Vladimir Mayakovsky: Mystery Buff. "Mystery Buff" - the embodiment of the ideas of new art

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Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky
MYSTERY-BUFF

A HEROIC, EPIC AND SATIRIC PICTURE OF OUR ERA

Second option

“Mystery-bouffe” is the road. Road of revolution. No one can predict with accuracy what other mountains we will have to blow up as we walk this road. Today the word “Lloyd George” pierces the ear, and tomorrow the English themselves will forget his name. Today the will of millions is striving for the commune, and in fifty years, perhaps, the air dreadnoughts of the commune will rush to attack distant planets.

Therefore, leaving the road (form), I again changed parts of the landscape (content).

In the future, everyone who plays, stages, reads, prints “Mystery-Buffe”, change the content - make its content modern, today, momentary.

VALID:

1. Seven pairs of pure: 1) Abyssinian Negus, 2) Indian Raja, 3) Turkish Pasha, 4) Russian speculator, 5) Chinese, 6) Well-fed Persian, 7) Clemenceau, 8) German, 9) Pop, 10) Australian , 11) Wife of an Australian, 12) Lloyd George, 13) American and 14) Diplomat.

2. Seven pairs of unclean ones: 1) Red Army soldier, 2) Lamplighter, 3) Driver, 4) Miner, 5) Carpenter, 6) Farmhand, 7) Servant, 8) Blacksmith 9) Baker, 10) Laundress, 11) Seamstress, 12 ) Machinist, 13) Eskimo fisherman and 14) Eskimo hunter.

3. Compromiser.

4. Intelligentsia.

5. Lady with cardboard boxes.

6. Devils: 1) Beelzebub, 2) Chief Devil, 3) Messenger, 4) 2nd Messenger, 5) Guard, 6) 20 pure ones with horns and tails.

7. Saints: 1) Methuselah, 2) Jean Jacques Rousseau, 3) Leo Tolstoy, 4) Gabriel, 5) Angel, 6) 2nd angel and 7) angels.

8. Hosts.

9. Operating Promised Land: 1) Hammer, 2) Sickle, 3) Machines, 4) Trains, 5) Cars, 6) Plane, 7) Pliers, 8) Needle, 9) Saw, 10) Bread, 11) Salt, 12) Sugar, 13) Matter, 14) Boot, 15) Board with lever.

10. Man of the future.

LOCATIONS

1. The whole universe. 2. Ark. 3. Hell. 4. Paradise. 5. Land of Wrecks. 6. Promised Land.

PROLOGUE

Unclean

After a minute
we will show you...
Mystery-buff.
I must say two words:
This
the thing is new.
To jump over your head,
I need someone to help.
Before new play
a prologue is needed.
Firstly,
Why
Is the whole theater destroyed?
Well-meaning people
This will be very infuriating.
Why do you go to performances?
In order to get pleasure -
is not it?
Isn't it a great pleasure to watch?
if the pleasure is only on stage;
scene -
only one third.
Means,
in an interesting performance,
if you build everything up,
then your pleasure will triple,
and if
the performance is uninteresting,
it's not worth watching
and one third.
For other theaters
it doesn't matter to present:
for them
scene -
keyhole.
Please sit still,
straight or oblique
and see a piece of someone else's life.
You look and see -
lounging on the couch
Aunt Mani
yes Uncle Vanya.
And we are not interested
neither uncle nor aunt, -
You will find aunts and uncles at home.
We'll show you too real life,
but she
The theater has transformed it into an extraordinary spectacle.
The essence of the first action is this:
the ground is leaking.
Then - stomping.
Everyone is fleeing the revolutionary flood.
Seven pairs of unclean ones
and seven pure pairs,
that is
fourteen poor proletarians
and fourteen bourgeois bar,
and between them,
with a pair of tear-stained cheeks -
Menshevich.
The pole is overwhelmed.
The last refuge is collapsing.
And everyone starts building
not even an ark
and the ark.
In the second act
The public travels in the ark:
here you have autocracy
And democratic republic,
and finally
overboard,
under the Menshevik howl,
the clean ones were thrown upside down.
The third act shows
that the workers
there is nothing to be afraid of,
even devils in the middle of hell.
In the fourth -
laugh harder! -
paradise appears.
In the fifth act there is devastation,
opening his immense mouth,
crushes and eats.
Even though we worked on a hungry belly,
but by us
Devastation was defeated.
In the sixth act -
commune, -
the whole hall,
sing at the top of your lungs!
Look with all your eyes!
All is ready?
And hell?
And heaven?
From behind the stage.
Ready!
Let's!

ACT ONE

At the dawn northern lights a globe with its pole resting on the ice of the floor. The ropes of latitudes and longitudes intersect in ladders all over the ball. Between two walruses propping up the world, an Eskimo hunter, with his finger in the ground, yells to another, stretched out in front of him by the fire.

Hunter

Hey!
Hey!

Fisherman

Loudmouth.
There is no other matter -
poke the ground with your finger.

Hunter

Fisherman

Where is the hole?

Hunter

Fisherman

What's flowing?

Hunter

Fisherman (jumping up, running up and looking under the pinching finger)

Oooh!
The work of unclean hands.
Crap!
I'll go warn the polar
circle.

Running. A German, wrung out his sleeves, rushes at him from behind the slope of the world. He looks for a button for a second and, not finding it, grabs the wool of his fur coat.

German

Ger Eskimo!
Ger Eskimo!
It's terribly rushed!
A couple of minutes...

Fisherman

German

So - today I’m sitting in my restaurant
on Friedrichstrasse.
Sun through the window
it beckons.
Day,
like a bourgeois before the revolution, it’s clear.
The audience is sitting
and quietly scheidemanit.
Having eaten the soup,
I look at the bottled Eiffels.
Think:
What kind of beef should I take?
And should I start working on the beef?
I'm watching -
and lunch stuck in my throat:
something is wrong with the Alley of Victories.
Stone Hohenzollerns,
standing between the daisies,
suddenly they flew upside down.
Hum.
I run to the roof.
Fighting around the tavern frame,
waterless surf,
no fuss at all,
ran
the neighborhoods were overwhelmed.
Berlin is a troubled sea of delirium,
invisible waves bass notes.
And for,
and above,
and under,
and before -
dreadnought houses!
And before I could spread my thoughts,
Is it from Foch, or from...

Fisherman

German

I'm all
soaked to the bone.
I'm watching -
everything is dry
but it pours, and pours, and pours.
And suddenly,
the ruins of Pompeii more pompous, painting
opened up -
with roots
Berlin was torn out
and drowned in the abyss,
at the world in a molten furnace.
I woke up on the ridge of flowing villages.
I collected all my yacht club experience, -
and so
in front of you,
dearest,
All,
what is left now of Europe.

Fisherman

B-b-a little...

German

It will calm down, of course...
a day or two.

Fisherman

Yes, speak without these European jokes!
What do you want? There's no time for you here.

German (showing horizontally)

Allow me to visit your dear
seals.

The fisherman annoyedly waves his hand at the fire, goes in the other direction - to warn the circle - and stumbles upon the wet Australians running out from behind the other slope.

Fisherman (retreating in surprise)

Weren’t there even more disgusting faces?!

Australian man with his wife. (together)

We are Australians.

Australian.

I'm Australian.
We had everything.
Something like this:
platypus, palm tree, porcupine, cactus!..

Australian (crying in a rush of feeling)

And now
we're gone
everything is lost:
and cacti,
and platypuses,
and palm trees -
everything drowned...
everything is at the bottom...

Fisherman (pointing at the reclining German)

Here, go to them.
And then they are alone.

Getting ready to go again, the Eskimo stopped, listening to two voices from two sides of the globe.

Cauldron, ooh!

Second

Cylinder, ooh!

First

It's getting stronger!
Stay north latitude!

Second

It's raging!
Grab the southern longitude!

An Englishman and a Frenchman are sliding off the globe along the ropes of latitude and longitude. Everyone hoists the national flag.

Englishman

The banner has been hoisted.
I am the owner full of snow.

Frenchman

Englishman (laying out some goods)

No - mine
I'm already trading.

Frenchman (starting to get angry)

No - mine
and you look for another one.

Englishman (enraged)

Ah well!
May you die!

Frenchman (enraged)

Ah well!
I'll put a bump on your nose!

Englishman (climbs with fists on the Frenchman)

England, hip-hip!

Frenchman (climbs with fists on the Englishman)

Viv la France!

Australian (rushes to separate)

Well, people!
Not the people, but pure rabble:
there are no more empires,
no imperials
and they are still punching each other in the face.

Fisherman

Eh, you
imperialists!

German

Come on, right!

Fisherman

What a crowd!

Our merchant falls directly on the head of the Eskimo, who is about to leave again.

Merchant

Honorables,
this mess!
Yes, I'm Asia?
“Destroy Asia” is a decree from the heavens.
Yes, I’ve never been Asian!
(Having calmed down a little.)
Yesterday in Tula
I sit quietly in a chair.
How the doors will burst!
Well, I think -
from Cheka!
I have, you understand,
My cheek turned pale.
But
God is most merciful in the world:
It turns out that it’s not Cheka – the wind.
It dripped a little
then it went
further more,
more - higher,
poured into the streets
the roofs blew...
All
Quiet!
Quiet!

