Running summary by chapter. Feature Film "Running"

"Running" is a play written by M. Bulgakov in 1926-1927. Many performances were created based on this play, which, unfortunately, were staged after the death of the author, because Stalin banned all rehearsals.

The first performance took place in 1957 at the Stalingrad Theatre. But in 1970, the magnificent film "Running" directed by A. Alov was shot and the plot touches on the time of the Civil War after October revolution, where the rest are desperately resisting and fighting the Reds on the Crimean Isthmus.

"Running" is a play, which, according to the author's idea, consists of four acts and eight dreams. Why sleep? Because a dream is a dramatic convention, representing something unreal and implausible, which is very difficult to believe. Thus, the author himself expressed his attitude to what was happening then with Russia: everything is like a nightmare.

The fate of the Russian intelligentsia

Based on the memoirs of his second wife L. E. Belozerskaya about emigration, Bulgakov wrote his "Running". An analysis of the biography of this woman shows that at that time she fled with her first husband to Constantinople, and then lived in Paris, Marseille and Berlin. The writer also used the memoirs of the white general Ya. A. Slashchev.

Mikhail Bulgakov devoted "Running" to the fate that he considered the best layer of Russia. She was forced to leave the country and live in exile. The writer tried to tell that the majority of emigrants wanted to live in Russia, but they had to find a consensus with the Bolsheviks and even refuse to fight them, but without sacrificing moral principles. Classic even wrote a letter about this to Stalin himself. He wanted to show that he was above the whites and reds, but in the end he was considered an enemy White Guard. Therefore, the publication of "The White Guard" did not happen during the life of the writer, just as "Running" did not see the scene. Bulgakov was able to stage the play "Days of the Turbins" only after a two-year ban, when he received a personal order from Stalin.

"Run". Bulgakov. Summary

So, October 1920. Northern Tavria. There is a fight between reds and whites. The young St. Petersburg intellectual Golubkov is hiding from stray bullets and grenades in the porch of the monastery with Seraphim Korzukhina, a lady from St. Petersburg. Together with him, she flees to the Crimea to meet her husband there. Golubkov wonders where the Reds come from in this area, because it was all in the hands of the Whites.

Then a detachment of Budyonny's cavalry drove into the monastery to check people's documents. Priests and monks prayed in front of the images, there were many other people in the church, among them was the pregnant Baranbanchikova, who suddenly began to have contractions. When the Reds left the monastery, they were followed by soldiers led by the white commander De Brizar and Lyuska, the marching wife of General Charnota. As it turned out later, General Charnota himself was hiding in the image of a pregnant lady, who, having heard his voices, could not be expressed in words how delighted he was. He hugged them all and began to tell how, instead of fake documents, his friend Barabanchikov in a hurry mixed everything up and slipped him the documents of his pregnant wife.

Now they all begin to discuss the escape plan proposed by Charnota. But soon it turns out that Seraphim has typhus, and Golubkov does not leave her. Everyone is leaving.

Khludov

November 1920, Crimea. The headquarters of the White Guards is located in the station hall. The buffet became the command post of General Khludov. He is constantly twitching and obviously sick with something. Here appears the husband of Seraphim, Korzukhin, Deputy Minister of Trade, and asks Khludov to help send trains with smuggled goods to Sevastopol. But he orders everything to be burned. Serafima, Golubkov and Krapilin, the messenger of Charnota, appear. Seraphim attacks Khludov, that he would only hang people, but she is immediately mistaken for a communist. Seeing her husband, Serafima rushes to him, but he pretends not to know her, fearing the reaction of the general.

In this episode, Bulgakov fills his "Running" with yet another tragedy. The summary continues with the fact that guard Krapilin, being in a wild trance from everything that is happening around, also accuses Khludov of atrocities, and then, recovering himself, kneels before him, but the general orders him to be hanged.

Arrest

Golubkov gets interrogated by the counterintelligence chief Tichy, who forces him to sign a document stating that Serafima is a communist. Tichiy and his partner want to make money by blackmailing her husband Korzukhin.

During the interrogation, Serafima sees Golubkov's testimony, knocks out the office window and calls for help. Under the windows at that time was the cavalry of Charnota, who appeared with a revolver and freed Seraphim.

Meanwhile, Khludov is having a conversation with the commander-in-chief, whom he hates because he involved him in a senseless affair. After all clarifications, they part. Khludov has a mental disorder, he constantly sees the ghost of the fighter Krapilin hanged by him. But then Golubkov enters, who is in a panic because of the arrest of Serafima and wants the general to help free her. Khludov orders his adjutant, Yesaul Golovan, to deliver Seraphim to him and immediately adds that she may have already been shot. He returns after a while and reports that she is with Charnota, who took her to Constantinople. Khludov is also expected on the ship. The ghost of the messenger periodically comes to him. Golubkov begs him to take him with him to find Seraphim.

Emigration

Summer 1921, Constantinople. Bulgakov does not end the play "Running" on this. The summary further tells how, on one of the streets of Constantinople, a drunken and penniless Charnota wants to bet on credit in a cockroach race. Artur Arturovich, nicknamed the Cockroach Tsar, refuses him. Charnota yearns for Russia, he sells toys and silver gas in the street. As a result, he puts everything on the main favorite, the cockroach Yanychar. In the midst of the competition, it turns out that Arthur drugged the Janissary. A fight started.

Lucy and Charnota

Charnota returns home and quarrels with Lucy, because he lies to her that the box with toys and gas was stolen from him. She understands that on the run he lost the last. Seraphim lives with them. Lyuska admits to him that she is forced to engage in prostitution due to the fact that they have nothing to eat and nothing to pay for the room. She reproaches him for the fact that he defeated the counterintelligence headquarters, then fled the army and now they live in poverty far from Russia. Charnota, on the other hand, constantly objected and justified himself by saving Seraphim. And then suddenly Lucy declares that she is leaving with a French acquaintance for Paris. Seraphim, having heard all this conversation, decides not to sit on anyone's neck anymore, but also go to earn money on the panel.

