4 episodes
Collaborators National Theatre
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- Arts
Moscow, 1938. A dangerous place to have a sense of humour; even more so a sense of freedom. Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. And then he’s offered a commission to write a play about Stalin to celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Inspired by historical fact, Collaborators embarks on a surreal journey into the fevered imagination of the writer as he loses himself in a macabre and disturbingly funny relationship with the omnipotent subject of his drama. John Hodge’s blistering new play depicts a lethal game of cat and mouse through which the appalling compromises and humiliations inflicted on any artist by those with power are held up to scrutiny. Alex Jennings played Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale played Stalin in the 2011 production.
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Orlando Figes with Jacqueline Defferary and Alex Jennings
In Just Send Me Word, the historian recounts the true love story of two young Muscovites, whose smuggled letters to one another form a detailed and agonizing account of life in Stalin’s Soviet Union.
Orlando Figes talks to Stephanie Merritt and introduces a selection of the letters read by Jacqueline Defferary and Alex Jennings from the cast of Collaborators. -
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John Hodge on dramatising Stalin
John Hodge talks about how he created the character of Stalin in his new play Collaborators.
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Collaborators - about the play
A short film about the play Collaborators written by John Hodge, which fictionalises the relationship between famous Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov and Stalin.
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Dr. Julie Curtis on Mikhail Bulgakov
Dr. Julie Curtis is the UK's leading research specialist on Bulgakov. She is a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford and her recent publications include "Manuscripts Don't Burn: Mikhail Bulgakov, a Life in Letters and Diaries" and "Bulgakov's Last Decade: The Writer as Hero".