About the Play:

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, Children of the Sun 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 Imperial Russia as the country rolls toward revolution. It depicts the new middle-class, foolish yet likeable, in the protected bubble of self-delusion and good intentions while a new world is tearing down the gates. The play focuses on a self-described brilliant scientist Pavel Protasov who wants only to immerse himself in chemical experiments to perfect mankind. He is oblivious to his surroundings, namely the needs of his wife Yelena and the adoration of the half-crazed widow Melania, let alone the cholera epidemic and the starving mob. His nervy, sickly sister Liza's physical frailty and emotional sensitivity prevent her from embracing the love of Chepurnoy, the local veterinarian. Yelena's sense of neglect in her marriage leaves her open to attention from Pavel's best friend, the artist Dimitri Sergeyevich. Gorky's darkly comedic tale Children of the Sun explores a family grappling with a disappointing present and conflicting ideas of the future. Sharply resonant and deeply moving.

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

Cast: 7 female, 9 male

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 (1937-2020) was a Glasgow-born poet and playwright who wrote extensively for radio and television, and published many translations, including English translations of plays in Russian by Chekhov, Gogol and Gorky, as well as translations of plays by Ibsen, Molière, Pirandello, Strindberg and others.