On the same day, Charnota meets Golubkov on the street, playing the hurdy-gurdy. He is looking for Seraphim, who has already found a Greek client and goes with him to the room. Behind them, Charnota and Golubkov run in and chase the Greek away. Golubkov confesses his love to Seraphim, but she refuses him, because she does not want to spoil his life.

Khludov appears here. He was demoted from the army, and now he is instructed to look after Seraphim. He gives Golubkov a medallion and two lire because he is going to Paris to ask Korzukhin, who has a sick wife, for money. Charnota decides to go with him.

Korzukhin

Autumn 1921, Paris. Golubkov appears on the threshold of Korzukhin's apartment and asks him to lend him a thousand dollars. But he assures that he has no wife, and refuses to give money. In addition, he states that he wants to marry his secretary. Golubkov accuses him of heartlessness. However, here Charnota intervenes and, seeing Korzukhin's cards on the table, invites him to play and puts Khludov's medallion. As a result, he wins 20 thousand dollars from Korzukhin and buys the medallion back from him for 300 dollars.

Korzukhin is drunk and beside himself with rage, he screams and demands the police. The climax is coming. The secretary runs out of the room to scream (it turned out to be Lyuska). She, realizing what was the matter and seeing Charnota, tells Korzukhin that they can no longer return the money, since they have been lost. In parting, she asks Golubkov to take care of Seraphim.

It should be noted that "Running" (Bulgakov's work) tells about each hero with extraordinary touchingness and understanding.

Seraphim

In Constantinople, Khludov is still in mental disorder and often communicates with the ghost of the messenger. Serafima enters and confesses to him that she is ready to accept Khludov's offer and return with him to St. Petersburg. Khludov says that he will also return to Russia, even under his own name. Here the long-awaited and already rich Golubkov and Charnota appear. The latter understands that he no longer wants to fight with the Bolsheviks and he has no hatred for them, so he stays and runs to the Tarakan Tsar Arthur.

denouement

Serafima and Khludov return to their homeland. Khludov remains alone in the room and, going to the window, shoots himself.

This is how Bulgakov ended his tragic play "Running". Its summary is just a small part of all the events, so it is better to read the play in the original. And for a better representation of all the events experienced by the Russian intelligentsia and the Russian people in general, it is advisable to watch this play, because it is best to watch plays, and not read them. However, if there is no such possibility, the excellent film “Running” (1970) will tell about everything best of all.

History of "Running"

In 1970, in the year of the centenary of Lenin, on the screens Soviet Union The film "Running", based on the play of the same name by Mikhail Bulgakov, was released. A film about the tragic exodus of whites from the Crimea, about the lost Motherland and the dramatic desire to return it. The magazine "Istorik" asked for a visit to the director of the film, People's Artist of the USSR Vladimir Naumov, to find out how it was even possible to make such a movie at that time ...

The film "Running" employs outstanding Soviet actors, People's Artists of the USSR Mikhail Ulyanov, Oleg Efremov, Evgeny Evstigneev, Alexey Batalov, Bruno Freindlich, Mikhail Gluzsky, Vladimir Basov.

It was the first film adaptation Mikhail Bulgakov in the USSR and one of the first Soviet films, in which the whites, contrary to the tradition prevailing in the cinema of that time, did not look at all like a bunch of scoundrels and fools, but were shown as thinking, suffering, people who love their country. By and large, the film, like, in fact, the play of the great writer, turned out to be about the Motherland, which is one for all, once lost, it is so difficult to find it again ...

The play "Running"

Mikhail Bulgakov wrote the drama about the Civil War by order of the Moscow Art Theater.

The draft versions featured different names- "Knight of the Seraphim", "Outcasts". But in the end, the play "Running" appeared in eight dreams - about love, about battles, about a foreign land. In the work, the writer used the memoirs of General Yakova Slashcheva who returned from exile to his homeland. But the play did not break through the censorship.

“However, I would not have anything against staging “Running” if Bulgakov added one or two more dreams to his eight dreams, where he depicted the internal social springs of the Civil War in the USSR, so that the viewer could understand that all these dreams their “honest” Seraphim and all sorts of privatdozents were kicked out of Russia not by the caprice of the Bolsheviks, but because they were sitting on the neck of the people ”- such was Stalin’s verdict. Bulgakov did not radically rework the play.

The premiere of "Running" took place many years after the death of the author, in 1957, at the Stalingrad Drama Theater. M. Gorky. And a year later, Bulgakov's play was staged in Leningrad, on the famous stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater - in the State Academic Drama Theater. A.S. Pushkin. He shone in the role of Khludov Nikolay Cherkasov, Charnot was played by the no less famous Yuri Tolubeev. Since then, "Running" has a happy stage fate.

AT Soviet years it was a real revelation. Film directors Vladimir Naumov and Alexander Alov It took a lot of work to convey the picture to the viewer.

At the very beginning of our meeting, Vladimir Naumov warned:

- If you want me to tell you about historical basis movie, then you've come to the wrong place. Because if you need historical accuracy, I can hardly help you here: it is not there. We shot a feature film - the word "feature" is important here.

- Just about the film and I would like to talk ...

Let's talk about the movie.

– It is completely incomprehensible how you managed then to get permission to screen not just a play by Mikhail Bulgakov, which in itself would have been an event, but perhaps his most “White Guard” play?

“Honestly, I don't know myself. Yes, it was the first film adaptation of Mikhail Afanasyevich in our country - 30 years after his death. Abroad, there have already been films based on the novel "The Master and Margarita", we have nothing ...

– How did you do it?

- I do not know. Perhaps the arrogance helped. How else?

- Did you manage to convince the authorities that such a film should be made?

We just fooled them.

- How?

- Well, how? So tell you everything ... (Laughs.) The fact is that Alexander Alov and I were artistic directors of the Creative Association of Writers and Film Workers and in this capacity had some rights. Well, we launched ourselves: on my and Alov's orders. That's all.

- And what, the authorities did not mind?

- How objected! But at the same time, our entire "army" was already riding on platforms towards the south of Russia - to Sivash and Sevastopol. As they say, the process has begun!
We called it the "boa constrictor method" - this is when you need to have time to spend as much as possible more money, so that the authorities are afraid to ban the picture, because then he will fly in for wasted public funds. I ask Alov: “What are we going to do with the prohibition of the authorities?” “Nothing,” he says, “perhaps the authorities will soon be removed.” Indeed, soon that chief was removed. And they just forgot about us.