Frenchman

Do you hear?
Do you hear the stomping?
Many approaching voices.
Flood! flood! flood! about the flood! flood!

Englishman (horrified)

Oh my God!
Misfortune - like from a drainpipe,
and then there’s this eastern question.

Ahead is the Negus, behind him is the Chinese, Persian, Turk, Raja, priest, compromiser. The procession is closed by all seven pairs of unclean ones pouring in from all sides.

Negus

At least a little blacker than snow, sir,
but nonetheless
I am an Abyssinian Negus.
My respects.
I have now left my Africa.
The Nile, the river boa constrictor, wriggled in it.
How the Nile became enraged, squeezing the kingdom into a river,
and my Africa was drowned in it.
Although there is no name,
but nonetheless…

Fisherman (annoyingly)

…but nonetheless
my respects.
We heard, we heard!

Negus

Please don't forget -
Negus is talking to you,
and the negus wants to eat.
What is this?
Must be a tasty dog?

Fisherman

Negus mistakenly tries to sit on Lloyd George, who looks like two peas in a pod.

Fisherman

Go sit down and don’t dirty anyone.

Englishman (scared)

Fisherman (addressing others)

What do you want?

Chinese

Nothing!
Nothing!
Drown my China!

Persian

Persia,
my Persia has sunk!

Rajah

Even India
Celestial India, and that!

Pasha

And only one memory remains from Turkey!

A lady breaks through from the crowd of clean ones with an endless amount of cardboard boxes.

Lady

Be careful!
Don't tear it!
The silk is thin!

(To the fisherman.)

Man,
Help me put up the cardboards.

She's so sweet!
How spicy!..

Fisherman

Idle parasite!

Frenchman

What kind of nation will you be?

Lady

My nation is the most diverse.
At first she was Russian -
Russia has become narrow to me.
These Bolsheviks are such a horror!
I am an elegant woman
with a subtle soul -
I took it and became an Estonian.
The Bolsheviks began to press on the outskirts -
I became a citizen of Ukraine.
We took Kharkov ten times -
I settled in some republic in Odessa.
Odessa was taken, Wrangel in Crimea -
I took it and obeyed him.
They drove the whites across the sea and across the field -
I'm already Turkish
I'm walking around Constantinople.
The Bolsheviks began to come closer -
and I’m already a Parisian.
I'm walking in Paris.
I've changed forty nations, I confess, I -
Now I have the Kamchatka nation.
What a lousy summer at the poles:
You can't show a single toilet!

Fisherman (shouts at clean people)

Quiet!
Quiet!
What is this hum?

Compromiser (hysterically separates from the crowd)

Listen! -
I can't!
Listen!
What is it?
There is no dry place in the world!
Listen!
Leave me alone!
Let me go home
to the office!
Listen!
I can't!
I thought there would be a flood according to Kautsky.
And the wolves are full,
and the sheep are safe.
And now -
people kill each other.
Lovely red ones!
Dear white ones!
Listen, I can't!

Frenchman

Don't rub your eyes...
don't bite your lips...

(Those approaching the fire unclean, arrogantly.)

Which nations are you?!

Unclean (together)

To chase everything around the world
Our wandering people are used to it.
We are not nations,
our work is our homeland.

Frenchman

Blacksmith (the Frenchman, patting him on his hefty belly)

The sound of the flood is probably in your ears?

Laundress (to him, mockingly and shrilly)

Would you lie down and sleep on the bed now?
I wish I could let you into the trenches and the mines!

Red Army soldier (menacingly)

I would go into the trenches -
It's wet in the trenches.

Seeing the brewing “conflict” between the pure and the unclean, a compromiser rushes to separate them.

Compromiser

Darlings! Well, don't! Don't start swearing!
Stop looking sideways at each other.
Stretch out your hands
hug each other
Gentlemen, comrades,
I have to agree.

Frenchman (viciously)

Fisherman (viciously. Both the fisherman and the Frenchman crutch the neck of the compromiser)

Oh, you compromiser!
Oh, you compromiser!

Compromiser (running away, beaten, whining)

Here you go,
again…
I'm good to him
and he…
It's always like this:
you call me to agree,
and they will hit you on both sides.

The unclean pass by, separating the disgustingly huddled crowd of the clean, and sit down by the fire. A crowd of pure ones closes in a circle behind them.

Pasha (climbs out into the middle)

Believers!
We need to discuss what happened.
Let's delve into the essence of the phenomenon.

Merchant

It's simple -
doomsday

And in my opinion - a flood.

Frenchman

And it’s not a flood at all,
otherwise
it was raining.

Rajah

Yes,
there was no rain.

Diplomat

So this idea is also wild...

Pasha

But anyway -
What happened, true believers?
Let's, true believers, look at the root.

Merchant

The people, in my opinion, have become rebellious.

German

I think it's war, I.

Intelligentsia

No,
In my opinion, the reason is different.
In my opinion, metaphysical...

Merchant (dissatisfied)

War is metaphysical!
We started with Adam!

Take turns!
Take turns!
Don't cause sodomy.

Pasha

Let's talk gradually.
Your word, student!

(Justifies himself in front of the crowd.)

And he even has foam on his lips.

Intellectual

At first
everything was simple:
day gave way to night,
but only
The dawn has become too angry!
After -
laws,
concepts,
faith,
granite heaps of capitals
and the sun itself, a motionless redhead, -
everything seemed to become a little fluid,
creeping a little,
a little liquefied.
Then how it will spill!
The streets are pouring
the melted house falls on the house.
The whole world,
melted in the blast furnaces of revolutions,
pours like a continuous waterfall.
Chinese voice
Gentlemen! Attention!
It's drizzling here!
Australian's wife
Nice drizzle!
I was as exhausted as pigs.

Persian

Maybe the end of the world is near
and we
We rally, yell and laugh.

Diplomat (presses towards the pole)

Merchant (pressing the knee of the one squeezing the hole with the patience of an Eskimo typical of this people)

Hey, you!
Off to the walruses!

The Eskimo hunter flies away, and a stream flows from the open hole into those present. The pure ones fanned out, screaming inarticulately.

A minute later everyone rushes towards the stream.

Score!
Shut up!
Clamp!

They have flown away. Only the Australian remained near the globe with his finger in the hole. In the general commotion, the priest perched himself on a couple of logs.

Brothers!
We are losing the last inch!
The last inch is flooded with water!

Who is this?
Who is this wardrobe with a beard?

This is for forty nights and forty days!

Merchant

Right!
The Lord advised him wisely.

Intelligentsia

There was a similar precedent in history -
remember the famous adventure of Noevo.

Merchant (settling in place of the priest)

Get to the point!

Merchant

Let's build a smokehouse, brothers.
Australian's wife
Right! The ark!

Intelligentsia

Here's the hunt!
We'll build a steamboat.

Rajah

Two ships!

Merchant

Right!
I will invest all the capital!
They were saved, but we are smarter than them, in no way.

General hum

Long live,
long live technology!

Merchant

Raise your hands -
who agrees.

General hum

And no hands are needed
visible behind the eyes.

Both the clean and the unclean raise their hands.

Frenchman (taking the place of the merchant, he angrily examines the blacksmith who raised his hand)

Are you going there too?
And don’t worry!
Gentlemen,
let's not take the unclean ones!
They will know how to scold us!

Do you know how to saw and plan?

Frenchman (drooping)

I changed my mind.
Let's take the unclean ones.

Merchant

We will only select non-drinkers and broad-shouldered ones.

German (stepping into the Frenchman's place)

Shhh, gentlemen,
maybe you won't have to put up with it yet
unclean.
Fortunately,
we don't know what's happening to a fifth of the world.
You're making noise and didn't even bother to find out
Are there any Americans among us?

Merchant (joyfully)

What a head!
Not a person, but a German chancellor!
Joy cuts through the cry of the Australian woman.
What is this?

An American on a motorcycle rushes straight from the hall to those watching intently.

American

(Hands out paper.)

Here
from drowned America
for two hundred billion checks.

Silent despondency. And suddenly the cry of an Australian holding water.

Australian

Why are you staring? He'll stare!
By God, I'll take it out!
Fingers are numb.

The clean ones began to fuss, rubbing against the unclean ones.

Frenchman (blacksmith)

Well, comrades,
let's build it, huh?
Kind blacksmith
What do I need,
for me at least...

(Waves his hand to the unclean.)

Let's go, comrades!
Go, go, go.

The unclean ones rise. Saws. Planers. Hammers.

Compromiser

Hurry up, comrades,
hurry up, dears!..
Get to work!
Axes and saws in your hands!

Intellectual (moves aside)

Work -
I won’t even think about it.
I'll sit here
and I'll do some sabotage.

(Yells at workers.)

Turn around quickly!
Ruby, don't miss!

A carpenter

Why are you sitting with your hands folded?

