The story of Gorky's "At the bottom": how it all was

Many read the play, written by Maxim Gorky, "At the bottom." The history of its creation is very interesting. As is known, the Russian writer himself in his youth led a lanky way of life, often traveled with a knapsack behind his back. He probably spent the night in shelters for the homeless. Most likely, the idea to create a work about the whole undercover life of such people ripened in the mind of Maxim Gorky for a long time. But it was realized only when the writer decided to turn to drama. This happened at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries.

Intrusive artists

The troupe of the Moscow Art Theater in 1900 went to the Crimea to put before Chekhov his plays "Uncle Vanya" and "The Seagull". But not only this was the mission of the actors. As Nemirovich-Danchenko, the head of the theater, confessed, their goal was also to meet with Gorky and persuade him to write a play. They succeeded. The very history of the creation of Gorky's "At the Bottom" served as an impetus for writing other plays as well. These are such famous works as "Meshchan" and "Summer Residents". Thanks to the persuasion of artists, Maxim Gorky discovered a playwright.

Work on plays

All three works were written almost simultaneously. Already in 1901 the theater was given the manuscript "Meshchan". The story of Gorky's "At the bottom" was more complicated. The author for a long time could not stop even on one name. The versions "Nochlezhka", "Without the sun", "Bottom" were tried. But the fact that this should be a play, Gorky did not doubt. He wanted to convey the meaning of the work primarily to people whom he portrayed as dwellers for the poor: uneducated and illiterate. However, the work was arguing: it affected almost two decades of monitoring the life, customs and vocabulary of "former people".

The history of the creation of "At the bottom" Gorky, or How it all began

Already the "burghers" made a lot of noise. The censorship tried to extricate especially stingy places, it was necessary to make concessions. The play was first staged in St. Petersburg, where the cast of the Moscow Art Theater went on tour in March 1902. At the dress rehearsal, the hall was packed with spies in civilian clothes, in front of the entrance there was a horse gendarmerie. Stanislavsky joked about this, that such training more corresponds to the general battle than rehearsals. This governmental excitement only heated the public's interest in the debutant playwright. Therefore, the second work was simply doomed to success.

Production

The story of Gorky's "At the bottom" was much shorter than the way it moved to the viewer. It took 18 months to pop up the thresholds of various permits commissions before the censorship gave the go-ahead for the production, but only on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. According to historical sources, she did this, because she was sure of the failure of the play. However, the government lost sight of the fact that a revolutionary situation is brewing in the country. 1905 was already around the corner. The success of the play was deafening, and in this it is impossible to blame only the star cast. Under the thunder of ovations Gorky was summoned to the stage fifteen times. The author was confused, he did not expect such glory. Since then, Gorky's work "At the Bottom" on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater for 60 years (until December 1962) was placed 1451 times.