{"product_id":"i-want-a-baby-and-other-plays-9781912894307","title":"I Want a Baby and Other Plays","description":"\u003ch2\u003eI Want a Baby and Other Plays by Sergei Tretyakov\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis groundbreaking collection presents the complete dramatic works of Sergei Tretyakov, one of the most innovative playwrights of early Soviet experimental theatre. When \u003cem\u003eI Want a Baby\u003c\/em\u003e was banned by Stalin's censor in 1927, it marked the end of radical theatrical innovation in the Soviet Union. This anthology preserves these historically significant works that influenced both Sergei Eisenstein's theory of 'the montage of attractions' and Bertolt Brecht's epic theatre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003ePlays Included in This Collection\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI Want a Baby\u003c\/strong\u003e - A glittering exploration of post-revolutionary Soviet life that represents a high point in modernist experimental drama. This volume includes both the first and second versions of this banned masterpiece.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe World Upside Down\u003c\/strong\u003e - Staged by Vsevolod Meyerhold in 1923, this play examines a failed agrarian revolution with formal originality and revolutionary content.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Wise Man\u003c\/strong\u003e - Originally directed by Sergei Eisenstein, this clown show set among émigré White Russians in Paris showcases Tretyakov's theatrical innovation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRoar, China!\u003c\/strong\u003e - Based on an actual incident of Western oppression, this play dramatizes a British gunboat captain's threat to destroy the city of Wanxien. Translated into multiple languages and staged worldwide, including a Yiddish production by Jewish prisoners in the Czestochowa concentration camp during World War II.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAre You Listening, Moscow?\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eGas Masks\u003c\/strong\u003e - Fast-moving agit-melodramas that exemplify Tretyakov's fierce, edgy dramatic style.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eHistorical and Theatrical Significance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTretyakov's plays are notable for their formal originality and revolutionary content. His early theatrical work directly influenced Sergei Eisenstein's highly influential montage theory, while his later ideas proved crucial to Bertolt Brecht's development of epic theatre. Brecht called Tretyakov \"my teacher,\" acknowledging the Russian playwright's decisive influence on his work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTranslated by Robert Leach and Stephen Holland, this marks the first time Tretyakov's complete dramatic works have been published in a single collection. The volume includes an introduction and scholarly apparatus that contextualizes these plays within the broader history of Soviet and modernist theatre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Sergei Tretyakov's ground-breaking play, \u003cem\u003eI Want a Baby\u003c\/em\u003e, was banned by Stalin's censor in 1927, it was a signal that the radical and innovative theatre of the early Soviet years was to be brought to an end. A glittering, unblinking exploration of the realities of post-revolutionary Soviet life, \u003cem\u003eI Want a Baby \u003c\/em\u003emarks a high point in modernist experimental drama.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTretyakov's plays are notable for their formal originality and their revolutionary content. \u003cem\u003eThe World Upside Down\u003c\/em\u003e, which was staged by Vsevolod Meyerhold in 1923, concerns a failed agrarian revolution. \u003cem\u003eA Wise Man\u003c\/em\u003e, originally directed by the great film director and Tretyakov's friend, Sergei Eisenstein, is a clown show set in the Paris of the  migr  White Russians. \u003cem\u003eAre You Listening, Moscow? \u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eGas Masks\u003c\/em\u003e are 'agit-melodramas', fierce, fast-moving and edgy. And \u003cem\u003eRoar, China \u003c\/em\u003edramatises an actual incident in the West's oppression of China, when a British gunboat captain threatened to blow the city of Wanxien to bits. \u003cem\u003eRoar, China  \u003c\/em\u003ewas translated into many languages and produced in cities across the world. The nerve this play touched may be gauged from the fact that it was staged in Yiddish translation in the Czestochowa concentration camp by Jewish prisoners during World War II.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese plays are not only stirring in their themes, they are also hugely significant in their construction. Tretyakov's early plays led directly to Eisenstein's highly influential theory of 'the montage of attractions', while later his ideas were crucial in the formation of Bertolt Brecht's theory of epic theatre. The reason why is evident in his plays, now collected and published for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTranslated by Robert Leach and Stephen Holland\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction and translations of \u003cem\u003eThe World Upside Down\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eA Wise Man\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eAre you Listening, Moscow? \u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eGas Masks\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e and \u003cem\u003eI Want a Baby \u003c\/em\u003e(second version): Robert Leach\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTranslations of\u003cem\u003e Roar, China  \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eI Want a Baby\u003c\/em\u003e (first version): Stephen Holland\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePublishers Maxim Hodak \u0026amp; Max Mendor\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTretyakov, Sergei:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Sergei Tretyakov was a Russian poet, playwright, journalist and cultural worker. Born in Latvia in 1892, he first made his mark as a Futurist poet before World War I. After the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, Tretyakov found himself in the Far East of the country, fighting with the Red Partisans around Vladivostok. He only escaped by fleeing to China. He returned to Moscow in 1922, where he joined the editorial team of Vladimir Mayakovsky's LEF magazine. He also worked closely with the two most prominent revolutionary theatre directors, Vsevolod Meyerhold and Sergei Eisenstein. He created a series of sharp, agitational pieces for both these directors, but in 1924 he returned to China for eighteen months as Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Beijing. From this experience he created perhaps his two most popular works, the play Roar, China! and the 'bio-interview', Chinese Testament. Both these works found audiences and readers not only in Russia but very widely across the world. His next, and perhaps most important play, I Want a Baby, was banned by the censors despite Meyerhold's ardent support. He scripted films, and worked intensively in the 'Communist Lighthouse' kolkhoz (collective farm) at the time of the First Five Year Plan (1928-32). It was during this period that he developed his theory and practice of 'factography', a method whereby the writer not only reported the processes of real life, but by his art expressed the historical significance and potential of those processes. His international reputation grew steadily. He travelled to Germany, meeting many writers, artists and cultural figures, most notably Bertolt Brecht, with whom he became friendly and whose work he influenced decisively. Brecht even called Tretyakov 'my teacher'. But this internationalism was dangerous at a time when Stalin was attempting to impose 'socialism in one country' and was preparing to unleash what became 'the Great Terror'. Tretyakov was arrested in June 1937, accused of spying and sentenced to death. But he cheated the executioner's bullet by committing suicide in September of that year. Tretyakov was only rehabilitated in 1956 after Stalin's death. Gradually, some of his works were republished and a few of his plays produced. It seems however that the present book is the only complete collection of his plays ever to be published.","brand":"Glagoslav Publications B.V.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50493492560146,"sku":"9781912894307","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_863ed87d-ee32-4ed6-8c94-677c81116ddc.jpg?v=1730649763","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/i-want-a-baby-and-other-plays-9781912894307","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}