Mikhail Ulyanov (Charnota), Tatyana Tkach (Korsakova), Evgeny Evstigneev (Korzukhin) and Alexei Batalov (Golubkov) on the set of the film "Running"

FATHER SERVED IN THE RED ARMY AND WAS ALMOST A COMMISSIONER, AND HIS BROTHER IS A WHITE GUARD OFFICER, who fled to Constantinople at the end of 1920 ... It was forbidden to pronounce his name at home

Then we were told how our bosses cursed: “It’s good for them, they are non-partisan, and because of them I can put a party card on the table! No Istanbul, no Paris!” “Yes, they are already there!” - “Lord, what, and Kuzma was taken away ?!” - "Taken away."

- Kuzma?

- Kuzma was called a huge lens that allowed you to shoot with a huge coverage. Heavy - about 90 kilograms! An iron vest was forged for the operator so that he could hold Kuzma.

- So what?

- The authorities, as we were told, thought. And she looked hopefully at the assistants: “And how much does Kuzma weigh?” - "Included - a kilogram under 90." - "And the tripod remained?" - "Remained! Customs delayed. - “So they won’t pick it up - there are only three of them left!”

In the meantime, we puzzled over how to use this hefty design, because the tripod really did not pass customs. Finally they came up with: they loaded Kuzma onto the bent back of the director of the picture Michael Amirajibi, the operator stood in his place, and we began to shoot. No stationary tripod gave such a smooth and soft image! True, our “tripod” could move about ten meters, no more, after which it needed a 40-minute respite.

The Turks eschewed this strange structure of people, iron and glass, which slowly moved around Istanbul. When we crossed the street, everyone shied away from us.

- You said there were three of you in Istanbul?

- Yes, we filmed general plans there. But the scenes with the actors in Istanbul could not be filmed: no one would let such a horde into Turkey. Therefore, we built our Istanbul partly in Bulgaria, partly at our studio. But everyone tried to do it right. We then played the scenes filmed in our Istanbul to the Turks, and some, pointing to the screen, said: “Now my house will appear around the corner.”

There are great actors in your film. Were there any problems with the selection of performers?

- We could not find an actor for the role of Khludov for a long time.

- Why?

“We can’t find it, nobody likes it!” And suddenly one woman from another film crew brings photos to our second director. And on one of them I saw Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, his eyes…

For a long time we did not know what role to take him, because at that time he was a completely unprofessional actor. But I love gothic figures. In the end, we took this gothic figure with an amazing face and amazing eyes, nothing, I was told, that can not do in the cinema. At first, we decided that we would shoot him as an extra: we would highlight this particular face. Then we thought and thought - and realized that this was not enough. We decided: he would play Quiet, a counterintelligence officer - there is such a character in "Running". But also not enough for such an invoice. Then they began to sort it out: he is not suitable for the role of Golubkov, nor Charnoty. And only then did they understand - this is Khludov.

We were faced with the question of what is more important - a professional or a person. We have chosen an individual. Dvorzhetsky was a personality, it was obvious.

Unexpectedly, when we had already shot the picture, I discovered the similarity between The Master and Margarita and The Run. Do you remember how Bulgakov did it? “In a white cloak with bloody lining, shuffling with a cavalry gait,” the fifth procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, came out. And in “Running” Khludov “is white as a bone”, in a gray “soldier’s overcoat”… They – Pilate and Khludov – are even similarly dressed in Bulgakov’s works.

Dvorzhetsky's first test was unimportant. But we still decided to take it. And the first scene they gave him was very difficult - the most difficult, perhaps, in the film. This is the scene when Khludov is riding in a carriage and he seems to be blind. He reads the Bible: “Blind leaders of the blind. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.” This is a very important scene for the picture.

Well, we think we will shoot it first, if it doesn’t work out, then it will go as a test and we’ll end it. We filmed this scene, and it turned out that it was not only better than that that we imagined, but in general one of best scenes of the whole film - and from my point of view, and Alova too. The eyes were what mattered.

- What was your personal attitude towards whites at that time? After all, you were born and raised in the Soviet Union, and in the USSR there was a cult of reds, not whites ...

- It is both so and not so. Of course, there was a cult ... And my father also had brother. My father served in the Red Army and was almost a commissar, and his brother was a White Guard officer. And at the end of 1920, my brother fled from Sevastopol to Constantinople...

We weren't allowed to say his name at home. I accidentally found out that my uncle was a White Guard. I have never seen him, only a photograph - completely indistinguishable, half-erased. Old picture. Yellow. And on it was this father's brother Emmanuel Strazh (after all real name my father is the Guardian, and Naumov is his party nickname, which he received during the Civil War). I was terribly sorry that I did not know my uncle. But I fell in love with him...

- Why?

- I do not know. There are things that I cannot explain.

- But this is your personal attitude, but how did you manage to show white people in Soviet cinema?

- A little more, and it would not have been possible: the picture was almost banned. At first, all of Moscow was covered with posters. Most likely, it happened mechanically: without looking, someone made a decision and the film was released. And when there were only five days left before the release of the picture, it was banned from showing. Ulyanov and I were in Czechoslovakia at that time. Rushed for tickets to fly home. There are no tickets. Back and forth. And Ulyanov was already a People's Artist of the USSR, and in the end we managed to get us on a special board.

Directors Vladimir Naumov (pictured right) and Alexander Alov (left)

VLADIMIR NAUMOV
(born 1927) Born in Leningrad, in the family of a cameraman. In 1952 he graduated from the directing department of VGIK. Until the death of Alexander Alov, he worked in collaboration with him. Among them joint work- the films "Pavel Korchagin" (1956), "Peace to the Incoming" (1961), "Running" (1970), "Tehran-43" (1980). The epic film by Alov and Naumov The Legend of Til (1976) is one of the largest projects in Soviet cinema.

Vladimir Naumov is actively working in recent decades. Among his films are "The Choice", "Ten Years without the Right to Correspondence", "White Holiday". Laureate of awards at international film festivals in Venice and Moscow, laureate of the State Prize, holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree. National artist USSR.

