About the work
Drama by Maxim Gorky, completed in the spring of 1931. It premiered simultaneously on 25 September 1932 at the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow and the Bolshoi Drama Theatre in Leningrad, timed to the fortieth anniversary of Gorky's literary career, which the Soviet Union celebrated that month.
Plot
In 1916–17, shortly before the revolution, the wealthy merchant Yegor Bulychov learns he has incurable liver cancer. While his family is already fighting over the inheritance, only his illegitimate daughter and the housemaid remain loyal to him. Outside his windows, demonstrating crowds pass by, their chants signalling the approaching upheaval.
Cultural significance
The play combines the personal decline of a dying capitalist with the historical eve of the October Revolution and is considered one of Gorky's major late works. At the Vakhtangov Theatre, where Boris Zakhava directed the premiere, actor Boris Shchukin drew wide acclaim in the title role. In 1933 Gorky wrote a sequel about the same family, Dostigayev and Others.