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[TWO GREATEST REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 19TH CENTURY RUSSIAN THEATER] Dokhodnoye mesto: Komediya v 5 d. [i.e. A Profitable Position: A Comedy in Five Acts]

Ostrovsky, A.

Item #950

Moscow: tip. A. Semena, 1857. 116 pp. 23х17 cm. In original half-leather binding with gilt lettering on the spine. Fine. The author’s inscription on the front wrapper: “To Alexander Martynov from the Author”.
Extremely rare first edition. Signed by the author. A RARE EVIDENCE OF THE BOND BETWEEN ALEXANDER OSTROVSKY AND ALEXANDER MARTYNOV.
The friendship between the first professional Russian playwright, Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-1886), and one of the founders of the Russian School of Stage Realism, Alexander Martynov (1816-1860), is often considered the basis for the development of the 19th century Russian theater. The two met in 1846, when Ostrovsky was working in the Moscow Commercial Court (1845-1851). After seven years, Ostrovsky and Martynov encountered again in the Alexandrinsky Theater (St. Petersburg), where the the actor played the role of Malomalskiy in Ostrovsky’s famous play Ne v svoi sani ne sadis’ [i.e. Stay in Your Own Sled]. Ostrovsky, who by that time had built considerable fame as a playwright, was on a quest to transform the Russian theater from Romanticism to the Realist School style. The collaboration, which lasted for years, became the major force in achieving the goal. While Ostrovsky revolutionized theater repertory with realistic dramas/comedies exposing the weaknesses of the merchant class, bureaucracy and corruption of the 19th century Russia (a total of 47 original plays), Martynov brought authenticity in acting style, becoming the founder of the Russian Stage Realism. In the following years, Martynov performed in numerous plays written by Ostrovsky: Korshunov (Bednost’ ne porok [i.e. Poverty is No Vice] in 1854), Eremka (Ne tak zhivi, kak khochetsya [i.e. Live Not as You Would Like to] in 1855), Bal’zaminov (Prazdnichnyy son — do obeda [i.e. A Festive Dream before Lunch] in 1857), Tikhon (Groza [i.e. The Storm] in 1859), etc. The collaboration gradually transformed into friendship. Having known the tough financial situation of the actors, including Martynov, Ostrovskiy campaigned actively for improvements in the terms for actors, founding two influential societies for reforming the rights of the actors and composers. In the spring of 1860 Martynov, terminally ill with tuberculosis, ventured on a trip down to Odessa, Ostrovsky decided to follow him as a companion. On the way home, in Kharkov, the actor died in the arms of the playwright. ‘‘With Martynov I lost all that I’ve ever had in Petersburg’s theater’’, - Ostrovsky wrote in one of the letters.
Written in 1857, ‘Dokhodnoye mest’o [i.e. A Profitable Position] was probably the most troubled play by the author. Ostrovsky commenced his work on A Profitable Position after an unlucky incident that occurred during his Volga trip. In 1856, the author, along with other Russian writers, was sent to various Russian provinces with an assignment to provide authoritative accounts of industrial life. In Kalyazin, Ostrovsky’s carriage overturned, the author broke his leg and had to return home for further treatment. Confined to his bed, Ostrovsky wrote the play in less than 45 days. The play became widely known long before its first appearance in print and, like most of Ostrovsky’s works, met considerable confrontation from the censorship. A Profitable Position was first printed in the radical pro-Slavophile magazine ‘Russkaya beseda’ [i.e. The Russian Colloquy] (1857), the same year the play came out as a separate edition.
In 1857, A Profitable Position was unanimously approved by the theatrical and literary committee and allowed to be staged. The premiere was scheduled on December 20 of 1857, however the show was cancelled at the eleventh hour, with censors labeling it ‘‘an opus poking fun at state officials’’. For six years, Ostrovsky and his friends struggled for the fate of the comedy, and only after the abolition of serfdom, in 1863, the play was allowed for production. A Profitable Position finally premiered on September 27, 1863, in Alexandrinsky Theater as a benefice for actress Elizaveta Levkeyeva (1829-1881). The same year the play was performed on the stage of the Maly Theater.

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