ALEXANDER ALOV
(1923–1983)

Born in Kharkov. Member of the Great Patriotic War. In 1951 he graduated from the directing department of VGIK. Student of film director Igor Savchenko. For a quarter of a century he worked in collaboration with Vladimir Naumov. The university for Alov and Naumov was the work on the biographical epic Taras Shevchenko (1951).

In their first independent film "Anxious Youth" (1954), the director's style of the duet is already felt - attention to everyday details, the ability to recreate the world on the screen, full of nuances and semitones. Alov had military awards, as well as awards from international film festivals in Venice and Moscow, a laureate of the State Prize. People's Artist of the USSR.

Members of the Politburo flew on it. That time there were two of them on board, and their cabin was fenced off from ours, and a bodyguard, a young guy, was flying with us in the cabin. Then he was called to the authorities, he returned, came up to us (well, of course, first of all to Ulyanov, because everyone knew him by sight). He says: "You are asked to go there." We enter there: the table is set. Two “portraits” are sitting - those whom we wear at demonstrations every holiday ...

- Who was that?

- I will not say. I promised them then that I would not reveal the names.

- And then: "Guys, let's drink ?!" Well, they drank cognac. “Oh, what a good artist you (they are to Ulyanov) are! And who are you?" I say director. "Oh, you're good too. Listen, let's play dominoes." He didn’t even say “in dominoes”, but “we’ll beat the goat”. "In the goat" - it was a government game. As I understand it, they were professionals who won against everyone. We didn't know how to play at all. I only knew that six to six, five to five, and some complex combinations and calculations - this is not.

The consultant of the film "Running" was the widow of the writer - Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, who became a real co-author of the creators of the film

We agreed that we would play on one condition: we play "American" - the loser unquestioningly fulfills the will of the winner. Finally started. We win the first game. We win the second one. They win the third. The score is 2:1 in our favor, and the plane is already landing, the red carpet is already visible.
In general, on points it turns out that they lost. “So what about the “American” to be?” I ask. “What happened?” I explain to them that some fool has withdrawn our picture. "There Ulyanov in leading role and some fool forbade it. She is already on posters, but he took it and banned it. Can you imagine how much money the state is losing?!”

For many years in Soviet cinema, it was customary to portray the White Guards as either idiots, or fanatics, or both. Frame from the film "Chapaev" 1934

"Okay. Write down my phone." I say: "There is nothing to write with!" “Then remember!” And I repeated this number to myself all the way from the airfield. In the evening I call, they answer: “And what is your question?” I clarify: “He asked me to call me in the evening.” - "Wait by the phone!" A minute later again: “Tomorrow at ten in the morning - for sure! Please call this number and I will connect you. Well, the next day they connected, the “portrait” from the plane says: “Well, what were you worried about ?! Everything is fine. Go for a walk around Moscow. And they are already returning posters with our film ...

So the movie came out?

- So it came out.

- Did you have any problems afterwards?

- Of course we had. We were accused of sympathizing with the White Guards. And then the picture was shown in Cannes out of competition, and three times instead of one. And she did pretty well. But there was one person, my former friend, who made a terrible noise. At one time he emigrated to France. And so he began to appear in all the newspapers: they say, look how stupid the Whites are in the film, how stupid this Khludov is, what an ugly Korzukhin (who was played by Evgeny Evstigneev).

And our people told us the opposite: “Are you crazy? Charnota turned out to be a positive character for you, the boys are already playing it!”

- That is, the emigrants did not like their own, and the local officials - theirs?

- It turns out that way.

- Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova is listed in the credits as a film consultant. What was her role?

- The participation of Elena Sergeevna was of tremendous importance. She looked at the footage and said “okay” or “you know, it seems to me that it’s somehow very sad here.” Or something else. Thanks to her, I even had the feeling that I personally knew Bulgakov - this woman had such a magical influence.

One day we were sitting in her kitchen. Small apartment, two rooms. And suddenly the door creaked. And you won’t believe it, you’ll think that I invented it, but it really seemed to me that Mikhail Afanasyevich, who died long ago, was coming to us. It was she who, with her stories about him, created such an atmosphere ...

Evgeny Evstigneev as Korzukhin and Vladislav Dvorzhetsky as Khludov in the film "Running"

REMEMBER LIKE BULGAKOV? "IN A WHITE CLOAK WITH A BLOODY LINED, A SHADING CAVALRY GAIT" the fifth procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, came out. They - Pilate and Khludov - Bulgakov even dressed similarly

Together with her, we even partially finished writing Bulgakov. Alov and I came up with one episode: remember when white officers led by a colonel (played by Oleg Yefremov) decide not to leave Russia and want to shoot themselves? Bulgakov didn’t have this (by the way, we were also blamed for this: “What kind of heroes are they, where did they come from, what do you make of them Alexandra Matrosova?!"). Call the undertaker. The colonel tells him: "It will be necessary to bury three people." - "Whom to bury?" Colonel: "Us, my dear, us." The undertaker is at first frightened, and then agrees. Then the three officers go out the door. A shot is heard: the colonel shot himself. But one of them (played by Mikhail Gluzsky) was frightened and did not shoot himself, he tries to leave, but the youngest of them, the regimental trumpeter, kills him, after which he shoots himself. We filmed this scene.

They showed Bulgakov's widow. Suddenly, after some time, Elena Sergeevna calls and says: “Volodechka, come to me.” - "Something happened?" - "It happened". We are coming. “I showed your episode to Mikhail Afanasyevich here.” We are shocked. I Alov - in a whisper: “Sasha, what should I do? I think she's going crazy." But we could not refuse, because we loved her very much. We sat down. She continues: “Bulgakov liked the episode very much. I talked to him tonight. Good episode. Well done." We rejoiced. And she’s like, “No, no, no, wait a second. He has one offer for you. If you want, of course. Do you know what to do? You have this black-gloved undertaker, so that he takes off his glove with his teeth, runs his finger along the cheek of one of the officers and says to the chief of them: “Your Excellency, it would be necessary to shave. It's harder to shave the dead."

