Two plays by Konstantin Simonov on Broadway
In the middle of XX century, plays by Soviet playwrights were not uncommon on Broadway. However only two plays by Konstantin Simonov (1915-1979) reached the limelight: «The Russian People» (1942/1943) and «So It Shall Be» (1947). Each play takes place at the height of WWII. Even though there was only 4 year’s interval between each Broadway play, things took a turn for the worse: former allies in the fight against Nazism became enemies in yet another war, the Cold War. It was impossible for the turn in events to not affect the staging of Simonov’s plays in commercial theaters in the USA, in their audience’s perception and theatrical fate. In the center of the article is the researching of a clear paradox: plays by a political motivated Soviet playwright and Broadway are in completely different historical periods. Analysis of the American staging of Simonov’s plays is done in respect to their theatrical approval in the USSR.