Theatre
Krechinsky's Wedding
Свадьба Кречинского
Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin · 1855
Opening lines
Атуева
Тишка! эй, Тишка!
Tishka! hey, Tishka!
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from ru.wikisource.org
Synopsis
Mikhail Krechinsky, a gambler riddled with debts, courts Lidochka, daughter of a wealthy provincial landowner, Pyotr Muromsky: marriage would bring him a considerable dowry. But his creditors are pressing him, and he needs money without delay. With his accomplice Rasplyuyev, he devises a way of obtaining some from a moneylender, and asks his fiancée to entrust him with a diamond pin.
Context
The play was finished in the last months of 1854, during its author's detention. It was premiered on 28 November 1855 at the Maly Theatre in Moscow, for the benefit of the actor Shumsky, who played the title role, and was at once a great success. It appeared in May 1856 in the review Sovremennik, then in 1869 entered the trilogy Images du passé, alongside two darker plays on justice and the bureaucracy; this was the only edition of the three plays in the author's lifetime.
Who it is for
A comedy of rapid, cruel intrigue, the first play of a trilogy whose two sequels are far darker.
Prizes and reception
An immediate success at its premiere, and ever since one of the most frequently performed plays in the Russian repertoire.
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