“If you wish, you can beg for everything: money, fame, power ... But not the Motherland, gentlemen!” - the role of General Charnota in "Running" was played by Mikhail Ulyanov

I'm sure to this day that she couldn't have come up with it herself. Bulgakov came up with this, but maybe he didn't have time to write it. But he came up with it. It's his, absolutely his thing.

- And you re-shot the episode?

- Rescheduled. Now in the picture this episode is edited by Elena Sergeevna and Mikhail Afanasyevich.

- And the famous scene card game Charnoty (Ulyanov) and Korzukhin (Evstigneev) in Paris? They say you filmed it in one take...

- No, nonsense. Why don't they just talk! She was played by two amazing actors. But Evstigneev is a man of impromptu. He must play immediately, for one double.

And Ulyanov - on the contrary. The further, the better. Each next rehearsal is getting better, better, better. And Evstigneev's is getting worse, worse, worse. We decided to separate them. They put Evstigneev to drink coffee, and they themselves and Alov rehearsed with Ulyanov for Evstigneev. They spoke his text. The task was to catch that second when Ulyanov had already matured, and Evstigneev had not yet burned out, had not withered. And when we brought them together in the frame (about the sixth or seventh take), we realized that they were ready.

By the way, in this scene I did a bad thing with them, Evstigneev swore terribly afterwards. Do you know what "crepe" is? It's a mustache. But the mustache is not real - the hair is glued under the nose. I told our make-up artist to glue them on the right side, which is towards the camera, so that they would fall off. And when Charnota (Ulyanov) began to kiss Korzukhin (Evstigneev), he had a full mouth of these same hairs. And he, continuing to kiss Korzukhin, began to spit on them. It also made it into the movie...

- You filmed "Running" outside the USSR, in the capitalist, as it was then expressed, countries ...

“The atmosphere was important to us. Therefore, we insisted that the scenes that take place in Constantinople be filmed in Istanbul, if in the market, then in the present, so that Hagia Sophia was visible. We were hardly allowed to go abroad. They didn't want us to shoot in Paris.

And when we filmed in Istanbul, somewhere nearby was the US Sixth Fleet. And an escort was assigned to us, fearing that we would film something superfluous, something secret. In general, they did not let us in, and these did not let us in. But we made the movie anyway.

Interviewed by Vladimir RUDAKOV

Russian revolution

Dream one

It takes place in Northern Tavria in October 1920.

There is a conversation going on in the monastery cell. The Budenovites recently came here and checked everyone's documents. The young St. Petersburg intellectual Sergei Pavlovich Golubkov cannot understand where the Reds came from, if the area is under the rule of the Whites. Pregnant Barabanchikova says that the general, who received a dispatch about the Reds in the rear, postponed the decryption. Barabanchikova is asked where the headquarters of General Charnota is located, but she avoids answering. A young St. Petersburg woman, Serafima Vladimirovna Korzukhina, who, in the company of the intellectual Golubkov, fled to the Crimea to meet her husband, offers to call a midwife for the pregnant madam, but she refuses.

The clatter of horse hooves and the voice of the white commander de Brizard are heard. Barabanchikova recognizes him and, throwing off her rags, turns into General Grigory Charnot. He explains to de Brizar and his traveling wife Lyuska that his comrade Barabanchikov was in a hurry, so instead of his documents he gave him the documents of his pregnant wife. General Charnota proposes an escape plan. But then Korzukhina's temperature rises - she is sick with typhus. Golubkov leads Serafima into a gig. Everyone is leaving.

Second dream

From the hall of the station, the White Guards made headquarters. In the place where there used to be a buffet, now the commander of the front, Roman Valeryanovich Khludov, is sitting. He winces and twitches all the time. Paramon Ilyich Korzukhin, a friend of the Minister of Trade and the husband of the sick Serafima, asks to bring wagons with valuable goods to Sevastopol. But Khludov gives the order to burn these cars. When asked by Korzukhin about the state of affairs at the front, Khludov becomes even more angry and says that the Reds will be here tomorrow. Korzukhin promises to report everything to the commander-in-chief, who soon arrives with Archbishop Afrikan. Khludov reports to the chief that the Bolsheviks are in the Crimea.

The archbishop prays, but Khludov believes that in vain. God, in his opinion, is not on the side of the whites. Commander-in-Chief leaves. Korzukhina appears, followed by Golubkov and the messenger of General Charnota Krapilin. Serafima accuses Khludov of inaction. Staff members are whispering, they consider Korzukhina a communist. Golubkov is sure that the woman is delirious because of typhus. Khludov calls Seraphim's husband, but he senses a trap and renounces his wife. Golubkov and Korzukhina are taken away.

Krapilin, being in oblivion, says that Khludov is a world animal, accuses him of cowardice and the ability only to hang. Krapilin comes to his senses and begins to beg for mercy, but Khludov gives the order to take the orderly to the gallows. He, according to the general, started well, but ended badly.

Action two

Dream three

It takes place in early November 1920 in the Crimea.

The head of counterintelligence, nicknamed Quiet, forces Golubkov to testify against Serafima. Quiet threatens a St. Petersburg intellectual with a deadly needle. Golubkov says with fear that Serafima is a communist and came here for the sake of propaganda. After giving evidence, Golubkov is released.

Counterintelligence worker Skunsky informs Tikhoy that Korzukhin will pay $10,000 for ransom. Of this amount, the boss is ready to “unfasten” Skunsky 2,000 greens.

They start Korzukhina, who is all on fire from the temperature. Quiet lets her read Golubkov's testimony. Outside the window at this time, the cavalry of General Charnota passes. Serafima, having read the testimony, breaks the window and calls Charnota for help. He breaks into the room with a revolver and saves Korzukhina.

Dream four

It takes place in early November 1920 in the Crimea.

The commander-in-chief says that Khludov has been masking his hatred for him for a year. Roman Valeryanovich does not deny this, he really hates the commander in chief. Because of him, Khludov is involved in this disgusting and useless work.

Commander-in-Chief leaves. Khludov is talking to a ghost. The intellectual Golubkov enters. He does not recognize Khludov, who is standing with his back to him, and talks about the crimes that he committed. Golubkov thinks he is reporting to the commander-in-chief. Khludov turns around. The intellectual falls into a panic, but still dares to tell about the arrest of Korzukhina and wants to know about her fate.

