Master class

by David Pownall

Genres: Russia, Theatre

72 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1983

About the author

David Pownall is an award winning British novelist and playwright. He has had over eighty radio plays broadcast on the BBC and worldwide, and his work for stage has been produced in many countries throughout the world.During his extensive career, David has written in a number of different mediums including thirteen novels.

He was born in Liverpool in l938 and educated at Lord Wandsworth College and Keele University, it was during this time that he became involved with writing and managing student publications. After graduating, David worked for the Ford Motor Company before going to Africa to work as a Personnel Manager in the copper-mining industry. During this time he worked with local drama groups, who performed his earliest stage plays. He returned to England in l969 to start a new career as a writer.

Reviews

[Dorien · Rating 3 out of 5]

A provocative play, making a farce of Stalin and his cultural commissar, Zhdanov, fictively bullying the composers Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian in a Kremlin salon in 1948. The three composers are being accused of "formalist perversions", including atonalism, dissonance and the use of chaotic and neuropathic discords.

[The picky reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommend for: Students and lovers of Russian history.

This little play is my favourite to this day. I enjoyed the simplicity of the setting, the straightforward and politically accurate plot and the complexity of the characters. Stalin’s bipolar nature creates humour and tension leaving you on the edge. Master Class is an underrated masterpiece.

[Garry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short play illustrating the tension and terror of being an artist under Stalin.