tyrant,
Louis XIV of France
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
.
Critical reception
The original production received somewhat mixed reviews.
Charles Spencer wrote for ''The Daily Telegraph'', "This is a truly tremendous double act which thrills chills and makes you laugh out loud - even though you know you shouldn’t."
Michael Billington wrote for ''The Guardian'', "the purpose of Hodge's satirical fantasia is clearly to suggest Bulgakov's obsession with Stalin is proof of the latter's ultimate triumph. ... While I may question Hodge's arguments, his play has a nightmarish vivacity well captured in Nicholas Hytner's freewheeling production on Bob Crowley's zig-zagging traverse stage."
Live broadcast and US productions
On 1 December 2011, the original production was broadcast to cinemas around the world as a part of the ''
National Theatre Live
National Theatre Live is an initiative operated by the Royal National Theatre in London. It broadcasts live, by satellite, performances of their productions (and those of other theatres) to cinemas and arts centres around the world.
About
I gre ...
'' programme.
In 2016, the play received new productions in New York City and in Washington, D.C.
References
Further reading
* Unsigned commentary about the play from the Russian Embassy in London.
{{authority control
2011 plays
English plays
Plays set in the Soviet Union
Works about Joseph Stalin
Mikhail Bulgakov