Intellectual

I am special, I am irreplaceable...

ACT TWO

Ark deck. In all directions there is a panorama of lands collapsing into waves. A ladder-mast tangled with ropes rests against the low clouds. To the side is the wheelhouse and the entrance to the hold. The clean and the unclean lined up along the nearby side.

Farmhand

Nah!
I wouldn't want to go overboard today.

Seamstress

Look there:
not a wave, but a fence!

Merchant

I shouldn't have confused this with you.
It's always like this
no point.
Sailors too!
Found a sea wolf.

Lamplighter

Look, I brought it up!
It hums and groans.

Seamstress

What a fence!
Covered with a wall!

Frenchman

Yes, sir.
Very stupid, sir!
I tell you with regret and pain, sir.
Sit b.
The earth is still standing.
No matter what it is, it is still a pole.

Farmhand

That the wolves are yours
they caress in waves.

Both Eskimos, the driver and the Australians at once.

Look,
What is this?
What about Alaska?

Negus

Well, she darted!
Like a stone with a sling.

German

Eskimo

Fisherman

No!
All
Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye!

Frenchman (burst into tears, overwhelmed by memories)

My God!..

My God!..
It happened
the whole family
let's gather at the tea table -
buns,
caviar...

Baker (measuring the tip of the nail)

Wonderful, by God!
Well, it's not a pity
not so much.

Shoemaker

I've got some vodka.
Do you have a glass?

Servant

Miner

Guys,
let's go to the hold!

Eskimo Hunter

How's the walrus?
Aren't you very lean?

Servant

Nothing is fried,
nicely fried.
Clean ones. The unclean descend into the hold, singing along.
What do we have to lose? Should we be afraid of the flood?
The legs got tired - they stomped around the world!
Oh, and relaxing on ships.
Eh!
It’s not a sin to eat a walrus and take a sip of vodka...
Eh, no sin!

The pure ones surrounded the whimpering Frenchman.

Persian

It's a shame, really!
Stop yelling!

Merchant

We'll get by somehow
Let's crawl to Ararat.

Negus

You'll die of hunger while the mountain is still there.

American

Lots of money
and without food you can barely breathe.
I give half a million for a pound of bread
Nikolaevka
and two pounds of diamonds.

Merchant

Speculated.
I was in Cheka three times.
What the hell do I need this money for now?!

Chinese

Spit and rub.

Pasha

What diamonds!
Now, if a person has liver stones,
now and then you feel more secure -
as if the belly was full.

Australian

No grub
one trough.

Compromiser

And here Sukharevka is also closed.

Merchant (to the butt)

Nothing, humble monk,
Now there is a Smolensky market on every square.

Lady

And butter, and milk, and cream on the market, -
substitute an empty pocket instead of a lid.

Merchant

You're the one who's going to get enough without milk, you fool,
and the worker has a bonus,
the worker has a nature, -
will receive
and exchange.

Lady

And I will exchange hats for eggs.

Intellectual

Exchange your last hat
and then sit
suck your paw.

Pop (listening to the noise in the hold)

Intellectual

What do they care?
They caught fish and ate them.

Let's take a net or spear and let's catch too.

German

Os-t-r-o-g-u?
How to handle it?
I only know how to pick at a person with a sword.

Merchant

I cast my net
I thought I’d take out a fish,
tired,
and nothing -
one piece of grass.

Pasha (contritely)

How far have you grown:
the first guild - and eat algae.

Lloyd George (to Clemenceau)

Eureka!
Let's stop quarreling.
What kind of quarrel can there be with an Englishman?
French?
The main thing is that I have a belly, you have a belly.

Compromiser

And I have... a belly.

Clemenceau

How sad it is:
with such a wonderful gentleman -
I didn't even get into trouble with him a little.

Lloyd George

Now we have no time for fights:
You and I have a common enemy.
This is what I want to tell you...

He takes Clemenceau by the arm and leads him away. After whispering, they return.

Clemenceau

We are all so pure.
Should we shed sweat at work?
Let's force the unclean ones to attack us
worked.

Intellectual

I would force them!
Where should I go?
stunted!
And any of them is oblique in the shoulders.

Lloyd George

God forbid we fight!
Don't fight
and while they're devouring the menu,
while they are sitting,
drink and shout,
let's take it and give them a pig...

Clemenceau

Let's choose a king for them!

Compromiser

Why a king?
Better than a policeman.

Clemenceau

And then that the king will issue a manifesto -
All the food, they say, must be given to me.
The king eats
and we eat -
his loyal subjects.
All
Great!

Pasha

German (joyfully)

I told you -
Bismaroch's head!

Australians

Let's choose quickly!

But who?
Who?

Englishman and Frenchman

Right!
The reins are in his hands.

Merchant

What reins?

German

Well, what's their name...
the reins of power, or something...
Why are you quibbling?
There is only one meaning.

(Negusu.)

Climb up, sir!

Real, real!

Lady

Oh!
I will be a lady of the court!

Lloyd George

Hurry, hurry
write the manifest:
by God's grace...

Pasha and the Australian

And here we are,
so that they don't have time to get out.

Pasha and others are writing a manifesto. A German and a diplomat unwind a rope before exiting the hold. The unclean ones stagger out. When the latter crawled onto the deck, the diplomat and the German switch places - and the unclean ones are entangled.

German (to the shoemaker)

Hey,
You!
Take the oath!

Shoemaker (poor understanding of events)

Can I lie down instead?

Diplomat

I'll lie down for you -
You won’t get up for a hundred years!
Mister Lieutenant,
point your gun!

Frenchman

Yeah!
Sobered up!
It's easier this way.

Some are unclean (sad)

Gotcha, brothers!
like chickens in cabbage soup.

Australian

Hats off!
Who has a hat there?

Chinese and Raja (pushing the priest standing under the wheelhouse headed by the Negus)

Read it,
read, they stand there not breathing for now.

Pop (on paper)

By God's grace
We,
king of fried chickens
And Grand Duke on these same eggs,
without ripping off seven skins from anyone, -
we tear off six, the seventh is left, -
We declare to our loyal subjects:
drag everything -
fish, crackers, guinea pigs
and what other edible things can be found.
Governing Senate
won't slow down
sort through the piles of goodness,
take it away and treat us.
An improvised senate of pasha and rajah.
We obey, Your Majesty!

Pasha (disposes of)

(To the Australian.)

You - to the cabins!
(Australian.)
You are in the storerooms!
(General.)
So that the unclean does not eat anything expensive.
(To the merchant, reeling off the baker for him.)
You and him go down into the hold.
I'll go through everything with the Raja on deck.
Drag it here
and come back again.

The joyful hum of the pure.

Let's pile up a whole mountain of edibles!

Pop (rubbing my hands)

And then we will brotherly share the spoils
according to Christian custom.

Escorted by the clean, the unclean descend into the hold. A minute later they return and dump all kinds of food in front of the negus.

Merchant (joyfully)

Everything was searched
there is nothing more exactly.
What a product!
Admiration!
One word -
normalized
Well, guys, sharpen your teeth!

American

What about the unclean?

German

We need to lock them downstairs.

Well, okay,
Your Majesty, wait.
One minute!

They drive the unclean into the hold, and while they are busy with them, the negus eats everything brought. The clean ones return.

Clemenceau

Are you coming, Lloyd George?

Lloyd George

Vladimir Mayakovsky

"Mystery Buff"

MYSTERY-BUFF

Heroic, epic and satirical

image of our era

SECOND V A R I A N T

"Mystery-bouffe" is the road. Road of revolution. No one can predict with accuracy what other mountains we will have to blow up as we walk this road. Today the word “Lloyd George” pierces the ear, and tomorrow the English themselves will forget his name. Today the will of millions is rushing towards the commune, and in fifty years, perhaps, the attack will be further

On which planets will the air dreadnoughts of the commune rush. Therefore, leaving the road (shape), I again changed parts of the landscape

new, today, momentary.

D E Y S T V U Y T:

1. S e m p a r ch i s t s: 1) Negus Abyssinian, 2) Raja

Indian, 3) Turkish Pasha, 4) Russian speculator, 5)

Chinese, 6) Well-fed Persian, 7) Clemenceau, 8) German, 9) Pop,

10) Australian, 11) Australian's wife, 12) Lloyd George,

13) American and 14) Diplomat. 2. Seven couples: 1) Red Army soldier, 2) Lantern

box, 3) Driver, 4) Miner, 5) Carpenter, 6) Peon, 7) Servant,

8) Blacksmith, 9) Baker, 10) Laundress, 11) Seamstress, 12) Machinist,

13) Eskimo fisherman and 14) Eskimo hunter. 3. Concordant. 4. I ntelligence. 5. L a m a s c a t o n k a m i. 6. Traits: 1) Beelzebub, 2) Chief Devil, 3) Westman, 4) 2nd

messenger, 5) Guard, 6) 20 clean ones with horns and tails. 7. Saints: 1) Methuselah, 2) Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 3) Leo Tolstoy,

4) Gabriel, 5) Angel, 6) 2nd angel and 7) angels. 8. S a v a o f. 9. VALID LAND PROMISED:

1) Hammer, 2) Sickle, 3) Cars, 4) Trains, 5) Cars, 6)

Planer 7) Pliers, 8) Needle, 9) Saw, 10) Bread, 11) Salt, 12)

Sugar, 13) Matter, 14) Boot, 15) Board with lever. 10. H u m o f the future.

