About the Play:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

Children of the Sun is a full-length dark comedy by Maxim Gorky, translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine. A somewhat Chekhovian family drama, first staged in Russia in 1905. In a prophetic echo of the coming revolution, the play looks at the lives of the privileged intelligentsia and of the workers, advocating an alliance between the two.

Children of the Sun is set in Russia as the country rolls toward revolution. It depicts the new middle-class, foolish yet likable, as they flounder about, philosophizing and flirting, blind to their impending annihilation. The play focuses on a high-minded Russian professor Protasov who is unaware of impending crises. Protasov wants only to immerse himself in chemical experiments to perfect mankind. He’s oblivious to the advances of the half-crazed widow and his best friend’s pursuit of his wife, let alone the cholera epidemic and the starving mob. His admiring circle, variously sceptical and lovesick, spar over culture and the cosmos. Only Liza feels the peasants’ suffering and senses their own privileged world is in jeopardy.

Children of the Sun was first performed in 1905 at the Moscow Art Theatre, starring Olga Knipper (wife of Anton Chekhov) as Lisa.

Cast: 7 women, 9 men

About the Playwright:

Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) was the pseudonym of Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov, a Russian short story writer, novelist, autobiographer, essayist, and political activist whose life was deeply interwoven with the tumultuous revolutionary period of his own country.

Stephen Mulrine is a Glasgow-born poet and playwright who has written extensively for radio and television, and published many translations.