Khludov orders Seraphim to be brought to the palace, if she has not yet been shot. From such words Golubkov is horrified. Khludov, looking down, begins to babble excuses to the messenger ghost and begs not to take his soul from him. Khludov asks Golubkov who Korzukhina is to him. Sergei Pavlovich admits that she is a casual acquaintance whom he fell in love with with all his heart. Khludov reports that Seraphim is dead. She was shot. Golubkov is furious at this news.

Khludov gives Golubkov a revolver and tells someone that his soul is split. The captain comes in and reports that Serafima Korzukhina is alive. Today, General Charnota took her to Constantinople. Khludov is waiting on the ship. Golubkov begs to go with him to Constantinople. Khludov is seriously ill, he speaks to the orderly, and they leave. Dark.

Act Three

Dream fifth

On one of the streets of Constantinople hangs a poster advertising cockroach races. The gloomy General Charnota approaches the cash register where they take bets. Charnota wants to bet on credit, but the "cockroach king" Arthur refuses the request. The general falls into longing and nostalgia for Russia. He makes up his mind and sells silver gazyrs and a whole box of his toys. Then he returns to the box office of cockroach races, where he puts all the money on the Janissary's favorite.

The people are going to the spectacle. The cockroaches that live in the box under the supervision of the professor go on the run with paper riders. A cry is heard: "The Janissaries are failing!" As it turned out, the "cockroach king" Arthur drugged the favorite. Everyone who put on the Janissary rushes at Arthur, and he is forced to call the police. A beautiful prostitute cheers up the Italians, who did not bet on the Janissary. Dark.

Dream six

It takes place in the summer of 1921 in Constantinople.

General Charnota quarreled with Lucy. She guesses that the general lost money and opens her cards, says that she is a prostitute. And Lucy reproaches Charnota that he destroyed counterintelligence and was forced to flee the army, and now leads the life of a beggar. Blackness objects, he saved Korzukhina from death. Lucy accuses Seraphim of inaction, and then leaves for the house.

Golubkov enters the yard. General Charnota convinces the intellectual that Korzukhina is alive and has gone to the panel. Seraphim comes along with some Greek who has a lot of purchases in his hands. Charnota and Golubkov rush at the foreigner, and he has to run.

Sergei Pavlovich begins to tell Korzukhina about his feelings, but she turns around and leaves. At parting, she throws a phrase that she prefers to die herself.

Lucy wants to unwrap the bundle that the Greek left, but the general doesn't let her do it. Beauty takes the hat and says she will go to Paris. Khludov enters in civilian clothes. He was demoted from the army. Golubkov claims that he will go to Paris to Serafima's husband to help the woman. He is sure that he will definitely be helped to cross the border. Golubkov begs Khludov to take care of Seraphim and not let her go to the panel. Khludov promises the intellectual to look after Seraphim and gives him two lyres and a medallion. Charnota goes with Golubkov to Paris. Darkness.

act four

Dream seven

Occurs in the autumn of 1921 in Paris.

Golubkov arrives in Paris, finds Korzukhina's husband and asks him for a thousand dollars for Serafima. He refuses, motivating his act by the fact that he was not married to Seraphim, and soon he is going to offer his hand and heart to his Russian secretary. Golubkov tells Korzukhin that he is a soulless person. Sergei Pavlovich is about to leave, but at that moment General Charnota comes in. He informs Korzukhin that he would gladly sign up with the Bolsheviks to shoot him.

Charnota sees the cards and invites Korzukhin to play. He sells Khludov's medallion to his opponent for ten dollars. After the game, the general becomes the owner of $20,000. For 300 he buys the locket back. Korzukhin wants to return all the lost money. He screams in annoyance, and Lucy runs out to his roar. The general is shocked, but does not reveal that he is familiar with the prostitute. Lucy despises Seraphim's husband. She believes that Korzukhin himself is to blame for the loss.

Everyone disperses. Lyusya leans out the window and quietly tells Golubkov to take care of Korzukhin, and the general finally buys himself new pants. Darkness.

Dream eighth and last

It takes place in the autumn of 1921 in Constantinople.

Khludov is talking with the ghost of the orderly. Serafima Korzukhina comes in and proves to Khludov that he is very ill. She also repents that she let Golubkov go. Korzukhina is going to return to Petersburg. Khludov announces that he also wants to return there under his own name. Seraphim is horrified that if Khludov acts so imprudently, he will be immediately killed. But the general is happy with this result.

The conversation is interrupted by a knock on the door. Golubkov and Charnota came. Korzukhina and Sergei Pavlovich confess their love to each other. Charnota wants to stay here, but Khludov intends to return. He persuades Charnot to go together, but he does not want to: the general treats the Bolsheviks normally and does not hate them. Golubkov wants to give Khludov the locket, but he returns it to the couple, after which Korzukhina and Golubkov leave.

There is a conversation going on in the cell of the monastery church. The Budennovites have just come and checked the documents. Golubkov, a young Petersburg intellectual, wonders where the Reds came from when the area is in the hands of the Whites. Barabanchikova, pregnant, lying right there, explains that the general, who was sent a dispatch that the Reds were in the rear, postponed the decryption. When asked where the headquarters of General Charnot, Barabanchikov does not give a direct answer. Serafima Korzukhina, a young lady from St. Petersburg who fled with Golubkov to the Crimea to meet her husband, offers to call the midwife, but Madame refuses. The clatter of hooves and the voice of the white commander de Brizard are heard. Upon recognizing him, Barabanchikova throws off her rags and appears in the form of General Charnota. He explains to de Brizar and his wife Lyuska, who ran in, that his friend Barabanchikov in a hurry gave him documents not of his own, but of his pregnant wife. Charnota proposes an escape plan. Here Seraphim begins to have a fever - this is typhus. Golubkov leads Serafima into a gig. Everyone is leaving.

