The Boyarskys: A Theatre Dynasty

17 hrs. 36 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Ekaterina Boyarskaya

Narrator Irina Vorobyova

Description

This book is a documentary novella about a famous Petersburg family that gave the city and the country a dynasty of theatrical actors—already more than a dozen representatives of this complex and mysterious profession. Here you’ll find an intriguing account of people of the theater and their difficult, “public” lives; of the strange and hidden from the audience life of the theater’s back rooms. And also—of the roots of a unique family, where art in a strange way became intertwined with religion. The text is full of rhythms and fragrances of different epochs; it gives you the feeling of history in which the Boiarsky clan played its part. And not only in the sphere of theater! At the same time, it is a story about a family whose fates are quite typical of the tragic 20th century… The book seems to open invisible channels connecting us to a mysterious looking-glass world—a source of memories that fills us, the present-day readers, with new meanings.

To the main text, diaries are appended—written in the early 20th century by one of the “foremothers” of the Boiarsky family. This is a unique document from a bygone era. The author of the book is a representative of the famous lineage, an academic of theater by education, a translator and writer by vocation, and a member of the Union of Writers of Moscow. Plays translated by Ekaterina Boiarskaya were staged in Russian theaters; in journals and as separate editions, stories and novellas were published, translations of foreign poetry, contemporary English and American prose, including with the “Foreign Literature” publishing house. The new edition includes fresh facts about the career achievements of members of the Boiarsky family: new roles in theater and cinema, as well as changes in the personal lives of the characters—about weddings and the birth of children. In addition, it presents previously unknown information about the past of the legendary family.