M E S T A D E Y S T V I Y

1. The whole universe. 2. Ark. 3. Hell. 4. Paradise. 5. Land of Wrecks.

6. Promised Land.

Wrong

In a minute we will show you... Mystery-bouffe. I must say two words: this is a new thing. To jump over your head, you need someone to help. A prologue is needed before a new play. Firstly, why was the entire theater destroyed? Well-meaning people will be very outraged by this. Why do you go to performances? In order to have fun, right? Is it a great pleasure to watch if the pleasure is only on stage? the stage is only one third. This means that in an interesting performance, if you build everything up, then your pleasure will triple, and if the performance is uninteresting, then you shouldn’t watch even one third. For other theaters, presenting is not important: for them the stage is the keyhole. Sit quietly, straight or at an angle, and watch a piece of someone else’s life. You look and see Aunt Manya and Uncle Vanya lying on the sofa. But we are not interested in either uncles or aunts; you will find aunts and uncles at home. We will also show real life, but it has been transformed into an extraordinary spectacle by the theater. The essence of the first act is this: the earth is leaking. Then - stomping. Everyone is fleeing the revolutionary flood. Seven pairs of unclean and seven pure pairs, that is, fourteen poor proletarians and fourteen bourgeois-bar, and between them, with a pair of tear-stained cheeks, Mensheviks. The pole is overwhelmed. The last refuge is collapsing. And everyone begins to build not even an ark, but a shrine. In the second act, the audience travels in the ark: here you have autocracy, and a democratic republic, and finally overboard, amid the Menshevik howl, the pure ones were thrown upside down. In the third act it is shown that the workers do not need to be afraid of anything, not even the devils in the middle of hell. In the fourth, laugh harder! paradise appears. In the fifth act, devastation, with its immense mouth open, crushes and devours. Although we worked on a hungry belly, we defeated devastation. In the sixth act, the commune, the whole hall, sing at the top of your lungs! Look with all your eyes!

All is ready? And hell? And heaven?

From behind the stage.

Ready! Let's!

ACT ONE

At the glow of the northern lights, the globe rests with its pole on the ice of the floor. The ropes of latitudes and longitudes intersect in ladders all over the ball. Between two walruses propping up the world, e s k them o s-o h o t n i k, with his finger buried in the ground, yells to the other

god, stretched out in front of him by the fire.

About the hunter

Loudmouth. There is no other way to poke your finger at the ground.

About the hunter

Where is the hole?

About the hunter

What's flowing?

About the hunter

Fisherman (jumping up, running up and looking under

pinching finger)

Oooh! The work of unclean hands. Crap! I'll go warn the Arctic Circle.

Running. A German, wrung out his sleeves, rushes at him from behind the slope of the world. He looks for a button for a second and, not finding it,

grabs the wool of the fur coat.

Ger Eskimo! Ger Eskimo! It's terribly rushed! A couple of minutes...

So, today I’m sitting in my restaurant on Friedrichstrasse. The sun beckons through the window. The day, like the bourgeoisie before the revolution, is clear. The audience sits and quietly chants. Having eaten the soup, I look at the bottled Eiffels. I think: what kind of beef should I take on? And should I start working on the beef? I looked and had lunch stuck in my throat: something was wrong with the Alley of Victories. The stone Hohenzollerns, standing between the daisies, suddenly flew upside down. Hum. I run to the roof. Winding around the skeleton of the tavern, the waterless surf, rushing against the bustle, overwhelmed the neighborhoods. Berlin - a restless sea of delirium, invisible waves of bass notes. And behind, and above, and under, and in front of the houses, dreadnoughts! And before I could even think about whether it was from Foch or...

I was completely sweaty. I look at everything dry, but it pours, and pours, and pours. And suddenly, the collapse of Pompeii was more pompous, the picture was torn open by the roots. Berlin was torn out and drowned in the abyss, from the world in a molten furnace. I woke up on the crest of flowing villages. I have collected all my yacht club experience, and here in front of you, my dear, is all that is now left of Europe.

B-b-a little...

It will calm down, of course... In about two days.

Yes, speak without these European jokes! What do you want? There's no time for you here.

German (showing horizontally)

Allow me to come near your dear seals.

Mayakovsky Vladimir

Mystery Buff

Vladimir Mayakovsky

"Mystery Buff"

MYSTERY-BUFF

Heroic, epic and satirical

image of our era

SECOND V A R I A N T

On which planets will the air dreadnoughts of the commune rush. Therefore, leaving the road (shape), I again changed parts of the landscape

new, today, momentary.

D E Y S T V U Y T:

1. S e m p a r ch i s t s: 1) Negus Abyssinian, 2) Raja

Indian, 3) Turkish Pasha, 4) Russian speculator, 5)

Chinese, 6) Well-fed Persian, 7) Clemenceau, 8) German, 9) Pop,

10) Australian, 11) Australian's wife, 12) Lloyd George,

13) American and 14) Diplomat. 2. Seven couples: 1) Red Army soldier, 2) Lantern

box, 3) Driver, 4) Miner, 5) Carpenter, 6) Peon, 7) Servant,

8) Blacksmith, 9) Baker, 10) Laundress, 11) Seamstress, 12) Machinist,

13) Eskimo fisherman and 14) Eskimo hunter. 3. Concordant. 4. I ntelligence. 5. L a m a s c a t o n k a m i. 6. Traits: 1) Beelzebub, 2) Chief Devil, 3) Westman, 4) 2nd

messenger, 5) Guard, 6) 20 clean ones with horns and tails. 7. Saints: 1) Methuselah, 2) Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 3) Leo Tolstoy,

4) Gabriel, 5) Angel, 6) 2nd angel and 7) angels. 8. S a v a o f. 9. VALID LAND PROMISED:

1) Hammer, 2) Sickle, 3) Cars, 4) Trains, 5) Cars, 6)

Planer 7) Pliers, 8) Needle, 9) Saw, 10) Bread, 11) Salt, 12)

Sugar, 13) Matter, 14) Boot, 15) Board with lever. 10. H u m o f the future.

M E S T A D E Y S T V I Y

1. The whole universe. 2. Ark. 3. Hell. 4. Paradise. 5. Land of Wrecks.

6. Promised Land.

Wrong

All is ready? And hell? And heaven?

From behind the stage.

Ready! Let's!

ACT ONE

god, stretched out in front of him by the fire.

About the hunter

Loudmouth. There is no other way to poke your finger at the ground.

About the hunter

Where is the hole?

About the hunter

What's flowing?

About the hunter

Fisherman (jumping up, running up and looking under

pinching finger)

Oooh! The work of unclean hands. Crap! I'll go warn the Arctic Circle.

Running. A German, wrung out his sleeves, rushes at him from behind the slope of the world. He looks for a button for a second and, not finding it,

grabs the wool of the fur coat.

Ger Eskimo! Ger Eskimo! It's terribly rushed! A couple of minutes...

B-b-a little...

It will calm down, of course... In about two days.

Yes, speak without these European jokes! What do you want? There's no time for you here.

German (showing horizontally)

Allow me to come near your dear seals.

The fisherman annoyedly waves his hand at the fire, goes in the other direction to warn the Circle - and stumbles upon those running out from behind the other

of the wet slope of Australia.

Fisherman (retreating in surprise)

Weren’t there even more disgusting faces?!

AUSTRALIAN WOMEN (together)

We are Australians.

A u s t r a l i e c

I'm Australian. We had everything. Something like: platypus, palm tree, porcupine, cactus...

A wstraliyka (crying with a surge of feeling)

And now we are gone, everything is gone: the cacti, the platypuses, the palm trees, everything has sunk... everything is at the bottom...

Rybak (pointing to the reclining German)

Here, go to them. And then they are alone.

Getting ready to go again, the Eskimo stopped, listening to

First voice

Cauldron, ooh!

Second

Cylinder, ooh!

First

It's getting stronger! Stay north latitude!

Second

It's raging! Grab the southern longitude!

Along the ropes of latitudes and longitudes, English and French people roll down from the globe. Everyone hoists the national flag.

A n g l i c h a n i n

The banner has been hoisted. I am the owner full of snow.

F r a n c u s

No, sorry! I installed it earlier. This is my colony.

A n g l i c h a n i n (laying out some goods)

No - mine, I'm already trading.

FRENCH (beginning to get angry)

No - mine, and you look for another one.

A n g l i c h a n i n

(furious)

Ah, yes! May you die!

F r a n c u s

(furious)

Ah well! I'll put a bump on your nose!

A n g l i c h a n i n (climbs his fists at the Frenchman)

England, hip-hip!

FRENCH (climbs the Englishman with his fists)

Vive la France!*

A u s t r a l i e c

(rushes to separate)

Well, people! Not the people, but a pure rabble: there are no longer empires, no imperials, and they are still beating each other in the face.