Dream 2. Crimea, early November 1920

The station hall has been turned into the headquarters of the whites. Where there was a buffet, General Khludov is sitting. He is sick, twitching. Korzukhin, Deputy Minister of Trade, Serafima's husband, asks to push wagons with valuable fur goods into Sevastopol. Khludov orders these trains to be burned. Korzukhin asks about the situation at the front. Khludov hisses that the Reds will be here tomorrow. Korzukhin promises to report everything to the commander in chief. A convoy appears, followed by the white commander-in-chief and Archbishop Africanus. Khludov informs the commander-in-chief that the Bolsheviks are in the Crimea. The African prays, but Khludov believes that God has abandoned the whites. Commander-in-Chief leaves. Seraphim runs in, followed by Golubkov and messenger Charnoty Krapilin. Serafima shouts that Khludov does nothing but hangs him. Staff whisper that this is a communist. Golubkov says she is delirious, she has typhus. Khludov calls Korzukhin, but he, smelling a trap, renounces Seraphim. Serafima and Golubkov are taken away, and Krapilin, in oblivion, calls Khludov a world beast and speaks of a war that Khludov does not know. He objects that he went to Chongar and was wounded there twice. Krapilin, waking up, begs for mercy, but Khludov orders him to be hanged for "beginning well, ending badly."

Dream 3. Crimea, early November 1920

The head of counterintelligence, Quiet, threatening with a deadly needle, forces Golubkov to show that Serafima Korzukhina is a member of the Communist Party and has come for the purpose of propaganda. Having forced him to write a statement, Tikhy lets him go. Counterintelligence officer Skunsky estimates that Korzukhin will give $10,000 to pay off. Quiet shows that Skunsky's share is 2000. Serafima is brought in, she is in the heat. Quiet gives her a statement. Outside the window with music is the cavalry of Charnota. Seraphim, having read the paper, knocks out the window glass with his elbow and calls Charnot for help. He runs in and defends Seraphim with a revolver.

Dream 4. Crimea, early November 1920

The Commander-in-Chief says that Khludov has been covering up his hatred for him for a year now. Khludov admits that he hates the commander-in-chief because he was involved in this, that it is impossible to work, knowing that everything is in vain. Commander-in-Chief leaves. Khludov alone speaks with the ghost, wants to crush him ... Golubkov enters, he has come to complain about the crime committed by Khludov. He turns around. Golubkov is in a panic. He came to tell the commander-in-chief about the arrest of Seraphim and wants to know her fate. Khludov asks the captain to deliver her to the palace if she is not shot. Golubkov is horrified by these words. Khludov justifies himself before the messenger ghost and asks him to leave his soul. When asked by Khludov who Serafima is to him, Golubkov replies that she is a random counter, but he loves her. Khludov says that she was shot. Golubkov is furious, Khludov throws a revolver at him and tells someone that his soul is doubled. The captain enters with a report that Seraphim is alive, but today Charnota recaptured her with weapons and took her to Constantinople. Khludov is expected on the ship. Golubkov asks to be taken to Constantinople, Khludov is ill, speaks with the messenger, they leave. Dark.

Dream 5. Constantinople, summer 1921

Street of Constantinople. There is an advertisement for cockroach races. Charnota, drunk and gloomy, approaches the cashier of cockroach races and wants to bet on credit, but Arthur, "the cockroach king", refuses him. Charnota yearns, remembers Russia. He sells for 2 lira 50 piastres silver gazyri and a box of his toys, puts all the money received on Janissary's favorite. The people are gathering. Cockroaches living in a box "under the supervision of a professor" run with paper riders. Shout: "Janissary fails!" It turns out that Arthur got the cockroach drunk. All those who bet on the Janissary rush to Arthur, he calls the police. A beautiful prostitute cheers on the Italians, who are beating the English, who bet on another cockroach. Dark.

Dream 6. Constantinople, summer 1921

Charnota quarrels with Lucy, lies to her that the box and gas were stolen, she understands that Charnota lost money, and admits that she is a prostitute. She reproaches him that he, the general, defeated counterintelligence and was forced to flee the army, and now he is begging. Charnota objects: he saved Seraphim from death. Lusya reproaches Seraphim for inaction and goes into the house. Golubkov enters the yard, playing the hurdy-gurdy. Charnota assures him that Serafima is alive and explains that she went to the panel. Seraphim arrives with a Greek, hung with purchases. Golubkov and Charnota rush at him, he runs away. Golubkov tells Seraphim about love, but she leaves with the words that she will die alone. Lyusya, who came out, wants to open the bundle of the Greek, but Charnota does not give it. Lucy takes the hat and announces that she is leaving for Paris. Khludov enters in civilian clothes - he has been demoted from the army. Golubkov explains that he found her, she left, and he will go to Paris to Korzukhin - he is obliged to help her. They will help him cross the border. He asks Khludov to take care of her, not to let her go to the panel, Khludov promises and gives 2 lira and a medallion. Charnota travels with Golubkov to Paris. They are going away. Dark.

Dream 7. Paris, autumn 1921

Golubkov asks Korzukhin for a $1,000 loan for Serafima. Korzukhin does not give, says that he was not married and wants to marry his Russian secretary. Golubkov calls him a terrible soulless person and wants to leave, but Charnota arrives, who says that he would sign up for the Bolsheviks to shoot him, and having shot him, he would sign out. Seeing the cards, he invites Korzukhin to play and sells him Khludov's medallion for $10. As a result, Charnota wins $20,000 and redeems the medallion for $300. Korzukhin wants to return the money, Lucy runs to his cry. Charnota is startled, but doesn't give it away. Lyusya despises Korzukhin. She assures him that he lost the money himself and cannot get it back. Everyone disperses. Lusya quietly shouts out the window to Golubkov to take care of Seraphim, and Charnota to buy his pants. Dark.

Dream 8. Constantinople, autumn 1921

Khludov alone talks with the ghost of the orderly. He is suffering. Serafima enters, tells him that he is ill, and is executed because she let Golubkov go. She is going to return to Peter. Khludov says that he will also return, and under his own name. Seraphim is horrified, it seems to her that he will be shot. Khludov is happy about this. They are interrupted by a knock on the door. This is Charnota and Golubkov. Khludov and Charnota leave, Serafima and Golubkov confess their love to each other. Khludov and Charnota return. Charnota says that he will stay here, Khludov wants to return. Everyone answers him. He invites Charnota with him, but he refuses: he has no hatred for the Bolsheviks. He's leaving. Golubkov wants to return the locket to Khludov, but he gives it to the couple, and they leave. Khludov alone writes something, rejoices that the ghost has disappeared. He goes to the window and shoots himself in the head. Dark.

