Product Code Database
Evgeny Lvovich Schwartz (; , in Kazan, Russian Empire – January 15, 1958, in Saint Petersburg, Soviet Union) was a Soviet writer and playwright, whose works include twenty-five plays, and screenplays for three films (in collaboration with Nikolai Erdman).
After the end of Russian Civil War, Schwartz studied theater in Rostov-on-Don. In 1921 he moved with the theater troupe to Saint Petersburg, becoming involved with the "Serapion Brothers," a literary group including Vsevolod Ivanov, Zoshchenko and Veniamin Kaverin. In 1923 he moved to Bakhmut and began to publish satirical verse and reviews in the local newspaper. With Mikhail Slonimsky and Nikolay Oleynikov, he organized the literary magazine Slaughter in 1925.
In 1929 Evgeny Schwartz began collaborating with Nikolay Akimov at the Leningrad Comedy Theater, writing contemporary plays based on the folk and fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. These included Golyi korol ( The Emperor's New Clothes) (1934), Krasnaya Shapochka ( Little Red Riding Hood) (1936), Zolushka ( Cinderella) (1938), Snezhnaya Koroleva ( The Snow Queen, after Hans Christian Andersen) (1938), Tyen ( The Shadow, after Hans Christian Andersen) (1940), Drakon ( The Dragon, an original) (1944), and Obyknovennoye Chudo ( An Ordinary Miracle) (1956). At the beginning of World War II, Schwartz wrote Under the Linden Trees of Berlin (1941) with Zoschenko. During the war, he wrote One Night and The Far Country.
After the war, Schwartz wrote An Ordinary Miracle and The Tale of the Brave Soldiers. Schwartz's adaptations of The Snow Queen and The Shadow were adapted as movies in 1966 and 1971. He also completed film scripts for Cinderella, First Grader, Don Quixote and Ordinary Miracle. During Joseph Stalin's campaign against the so-called "rootless cosmopolitans" (Jews), from 1952 to 1954 his plays were not accepted for production by theatres. After 20th Congress of the CPSU baseless criticism has ceased. He died in Leningrad.
This play, the most "mature" of Schwartz's plays, is a political satire aimed at totalitarianism in all forms. The plot is based on the attempt of the hero, Lancelot, to liberate people in a land suffering under Dragon's brutal rule. But his efforts meet with resistance, since most of the people have gotten used to the Dragon and considered his methods, though harsh, the only possible way; their souls become, in a way, crippled with this inability and unwillingness to resist. Says the Dragon in the play: "You see, the human soul is very resilient. Cut the body in half — and the man croaks. But tear the soul apart — and it only becomes more pliable, that's all. No, really, you couldn't pick a finer assortment of souls anywhere. Only in my town. Souls with no hands. Souls with no legs. Mute souls, deaf souls, chained souls, snitch souls, damned souls."
Lancelot killing the Dragon in a fight did not free the people; all that changed was the Burgomaster acceding to the position formerly occupied by the Dragon and demanding that Elsa, the same girl who was destined to be sacrificed to the Dragon, become his wife. When Lancelot returns to the town a year later, he realizes that his task is much more complex: "This is going to be a very meticulous job... We have to kill the dragon in each one of them."
is a romantic and philosophical parable on love and relationship between the creator and his creation. The play was made into films in 1964 and in 1978.
From The Dragon:
From Cinderella:
From Cinderella:
From The Snow Queen:
From The Ordinary Miracle
|
|