Eh, you imperialists!

Come on, right!

What a crowd!

Right on the head of the Eskimo who was about to go again

Our kupchina is overthrown.

Venerables, this is a disgrace! Yes, I'm Asia? “Destroy Asia” is a decree from the heavens. Yes, I’ve never been Asian! (Having calmed down a little.) Yesterday in Tula I was sitting calmly in a chair. How the doors will burst! Well, I think from Cheka! As you can imagine, my cheek turned pale. But God is very merciful in the world: it turns out that it is not Cheka who is the wind. It dripped a little, then it went further, more, more, higher, poured into the streets, tore off roofs...

Quiet! Quiet!

F r a n c u s

Do you hear? Do you hear the stomping?

Flood! flood! flood! about the flood! flood!

A n g l i c h a n i n

Oh my God! Misfortune is like something out of a drainpipe, and then there’s this eastern question.

Mayakovsky Vladimir

Mystery Buff

Vladimir Mayakovsky

"Mystery Buff"

MYSTERY-BUFF

Heroic, epic and satirical

image of our era

SECOND V A R I A N T

On which planets will the air dreadnoughts of the commune rush. Therefore, leaving the road (shape), I again changed parts of the landscape

new, today, momentary.

D E Y S T V U Y T:

1. S e m p a r ch i s t s: 1) Negus Abyssinian, 2) Raja

Indian, 3) Turkish Pasha, 4) Russian speculator, 5)

Chinese, 6) Well-fed Persian, 7) Clemenceau, 8) German, 9) Pop,

10) Australian, 11) Australian's wife, 12) Lloyd George,

13) American and 14) Diplomat. 2. Seven couples: 1) Red Army soldier, 2) Lantern

box, 3) Driver, 4) Miner, 5) Carpenter, 6) Peon, 7) Servant,

8) Blacksmith, 9) Baker, 10) Laundress, 11) Seamstress, 12) Machinist,

13) Eskimo fisherman and 14) Eskimo hunter. 3. Concordant. 4. I ntelligence. 5. L a m a s c a t o n k a m i. 6. Traits: 1) Beelzebub, 2) Chief Devil, 3) Westman, 4) 2nd

messenger, 5) Guard, 6) 20 clean ones with horns and tails. 7. Saints: 1) Methuselah, 2) Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 3) Leo Tolstoy,

4) Gabriel, 5) Angel, 6) 2nd angel and 7) angels. 8. S a v a o f. 9. VALID LAND PROMISED:

1) Hammer, 2) Sickle, 3) Cars, 4) Trains, 5) Cars, 6)

Planer 7) Pliers, 8) Needle, 9) Saw, 10) Bread, 11) Salt, 12)

Sugar, 13) Matter, 14) Boot, 15) Board with lever. 10. H u m o f the future.

M E S T A D E Y S T V I Y

1. The whole universe. 2. Ark. 3. Hell. 4. Paradise. 5. Land of Wrecks.

6. Promised Land.

Wrong

All is ready? And hell? And heaven?

From behind the stage.

Ready! Let's!

ACT ONE

god, stretched out in front of him by the fire.

About the hunter

Loudmouth. There is no other way to poke your finger at the ground.

We, poets, artists, directors and actors, celebrate the anniversary of the October Revolution with a revolutionary performance.

Poster for the first performances of "Mystery Bouffe". Drawing by V. Mayakovsky. 1918

We will give: "Mystery-bouffe", heroic, epic and satirical image of our era, made by V. Mayakovsky.

I card. Whites and blacks are running from the red flood.

II card. The ark. The pure are palming off a king and a republic to the unclean. You will see for yourself what comes of this.

III card. A hell in which the workers sent Beelzebub himself to hell.

IV card. Paradise. A close-up conversation between a farmhand and Methuselah.

V cards Commune! Sunny holiday of things and workers.

Colored by Malevich. Staged by Meyerhold and Mayakovsky. Played by free actors.

Note

"Mystery-bouffe" is chronologically the first Soviet play - the first written by a Soviet author and staged in a Soviet theater. Even more important, this is the first truly popular and innovative work that reflected in its content and in its forms the greatness of the October Revolution and captured the irreconcilable opposition between the world of workers and the world of oppressors.

True, in the first edition of "Mystery-bouffe" there are few specific features that directly depict revolutionary Russia of 1917-1918, and there are few moments directly related to the then international life. It is important, however, that the ideas, conflicts, and phraseology of the play extremely clearly convey the situation of the period of the end of the war and the first year of Soviet power.

In the plot of "Mystery-bouffe" Mayakovsky used, but satirically reinterpreted religious legends about the Flood, Noah's Ark, the path to the Promised Land, ideas about hell and heaven, the Sermon on the Mount. Using religious legends, Mayakovsky spoke a language that was familiar to the widest circle of people at that time. But he put a completely different - directly anti-religious - content into the images of religion. And the word “mystery,” usually meaning some kind of sacrament, acquired a different meaning and was united here with the seemingly opposite concept - “buff,” that is, with something very comic. Mayakovsky explained the title of the play this way: “Mystery is the great thing in the revolution, buffet is the funny thing in it.”

"Mystery-bouffe" was written by Mayakovsky under the obvious influence of figurative symbolism and terminology of political slogans, newspaper articles, rally speeches, and posters. This was reflected in her very poster style. The unique voice of the era resounds loudly in this work.

The idea of "Mystery-bouffe" appeared in Mayakovsky even before the October Revolution. In his autobiography (“I Myself”), under the date August 1917, Mayakovsky wrote: “I am planning a Mystery Bouffe.”

It is known that in the summer of 1917 A. M. Gorky and M. F. Andreeva, who were members of the leadership commission People's House in Petrograd, they offered Mayakovsky and other young poets to write a review on a revolutionary topic for the People's House. Mayakovsky intended to work on the review, but did not write it. Apparently, the idea of a popular revolutionary spectacle such as a review did not leave him even after the October Revolution gave it a new direction - it was realized in “Mystery Bouffe”.

Sketch of the scenery of the 1st act of "Mysteries-bouffe" ("Flood"). Drawing by V. Mayakovsky. 1919

Mayakovsky wrote Mystery Bouffe in the summer of 1918 at his dacha in Levashov, near Petrograd. The play was completed in September.

The first reading of "Mystery Bouffe" took place on September 27, 1918 in Petrograd in the presence of People's Commissar of Education A.V. Lunacharsky, directors, artists and other artists. One of those present (director V.N. Solovyov) subsequently described this reading as follows: “Mayakovsky read superbly, with the deepest understanding of the rhythm of the verse. The play made an extraordinary impression on everyone. We were captivated by both the grandeur of the theme and the unique new solution to the problem.”

* (V. N. Soloviev. "Mystery-buff." Magazine "Stroyka", L., 1931, No. 11, April 16, p. 15.)

A.V. Lunacharsky, as reported in the press the next day, “in a brief review noted the revolutionary impulse permeating the entire work and welcomed V.V. Mayakovsky as an exponent of truly revolutionary feeling” *.

* (A.P. "Mystery-bouffe". Evening newspaper "Bulletin of public political life, art, theater and literature", P., 1918, No. 9, September 28.)

At the same reading, it was decided that the famous communist director V. E. Meyerhold, who was present at it, would stage it together with Mayakovsky for the first anniversary of the October Revolution.

The Central Bureau for organizing the celebrations of the first anniversary of the October Revolution, having heard the play, recognized the need to stage it.

“A.V. Lunacharsky...” recalled L.I. Zheverzheev, “ordered that the play be read at the former Alexandrinsky Theater and then staged there.”

* ()

Mayakovsky read the play to the theater troupe. However, although "the bewitching skill of the reader made a strong impression on the listeners" *, the content and form of the "Mystery Bouffe" turned out to be unacceptable for the "old Alexandrians."

* (L. I. Zheverzheev. Memories. In the book. "Mayakovsky", page 138.)

For the production of "Mystery Bouffe" during the October celebrations, the premises of the Musical Drama Theater (conservatory building) were provided. The newspapers published an “Appeal to the Actors,” inviting those wishing to take part in the performance to come to the concert hall of the Tenishevsky School on October 13. There Mayakovsky read the play, and then the actors were recorded. In addition, an invitation was sent out to the actors of Petrograd theaters to take part in the play "Mystery Bouffe".

Mayakovsky worked on the play from the very first rehearsal. “Having carefully explained the laws of versification to the assembled actors,” V. N. Solovyov writes in his memoirs, “Mayakovsky taught them to read rhythmically complex poems... Joint work with the actors gave Mayakovsky something new in his understanding of theater and drama [...] In the poet’s practical work with actors, the text of “Mystery” acquired new, specifically theatrical qualities...

In the difficult conditions of the hasty release of the play "Mystery-bouffe" Mayakovsky had to devote a lot of time and effort to organizational work" * .

* (V. N. Soloviev. One of the memories of Mayakovsky. In the book "Mayakovsky", page 149.)

