Summerfolk

The play “The Dacha Dwellers” based on the play of the same name by Maxim Gorky, literary pseudonym of Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov (1868–1936), written by him in 1904. Year of production: 1951

A play about Russian intelligentsia discussing philosophical topics over tea on a dacha on the eve of the 1905 revolution. The apparent ease of midday walks and conversations hides a full-fledged tragedy of Russian society. All of them are dacha dwellers in their way of living and thinking—empty and useless people, as Gorky himself puts it: “Everything is scum! Everything is philistines!”

This play is rightfully considered Gorky’s most “Chekhov-like.” Here is what Gorky wrote himself in the year he created it:

“I wanted to depict that part of the Russian intelligentsia which emerged from democratic circles and, having reached a certain height of social position… stands alone between the people and the bourgeoisie, with no influence on life, with no strength— it feels fear of life… It wants to live interestingly, beautifully, and — calmly, quietly; it seeks only opportunities to justify itself… for betraying its native social stratum—democracy.”