Background
Erdman, Nikolai was born in 1902.
Erdman, Nikolai was born in 1902.
His comedy, The Mandate, was staged in 1925 by V. Meyerhold and nearly created a political scandal. From the auditorium, according to foreign newspaper reports, shouts could be heard of ‘Down with Stalinist bureaucrats!’ Kamenev, Bukharin and Frunze praised the play. His second play, The Suicide (Samoubiitsa), 1928, was allowed to be staged thanks toGorkii’s personal request to Stalin.
After 6 months of rehearsals, Kaganovich banned it (obviously on Stalin’s orders). The author was arrested and sent to Siberia. Later lived in exile in Kalinin.
After his release, his script VolgaVolga was filmed in 1938 by S. Eisenstein’s collaborator, Grigorii Aleksandrov. The lead was played by Aleksandrov’s wife, Liubov’ Orlova. This film was much praised for its boundless enthusiasm, and for Orlova’s singing talent.
Received the Stalin Prize in 1951 for his script of Smelye Liudi, which was a typical example of Stalinist cinema. In his later years, he hardly wrote anything. The Suicide is now permanently in the repertory of Soviet theatres.
In 1980, the Lithuanian director, I. Iurashas, staged it on Broadway.