On the eve of the premiere it came out separate edition"Mysteries-bouffe" with a cover by Mayakovsky. He also owned the sketch of the poster. The play was published by the publishing house IMO (Art of the Young), organized by Mayakovsky, which also published it in a second edition in 1919.

Two days before the premiere, A.V. Lunacharsky appeared in the party press with an article dedicated to “Mystery-bouffe” and entitled “Communist Performance”.

“The only play,” argued A.V. Lunacharsky, “which was conceived under the influence of our revolution and therefore bears its stamp, perky, daring, major, defiant, is Mayakovsky’s “Mystery-bouffe.” [...] How literary work, it is very original, strong and beautiful. [...] The text is understandable to everyone, it goes straight to the heart of a working man, a Red Army soldier, a representative of the peasant poor. It speaks for itself."*

* (A. Lunacharsky. Communist performance. Newspaper "Petrogradskaya Pravda", P., 1918, No. 243, November 5.)

Meyerhold and Mayakovsky sought to stage action strengthen the propaganda focus of the play, as well as emphasize its satirical nature - and the play sounded like a theatrical and poetic manifesto of October. But in the performance there was a contradiction between their desire for concrete expressiveness and the attraction to abstraction of the artist K. S. Malevich, who attached self-sufficient importance to formal pictorial elements.

Among the performers, recruited from among actors of various St. Petersburg theaters, pop artists and students, young people predominated.

The role of Man was simply played by Mayakovsky himself. At the same time, Mayakovsky had to play the roles of Methuselah and one of the devils at the premiere, replacing the performers who did not appear.

In the role of the Man, Mayakovsky showed himself to be an excellent actor-reader. And the turning point in the action of the play, which the appearance of the Man simply creates, and the enormous concentrated power of his monologue, and the inspired, powerful performance of the role by the poet - all this made the Man’s scene the most impressive in the play.

At the premiere, before the start of the performance, A.V. Lunacharsky made an opening speech.

The performance was attended by workers, students, and many writers, among them Alexander Blok. "The performance had a great impact on Blok. strong impression and was perceived by him as one of the brightest episodes of the first revolutionary holiday" *.

* (Vl. Orlov. From the library of A. A. Blok. In the book "Vladimir Mayakovsky". Collection 1 edited by A. L. Dymshits, O. V. Tsekhnovitser. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Institute of Literature. Publishing house of the USSR Academy of Sciences, M.-L., 1940, p. 331.)

The appearance of "Mystery Bouffe" on stage and in print caused anger among anti-Soviet elements. An employee of the cadet newspaper "Rech", already closed by that time, Andrei Levinson (he soon moved to a white emigration camp) managed to smuggle a vile libel about the play into the newspaper "Life of Art" in which he tried in every possible way to discredit not only "Mystery-bouffe" , but also the revolutionary aspirations of Mayakovsky himself.

A group of artists expressed strong protest against this article in the press. A. V. Lunacharsky * also spoke out against her in the press.

The workers showed great interest in the Mystery Bouffe. It was expressed in the demand for tickets (during performances during the October celebrations) and in the success that was met with readings of the play or excerpts from it at work meetings after the production. This was the writer’s first experience of performing his work in front of a working audience.

Even before the production in Petrograd, Mayakovsky, having arrived in Moscow for several days, wrote for the Central Commission for the Organization of the October Celebrations " Summary""Mystery-bouffe" and read "Mystery-bouffe" on October 12 in the TEO (Theater Department) of the People's Commissariat for Education; as reported in the press, "the play made a very good impression." * On the same day, a meeting of representatives of Moscow theaters was held on the issue of repertoire on the days of the first anniversary of the October Revolution, at which the leadership of TEO "Mystery-bouffe" was recommended for production. The director's commission, elected at this meeting, instructed A. Ya. Tairov and N. M. Foregger to stage "Mystery-bouffe" at the Chamber Theater However, in 1918, "Mystery Bouffe" was not staged in Moscow.

In early March 1919, Mayakovsky moved from Petrograd to Moscow.

In 1919-1920, the question of staging “Mystery Bouffe” was raised more than once. Mayakovsky persistently sought a new stage embodiment of his play.

Attempts to stage "Mystery Bouffe" (as well as intentions to publish some of Mayakovsky's works) during that period often encountered resistance from individuals involved in organizations in charge of issues of art and fiction. These individuals had a negative attitude towards Mayakovsky’s work and considered themselves to have the right to oppose the dissemination of his works, falsely claiming that supposedly “the workers do not understand them.” In the article “Only Not Memories...” Mayakovsky, outlining the vicissitudes of the struggle for “Mystery-bouffe,” wrote: “The immediate difficulty of fighting with old things, which characterizes the life of a revolutionary writer before the revolution, was replaced by the inheritance of this old things - aesthetic inertia. Of course, with that a wonderful correction that in a country of revolution it is not inertia that ultimately wins, but a new, left-wing, revolutionary thing.

But you need to have a throat, a grip and energy.”

In the early autumn of 1920, N.K. Krupskaya proposed to the club department of the Glavpolitprosvet, which she headed, to organize a production of “Mystery Bouffe” by workers in the central club of the Khamovnichesky district of Moscow. Mayakovsky read a play at the club; the workers received her well. It was decided to involve cultural organizations from the entire region in working on the production and show the performance on the Devichye Pole, on outdoors. But things did not go further than preparatory work, since the play was accepted for production by the RSFSR First Theater and the initiators decided that it was not worth carrying out parallel work on the same play.

In Moscow, "Mystery Bouffe" was included in the repertoire plan of the RSFSR First Theater (later - State Theater named after Vs. Meyerhold) in October 1920 (even before the opening of the theater).

For new production Mayakovsky reworked "Mystery-bouffe". He was prompted to do this by changes in political life over the two-plus years that have passed since the first edition of the play was written, and by his own creative growth, the practice of his political and agitation work, especially his work in ROSTA.

The reworking made the play more topical and brought it closer in terms of genre to a kind of political review. The second edition talks about the fight against the difficulties characteristic of the period of the civil war: the blockade Soviet country imperialists, economic ruin, the food crisis with rations, cards and the speculation that accompanied it, bureaucracy, sabotage by some specialists. And the introduction to the composition characters The Red Army soldier and the text's references to the Cheka (Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage) were reminders of the forces that the Soviet state created to protect itself. Was introduced and carried through the entire play new character- Menshevik compromiser.

Along with features characterizing the period of the Civil War as a whole, Mayakovsky included in the play moments that related directly to the months during which the second edition was created (late 1920 - early 1921). This was the time when the Red Army, throwing the remnants of enemy hordes into the Black Sea, put an end to foreign military intervention and civil war within European Russia.

Mayakovsky wrote a whole new act (the fifth), in which the struggle was shown in conventional poster forms Soviet state with devastation.

The relevance of the play was facilitated by the fact that it reflected the pressing issues of the day: electrification of the country, the issue of concessions (these issues were discussed at the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets in December 1920), responses to the discussion about trade unions that unfolded in party organizations from November 1920 to March 1921, as well as the fact that Mayakovsky brought onto the stage the largest figures of the imperialist Entente in those years, calling his Frenchman Clemenceau, and his Englishman Lloyd George.

A completely new prologue to the play was created and its ending was partially reworked. The replicas of the Man who simply turned into the Man of the Future were corrected. Textual and minor plot changes were made. The second edition demanded theatrical innovation even more insistently than the first. The volume of the play has increased by nine hundred and fifty lines.

The differences between the first and second editions are so great and at the same time each of the editions is so organic that Mayakovsky published both side by side in his collected works.

For the first time, Mayakovsky read the second edition of the play to the troupe of the RSFSR First Theater on December 29, 1920. Rehearsals began in January 1921.

The final text of the second edition was formed by the time of the premiere: some additions and changes to the text were made by Mayakovsky during the rehearsals.

The author of these comments has kept a copy of “Mystery-bouffe”, typewritten from the manuscript in the ROSTA staff at the beginning of 1921. This copy contains important discrepancies with the final text.

Mayakovsky’s work on the scene at the beginning of the second act (the conversation about the market) is interesting. In the text of the typewritten copy, the Merchant, hearing the Compromiser’s complaints about the closure of Sukharevka (the center of Moscow petty speculation during the Civil War), turns to Pop with the words:

Nothing, humble monk, the Smolensk market remains.

The compromiser responds:

What a market, one glory - daily raids.

In the spring of 1921, the New Economic Policy was introduced; Mayakovsky responded to this event by changing the text of this scene (see final text).

At the beginning of the fifth act there is a scene of a dispute between the “unclean” ones, the participants of which use the terms of the discussion about trade unions of 1920-1921 (“shake up”, “appointees”, “buffers”). The text of the typewritten copy was created in the midst of this discussion, and in it, through the mouth of one of the characters - the Machinist - Bukharin, who organized the so-called “buffer faction”, is ridiculed:

What's the use of a professional discussion, dear Prov? Bukharin has buffers, but a locomotive without wheels, not without buffers.

