''Zoyka's Apartment'' (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Зойкина квартира), also called ''Zoya's Apartment'' or ''Madame Zoyka'', is a three-act play by

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( ; rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright. His novel ''The M ...

. Written in 1925, it is set during the period of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's New Economic Plan.

Plot

The main protagonist of the play, thirty-five year old widower Zoya Denisovna, hopes to save up money to escape to

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. She uses her multiple-room apartment to earn money under the guise of a fashion studio, in actuality an extravagant

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

at night, and in doing so exploits the system of the New Economic Plan.

History

Bulgakov wrote the play in 1925 at the request of the Vakhtangov Theater, who approached with a request to write a comedy. It is believed Bulgakov had based the story on a real salon owned by a Zoya Shatova in the area of the Nikitsky Boulevard in

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; he had "heard of a woman called Zoya, who had run a dressmaking establishment that became a gambling den by night". He selected the location of the fictional apartment in Bol'shaya Sadovaya street, where he had previously lived with his first wife Tatianna Lappa. Bulgakov himself described the play as a "tragic buffonade". The first reading of the play occurred on 11 January 1926. The premiere finally occurred on 28 October 1926. The play was performed also in other cities, such as

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, and

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. Bulgakov enjoyed great success with his play, it quickly selling out in theaters, due in part to the skillful directing of Aleksey Dmitrievich Popov and dynamic stage directions set in the play. Although popular, it still was campaigned to be banned by Soviet authorities, and between November 1927 and April 1928 the play was taken off. Reportedly,

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had seen the play and liked it. In the end, the

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passed a resolution to lift the ban as it was "the Vakhtangov Theater's only means of existence". Nevertheless, it was banned on 17 March 1929, after 198 performances. The same year the play was translated into German, with Bulgakov's own permission, but never performed inside the

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until 1984, although it continued to be performed abroad in

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and

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Main characters

*Zoya Denisovna, widower and owner of a fashion studio *Manyushka, her maid *Anisim Zotikovich Alliluya, ex-sergeant major, chairmain of the House Committee *Pavel Fyodorovich Obolonsky, ex-

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

*Alexander Tarasovich Ametisov, Zoya's cousin *Boris Semyonovich Gus, sales director *Gan-Dza-Lin (Gasolin) & Heruvim, Chinese laundrymen

References

Sources

*Curtis, J.A.E. 2017. ''Critical Lives: Mikhail Bulgakov'' United Kingdom: Reaktion Books. *Milne, Lesley. 1991. ''Bulgakov Six Plays''. United Kingdom: Methuen World Dramatists.

External links

Bulgakov online encyclopediaOther works by Mikhail Bulgakov
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