P.A. Markov on Moscow Productions of Alexey Tolstoy’s Factory of Youth and Isaac Babel’s Sunset

A.N. Tolstoy’s play The Factory of Youth and Sunset by I.E. Babel created at the same time (late 1927 — early 1928) have nothing in common neither in artistic nor thematic terms. The first one is a lyrical comedy with elements of science fiction, the second is a drama based on the eternal conflict of fathers and children. Tolstoy wrote many plays, and The Factory of Youth is one of them, Sunset is one of two Babel’s plays, his debut in theatre. The first show of The Factory of Youth was held at the Moscow Drama Theater (ex. Korsha) in the production of V.A. Krieger on December 28, 1927, the premiere of Sunset staged by B.M. Sushkevich at the Moscow Art Theater-2 was held on February 28, 1928. Both productions were unsuccessful. Tolstoy’s play was staged in an extremely short time: the premiere was preceded by 12 rehearsals. Sunset was misread by the director. A critical review of these two plays is contained in a large article by P.A. Markov Essays on theatrical life. To the search for a theatrical style, published in Novyi Mir journal (1928. № 4). The second section of the article The theatre of daily routine or the theatre of life is devoted to the analysis of The Factory of Youth and Sunset, in which there was a place to compare the two plays from the point of view of their philosophical meaning. Paying tribute to the great talent of both playwrights, Markov reproached Tolstoy for not finding sufficient application of his gift in The Factory of Youth, while Babel for choosing the irrelevant topic. In both cases, the theatres did not cope with the stage task: The Factory of Youth was staged hastily and carelessly, Sunset was misunderstood by the director and the actors involved in the performance.