After the premiere (in May - July 1921), the play included small inserts on the topics of the day. Unfortunately, the texts of these inserts could not be found. But in one of Mayakovsky’s notebooks, which contains drafts of works dating back to May - September 1921, there are two entries - apparently, sketches for inserts in the third act ("Hell"), in the scene of the "unclean" and devils (in the notes there are no indications of the characters speaking individual lines).

In one of the entries, the “unclean one” (apparently, the Laborer) tells the devils about the “torment” that people experience due to bureaucracy, red tape and disorder in the organization of supplies:

Is this torment for a sinner - spinning on a spit? Force him to wear boots according to the order, and this would probably kill the sinner. You think they scared you, they twisted your tail, but on earth we have cleaner tails. Everyone is standing not with tails, but in tails. - Ah! * Here you hit the sinner in the face once, cut him open, and put a piece of his thigh on a fork. And we have warrants, and we have pieces of paper. In the meantime, they organized the Soviet government, and they also suffered to their heart's content.

* (Apparently, the exclamation “Ah!”, interjected into the remark of the “evil one,” escapes from the devils, frightened by the story of the “tails” (queues) on the earth. - A.F.)

The text of another entry, apparently intended as a replacement for Beelzebub's last remark, is a remark from one of the devils and the response of the Farmhand:

His Majesty Beelzebub asks to be called to Glavtop. - Give up your hopes, you've revamped yourself * .

* (These notes are in a notebook kept in State Museum V.V. Mayakovsky (No. 9/62).)

These lines - an example of Mayakovsky's efficiency - were a response to one of the events of the day. In May 1921, the Supreme Tribunal of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee heard a case about large-scale speculation in the Glavtop (Main Directorate of the Fuel Industry under Supreme Council National economy).

With inserts of this kind, Mayakovsky made the content of “Mystery Bouffe” modern, “momentary,” brought it even closer to the vital interests of his contemporaries and helped fight against shortcomings in the work of Soviet institutions.

When it became known that the RSFSR First Theater was going to stage Mystery Bouffe, four writers filed a protest with the Central Committee of the RCP(b) against the production of this play, accusing it of having an “anarchist point of view.” Mayakovsky again organized several readings of "Mystery" in front of a working audience, in particular in the Rogozhsko-Simonovsky district, at the Vulcan cinema, on January 24, 1921. These readings once again showed that the reproaches against the play were not based on anything: at the meetings, resolutions were adopted demanding the fastest production of Mystery Bouffe.

On January thirtieth, a public debate took place on the topic “Should I stage Mystery Bouffe?” Representatives of party and Soviet organizations were invited to the debate; Many artists were present. Mayakovsky opened the debate with a message about the “ordeals” that “Mystery Bouffe” underwent when trying to stage it, and then with great success I read the play in the second edition. A representative of a group of writers who had previously protested against the production of “Mystery Bouffe” said that the play in the new edition is quite acceptable. All the speakers, with the exception of one Menshevik, spoke in favor of staging "Mystery Bouffe."

Those present at the debate unanimously adopted a resolution: “We, who gathered on January 30 at the RSFSR First Theater, having listened to Vl. Mayakovsky’s talented and truly proletarian play “Mystery Bouffe” and discussed its merits as an agitational and revolutionary work, urgently demand its staging in all theaters of the Republic and printing it in possible more copies" * .

The play was staged at the RSFSR First Theater by its director V. E. Meyerhold together with director V. M. Bebutov.

The performance highlighted all the conflicts of the play and the characteristics of all the characters. The theater sought to create a collective performance of enormous proportions. The nerve of the performance was the fighting, revolutionary fervor of the play, and the production sounded the exciting joy of the victorious people.

The entire performance was based on movement. On the stage there was a three-story structure (artists V. P. Kiselev, A. M. Lavinsky and V. L. Khrakovsky). The action partially spilled out into the auditorium. The stage merged with the hall without any barriers, and at the feet of the spectators in the first row stood a large hemisphere depicting the globe.

The unity of the play and production gave birth to a bright folk performance, simple in its expressive forms, young, cheerful and joyful.

The premiere took place on Sunday, May 1, 1921. The audience, which was dominated by workers, perceived Mayakovsky's play with exceptional enthusiasm.

The poet-playwright's appeal to revolutionary modernity met with warm approval Soviet people, who were present at the performances of "Mystery-bouffe", and aroused anger among the enemies of Soviet power.

Workers, peasants, Red Army soldiers and representatives of the working intelligentsia for the most part spoke of the play with great approval. “A fighting play”, “To the square, to the street”, “I liked the play extremely. This is life itself”, “Give this play to the working masses, and they will tell you: this is our play”, “I liked the play very much, because in it clearly reflects the oppression of tsarism that crushed us before,” “I liked it in its content, it achieves its goal. More tickets workers" * .

* (These reviews, taken from questionnaires distributed among spectators, are given in the articles by M. Zagorsky “The Theater and the Spectator of the Revolutionary Era” (collection “About the Theater”, Tver, 1922), “How the Spectator Reacts” (LEF magazine, M., 1924, No. 2/6).)

The success of Mayakovsky's play prompted the Theater Department of Glavpolitprosvet to organize a special production of "Mystery Bouffe" in honor of the Third Congress of the Communist International. In the last days of June in the premises of the First State Circus Three performances (and two open dress rehearsals) of "Mysteries Bouffe" were staged in German, translated by the young writer Rita Wright.

The play was in its second edition, but especially for this performance Mayakovsky wrote a new prologue and epilogue, addressed directly to representatives of the international revolutionary proletariat, as well as a sketch of the Compromiser and the “evil ones.” The Russian text of the epilogue (pronounced before the singing of the Internationale) has not survived, and its contents are known from German translation. Here is a reverse translation from German: “The game is over. Comrades, hey! Now it’s your turn. The ideas that sparkled today, turn them into action tomorrow. We are to the machine, you are for weapons. Blow up your fatherland, revolutionary. In close order, clear step, forward, march!"

As for the libretto of this performance printed in this edition, there are no direct indications of the libretto’s authorship. Its affiliation with Mayakovsky is determined by the literary style of the libretto. This is the libretto along with the program of the performance (both in Russian and German languages) was printed as an eight-page brochure.

Among the congress delegates present at the performance was the leader of the German proletariat, Ernst Thälmann.

Despite the obvious success of the play, in the summer of 1921, fierce controversy erupted in Moscow around Mystery Bouffe. One of the results of the controversy surrounding "Mystery Bouffe" was a kind of trial.

"Mystery-bouffe" in the second edition was published as a supplement to No. 91-92 of the journal "Bulletin of the Theater" dated June 15, 1921. The then leaders of Gosizdat did not hide their negative attitude for the play, and Gosizdat refused to pay Mayakovsky’s fee, despite the five-fold demand of the trade union Central Committee. As a result of the trial, the issue of the fee was resolved by the People's Commissariat of Labor, which satisfied Mayakovsky's legal demands.

Outside of Moscow and Petrograd, attempts to stage Mystery Bouffe were made already at the beginning of 1919 in Kyiv, Kharkov and other cities of the country. Part of the play was staged in 1920 in Novocherkassk on the stage of the Podtelkov club.

A number of readings of "Mystery-Buffe" and attempts to stage and publish it were made at Far East during the civil war.

After it was announced that “Mystery Bouffe” would be shown in Moscow, a number of theaters in the periphery also included it in their repertoire plans.

In the spring of 1921, “Mystery-bouffe” (in the first edition) was staged by the Studio Workers’ and Peasants’ Theater that existed in Tomsk at the garrison club.

A performance of a larger scale was the production of “Mystery-bouffe” (second edition) in Tambov, at the First Proletarian Theater-Studio (director - N. M. Ryazhsky-Varzin; premiere - August 21, 1921). The play was performed in theaters in Krasnodar, Kharkov, Omsk and other cities. "Mystery-bouffe" was staged by young directors who later became major masters: G. V. Alexandrov in Sverdlovsk (then Yekaterinburg) in 1921 and N. P. Okhlopkov in Irkutsk (premiere on May 1, 1922).

In 1923, during the October celebrations, four productions of Mystery Bouffe took place - one in Moscow and three in Kazan.

In Moscow, "Mystery-bouffe" (in the first edition) was staged at the Experimental School aesthetic education. The play was performed by children aged from twelve to fifteen years.

Mayakovsky wrote a new text for the finale for this performance.

After the death of V.I. Lenin, it was decided that the Komsomol and Pioneer organizations would be named after the leader, and the meaning of this name was reflected in the text that proclaimed: “Now we are Leninists.” This text was first heard on April 30, 1924 at a performance shown in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. It is published below from the surviving unauthorized typescript:

Blacksmith (comes out of the Land of Things) Guys, join shoulder to shoulder. Let no one ever be lazy in fulfilling the commandments given by Ilyich. After all, it’s not for nothing that we are now Leninists... Let global capital be impaled everywhere on the bayonets of international Komsomol members. Our efforts, even though we are young, are to complete the building of the world Commune. Are fathers tired? So you will be replaced by us, who bear the name of Lenin. In the meantime, our victorious cry will spread across the earth like a ringing note: You are not dead, you are alive, Ilyich! We will finish your work...

