Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin (1817–1903)

Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin's "Trilogy" consists of three plays: Krechinsky's Wedding, The Case, and the Death of Tarelkin. The plays are linked together and it would be interesting to see them staged in three nights, one play each evening. They are comic, satiric and tragic, with each play becoming more and more frightening and more and more absurd. "Krechinsky's Wedding" deals with a nobleman-gambler, who endeavors to secure the hand of a rich landowner's daughter in order to gain some cash and pay of his debts. He swindles a pawnbroker by borrowing a diamond pin from his fiance. In the end, the fraud is discovered, but Krechinsky is saved from arrest by Lidochka who pays back the pawnbroker. "The Case" takes place 6 years later. Lidochka is heartbroken because she still has feelings for Krechinsky. In the meantime, her father has spent most of his money for the last 6 years trying to clear her name in a court case against her. She is implicated in Krechinsky's swindle, because she gave the pawnbroker the real diamond pin in place of the fake one Krechinsky had given him. In this play, the bureaucracy and corruption of the court system is satirized, as Muromsky (Lidochka's father) is asked to pay more and more bribes, as the case against Lidochka escalates. It ends tragically for the Muromskys. In "The Death of Tarelkin" the two lead bribetakers from the Muromsky case, are swindling each other. Tarelkin, upset that his boss Varravin did not give him his share of the Muromsky bribe, steals incriminating papers from Varravin and then fakes his own death, by assuming the identity of his neighbor who is recently deceased. Varravin, sure that Tarelkin has the important papers, comes looking for them at Tarelkin's and takes on an alter identity of his own. The police become involved and a harrowing interrogation of both the guilty and innocent by-standers, shows the depth of the corruption in the judicial system. The last play, especially, is reminiscent of Gogol's "Inspector General", but not at all light-hearted. The author began writing the plays while in prison for 6 months awaiting trail for the sensational murder of his mistress. In the end he was exonerated and left Russia for France.… (altro)