Five Evenings

by Aleksandr Volodin, Ariadne Nicolaeff (Adapter)

The Russian playwright Aleksandr Volodin represents a "new wave" of Soviet dramatists, who appear to be primarily interested in personal relationships and values within a framework that is social rather than specifically socialist or communist. This play, Five Evenings, was first published in the Soviet monthly theater journal Teatr in 1958 and was produced at the Boloshoi Theatre of Drama in 1959. An earlier play by Volodin, The Factory Kid, was the subject of violent controversy, on political grounds, in the Soviet press. But while the controversy raged, the play was being enthusiastically received by large audiences. A later play, Going Out and Staying In, was produced in Moscow at the Ermolova Theatre in 1960. Recently Volodin has been working in films. Five Evenings has its setting in present-day Leningrad. As Harold Clurman points out in his introduction, it "is a simple play, so simple in fact that audiences in our great metropolitan centers might call it ‘corny.' In doing this they would betray their own provinciality." Mr. Clurman believes that an American production of the play would help us appreciate the spirit of Soviet dramaturgy, and better still, understand the Soviet people. "Beyond that," he writes, "it might provide us with an affectionate and touching evening in the theatre - a good time."

112 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 1966

About the author

Александр Моисеевич Володин родился в 1919 году в Минске. После окончания школы и краткосрочных курсов пошел работать учителем в сельскую школу. В годы Отечественной войны был связистом, сапером, участвовал в боях на Западном фронте и на Белорусском. Уже в мирное время окончил сценарный факультет ВГИКа. Работал редактором на студиях "Леннаучфильм" и "Ленфильм".
В пятидесятые годы начинает писать рассказы и пьесы. Первая же его пьеса "Фабричная девчонка" (1955) шла в театрах Москвы, Ленинграда, других городах нашей страны и за рубежом. Широко игрались также и все последующие его пьесы: "Пять вечеров", "Старшая сестра", "Назначение", "С любимыми не расставайтесь", "Дульсинея Тобосская", "Две стрелы". По киносценариям и пьесам А. Володина поставлены фильмы: "Звонят, откройте дверь!" (режиссер А. Митта, 1965), "Похождения зубного врача" (режиссер Э. Климов, 1966), "Фокусник" (режиссер П. Тодоровский, 1968), "Дочки-матери" (режиссер С. Герасимов, 1975), "Пять вечеров" (режиссер Н. Михалков, 1979). Фильм, поставленный режиссером Г. Данелия по сценарию "Осенний марафон", получил главный приз на Международном кинофестивале в Сан-Себастьяне.
Помимо прозы, пишет стихи.
Умер 16 декабря 2001 года на 83-м году жизни.

Reviews

[Pavel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gentle and sad play directly succeeds from best Chekhov's plays, but only on a new post-Stalin spin. It's a story about middle-aged man trying to come back to a normal life after being a prisoner in a Stalin's labor camp in Siberia. He meets a woman - they have been a couple as a young people, but now she is just tired woman in her late 40s. The play itself is those five evenings they spend together trying to find a way to be together again.
Definitely one of the best Soviet plays, made into a very succesfull and clever movie.