In Kazan, "Mystery-Buffe" was staged simultaneously by the workshop of theatrical performances "KEMST" (Constructivism, Experimentation, Craftsmanship, Modernity, Theatricality), Bolshoi Theater and the Second Soviet Theater (Workers' Palace).

Following Mayakovsky's call to "change the content" of "Mystery - Boof", the workshop created its own edition of the play (the program stated: "the third edition, made in KEMST"), in which there were paintings: the 5th - "Hunger" and the 6th - "NEP"; thus, "The Promised Land" here became the 7th picture. The inserts, newly written by the workshop workers, gave responses to the events of 1923: the revolutionary uprisings of the proletariat in the Ruhr (Germany) and the terrible earthquake in Japan.

Set design sketch for the 3rd scene of the 3rd act of "Mysteries-bouffe" ("Promised Land"). Drawing by V. Mayakovsky. 1919

Of the number of unfulfilled plans for the stage embodiment of "Mystery Bouffe", the project of its production under open air by the efforts of the Rustaveli Theater (Tbilisi), developed by the talented director K. A. Marjanishvili (translation into Georgian language Titian Tabidze).

In the mid-twenties, Mayakovsky more than once read excerpts from “Mystery” at his evenings; in particular, he read them while speaking in the USA (1925).

At the fifth anniversary of the Theater named after Vs. Meyerhold, celebrated on April 25, 1926, the fourth act of “Mystery Bouffe” (“Paradise”) was shown.

P. A. Markov, who headed the literary department of the Moscow Art Theater, many years later spoke about his negotiations with Mayakovsky in the fall of 1929: “The first carefully discussed assumption, to which he returned more than once, was new edition“Mysteries are buff,” - apparently, he considered her one of the most dear creatures to him [...]. I think that Mayakovsky was fascinated not so much by the possibility of staging it at the Moscow Art Theater, but by an irresistible desire to give “Mystery” something new, modern sound, fill it with new, topical pieces..." * But the images of "Mystery" were too far from the manner of the Moscow Art Theater.

* (P. A. Markov. IN Art Theater. The book is filled. M., WTO, 1976, p. 266.)

For many years, "Mystery Bouffe" did not appear on stage, although projects for its productions arose. The first to turn to her after a long break was Valery Sysoev, who played the role of the Man of the Future in Meyerhold’s production of 1921: he showed “Mystery” in Moscow on November 16, 1955 as a performance by one actor based on an abbreviated text of the second edition.

On November 29, 1956, it was broadcast for the first time. Sysoev vividly portrayed many characters, using the transformation of vocal means. "Mystery" on long years entrenched in the radio broadcasting repertoire.

On November 1, 1957, the premiere of "Mystery-Buffe" took place at the Moscow Theater of Satire, directed by V. N. Pluchek. The first edition was taken as a basis, supplemented by a number of remarks from the second. This performance did not have a large scale of action, as in the Moscow productions of 1921. The theater sought first of all to reveal the images of the play, especially its true heroes- unclean.

Ten years later - in the year of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution - "Mystery Bouffe" was shown in theaters in Sverdlovsk, Vladivostok, Kaunas.

"Mystery-bouffe" was also staged on the stage, in puppet theater, on the amateur stage, in cinema, on radio, television.

Foreign readers and viewers began to get acquainted with “Mystery-bouffe” from the beginning of the 20s, when the first articles about it appeared and translations of “The Prologue of the Seven Impure Pairs” were published into various languages.

The poet Witold Vandurski staged this prologue in 1922-1927 in his translation into Polish in several amateur groups Poland.

In 1933, the translation of the second edition of "Mystery" into English language was published in New York in the collection "Masterpieces of Russian Drama", translated into Italian language- a separate book in Rome. Translations into other languages began to be published starting in 1957.

In Bucharest it was performed on the radio in 1958.

In the 60s and 70s, "Mystery Bouffe" was staged in many theaters and amateur groups in socialist and capitalist countries: Romania and Germany (1960), Czechoslovakia, Poland and the GDR (1962), Hungary and Bulgaria (1967), Italy (1968).

In all foreign theaters, "Mystery Bouffe" was reworked: pieces of new text were introduced into it, bringing it closer to the events of modern times and the country where it was staged - the theaters followed Mayakovsky's proposal: "change the content."

In the GDR, it was performed in 1967 at the large Volksbühne theater in Berlin; there it received the subtitle “Option for Germany”: the global flood was interpreted as a second World War; The “unclean” - German workers and peasants - are gradually freeing themselves from bourgeois ideology and taking up the construction of a socialist state. In the town of Montreuil (near Paris), workers and students staged the play “The Promised Land” in 1970, which combined parts of the tragedy “Vladimir Mayakovsky” and “Mysteries Bouffe”. In Japan - in Tokyo - B: to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, “Mystery” was performed with great success by eight united studio groups under the direction of director Korea Senda; the changes made to the play reflected the phenomena of pre- and post-war political life. At the end of the performance, the actors raised a large banner with the slogan “Long live the October Revolution!”

Features of modernity were also introduced into the performance of the original Swedish theater-ship "Arena", which travels around the islands on which Stockholm is located (1973). "Mystery Bouffe" in new editions was also shown in theaters in other capitals - Helsinki (1970), Vienna (1974), Copenhagen (1976). Along with translations into the languages of the countries where it was staged, two translations into Spanish (Buenos Aires, 1958, and Madrid, 1971) and a translation into Modern Greek (Athens, 1962) were published.

The poems of "Mysteries-bouffe", heard from the stages of numerous foreign theaters, enter the consciousness of the audience as burning news about today's struggle and about the future victory of advanced humanity.

First edition

Seven pairs of clean ones. Seven pairs of unclean ones. - According to biblical legend, God punished people for their sins global flood, but so that life on earth would not cease, he ordered the righteous Noah to build a ship - an ark - and to be saved in it himself with his family and pairs of “clean” and “unclean” animals.

Costume sketches for "Mystery - Buff": "Seven Pure Pairs" (Fragment). Drawing by V. Mayakovsky. 1919

Negus- title of the sovereign of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

Rajah- Indian prince.

Pashy- title of the highest dignitaries and military leaders in Turkey (in the past).

Beelzebub is the devil.

Chrysostom (John Chrysostom) is one of the Christian preachers.

Methuselah- biblical character known for his extraordinary long life(according to legend, 969 years).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau(1712-1778) - French educator, writer, philosopher.

"Paradise Lost and Returned" - poems by the English poet John Milton (1608-1674) "Paradise Lost" (1667) and "Paradise Regained" (1671).

Etoile (French) - star.

Mephistopheles- a character in Goethe's (1749-1832) tragedy "Faust" and the opera of the same name by Gunb (1818-1893).

Big Eiffel- a tower 300 meters high, built according to the design of engineer A. G. Eiffel in Paris in 1889.

Boshi- a contemptuous name for the Germans (as the French people called the Germans in the First World War).

Dreadnought(English) - a large armored ship.

Wreck of Pompeii- the death of the Roman city of Pompeii in the 1st century AD as a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Schwab- resident of one of the regions of Germany.

Eviva(Italian) - Long live!

Goh Fatherland!(German) - Long live the fatherland!

Sovneba- “council of heaven” invented by Mayakovsky.

Noah's famous adventure - the salvation of Noah in the ark during the legendary flood.

Ararat- mountain in Turkey. According to biblical legend, after the end of the flood, Noah's ark ended up on Ararat.

First Guild.- In pre-revolutionary Russia, merchants, in accordance with the size of their capital, were divided into three guilds. The first included the richest.

Eureka!(Greek) - “I found it!”

Bismarochya- Bismarck, Otto (1815-1898) - German statesman.

Governing Senate- one of the highest government institutions of Tsarist Russia.

Mamaev's army- the army of the Tatar Khan Mamai (d. 1380), who devastated Russian lands in the 14th century.

Alon zanfan(French allons, enfants) - let's go, children, - the first words of the text of the Marseillaise.

Antichrist- a messenger of the devil in the guise of Christ.

Waters of Gennesaret.- According to the Gospel legend, Christ crossed Lake Gennesaret (in Palestine) as if on dry land.

"My paradise for everyone except the poor in spirit..."- These words are contrasted with the words of Christ from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

"From great fasts..."- During Lent, which lasted forty days (before Easter), the church prescribed strict abstinence to believers.

"It's easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle..."- Mayakovsky paraphrased the words of Christ: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Gospel).

Nazarenes- natives of the Palestinian city of Nazareth, where, according to the Gospel legend, Christ came from.

Nude(French) - naked. A painting depicting a naked body.

Sioux- owner of a confectionery factory in pre-revolutionary Moscow.

Gabriel- one of the archangels.

oil- olive oil used in worship.

X. and V. - “Christ is Risen” - letters on Easter cakes and Easter.

"Down with the tyrants, away with the shackles"- words from the old revolutionary song "Red Banner".

"La Traviata"(1853) - opera Italian composer G. Verdi (1813-1901).