"Running" was written in 1928 for the Moscow Art Theater, but was censored. During the life of the author, it was not printed and staged.

The material for the work was the memoirs of Belozerskaya, the second wife of the writer, about how she and her first husband fled through Constantinople to Europe. Bulgakov also uses the memoirs of General Slashchev, who became the prototype of Roman Khludov, and other historical sources about the civil war in the Crimea in 1920. Work on the play began in 1926. The original titles were Knight of the Seraphim, Outcasts.

The play was supposed to be staged at the Moscow Art Theater, but was banned from staging by Stalin, who believed that "Running" "represents an anti-Soviet phenomenon", because it arouses sympathy, pity for "certain layers of anti-Soviet emigrants." Gorky advocated for the production, pointing out that Charnota is a comic role, Khludov is a sick person, and the play itself is "a most excellent comedy ... with a deep, skillfully hidden satirical content."

Many heroes of the play have prototypes (Afrikan, Roman Khludov, Lyuska, Grigory Charnota, commander in chief). Khludov's prototype really suffered from severe neurasthenia, and in 1929 he was shot dead in his apartment by a relative of one of the victims.

The premiere of "Running" took place in 1957 at the Stalingrad Theater.

A small excerpt from the play ("The Seventh Dream") was published in 1932 in Krasnaya Gazeta on October 1. The play was published in 1962.

Literary direction and genre

Belonging of Bulgakov's works to a realistic or modernist direction - controversial issue in Bulgakov studies. A play that has so many prototypes and is based on real events, as if referring to a realistic trend in literature, although Bulgakov emphasizes the unreality and even impossibility of the events taking place (like Charnota's story that he lies and gives birth).

No less difficult is the question of the genre of the play. Already Bulgakov's contemporaries found it difficult to determine which genre the play is closer to, a satirical tragedy or a comedy. V. Kaverin believed that the play “destroys the conditional boundaries of the genre”, combines the features of psychological drama and phantasmagoria. It has both grotesque and tragedy.

According to Gorky, this is a comedy in which "at times it is funny, and even very funny." The tragedy is that the impossible actually happens.

Bulgakov himself defined the genre in the subtitle - "Eight Dreams". The dream genre made it possible to depict a displaced, inflamed, insane world, the actions of people without motives and reasons explained by reality. The play contains a technique used by Calderon. “I dream of my life,” says Golubkov.

Issues

The problem that lies on the surface is the crash white movement and the fate of the Russian emigration, which Bulgakov himself mentioned. But, creating heroes far from ideal, Bulgakov pursued a different goal. He sought to objectively assess all aspects civil war, and red, and white, "become impassive" over them.

The philosophical problem of the play is how each individual can stop the senseless run that fills his life, especially if he is pushed to run by external circumstances, like the heroes of the play. None of the options considered in the play turns out to be ideal: neither murder, nor illness, nor suicide, nor movement in space. Perhaps the author himself chooses the only effective way- move away from events in time, try to comprehend them objectively.

One of social problems plays - objectivity of comprehension historical events, the question of truth, which was relevant for Bulgakov throughout his entire work.

For the first time in Bulgakov's work, the problem of comprehending the victims that accompany the struggle for any idea (in this case, the victims of the civil war), the price of their blood and their lives, is raised.

The most important problem of the play is the problem of crime and punishment. According to Bulgakov, any crime atones for remorse, the readiness to suffer a well-deserved punishment. This idea is embodied in the image of Khludov, to whom, after repentance, the ghost of Krapilin, who was hanged by him, ceases to appear.

Conflict

For most heroes, the external conflict that forces them to flee (the victory of the Bolsheviks) is superimposed on the internal one. Khludov internal conflict with conscience leads to the appearance of a silent ghost that condemns him.

Plot and composition

The play has a subtitle "Eight Dreams", which immediately sets the reader up to the fact that something phantasmagoric is happening, which in reality cannot be.

The epigraph from Zhukovsky's poem "A Singer in the Camp of Russian Warriors" indicates that Bulgakov perceived the era of revolution and civil war as already experienced, sought to show bygone events from another time, although, undoubtedly, Bulgakov's sympathies are on the side of the white movement.

All dreams are dim, as if there is not enough light. With the end of the dream, the heroes fall into darkness.

Bulgakov wrote several finals. The most powerful in the artistic sense is the one where Khludov, tormented by remorse, returns to his homeland, agreeing with any possible punishment. In other versions, Khludov shoots himself, first shooting cockroach races. The fate of Seraphim and Golubkov is also ambiguous. In some versions, they leave for France and become outcasts, in others, they return to their homeland.

Filthy foul kingdom, cockroach runs in the finale, Khludov names any society as a whole.

Heroes

Bulgakov, not in remarks, but right in the course of the play, describes Khludov's appearance and clothes. In appearance, old eyes and a young face contrast, a grin replaces a smile. Bulgakov emphasizes that Khludov is ill. Krapilin-vestovoy calls Khludov a jackal, a world animal and a vulture, for which he is immediately hanged from a lantern.

Khludov's ideas are in themselves correct and true as abstract ideas: "Without love, nothing can be done in war." But their embodiment is bloody.

Khludov is the predecessor of Bulgakov's Pontius Pilate, who is morally punished for executing innocent people for the sake of an idea. In this play, this is a white idea, but in the context of Bulgakov's work, the idea can be any, a crime can be committed even in the name of faith, but still it will be followed by moral punishment.

Khludov is not an unequivocal villain. He changes from the moment the soldier begins to appear to him. Khludov feels that his soul has split in two, the words, the surrounding reality reach him vaguely. He is like sinking lead.

In the play, Khludov repents of his crimes and is ready to be punished in his homeland, "to pass under the lanterns", that is, even to be hanged from a lantern.

Khludov's suicide in the finale is poorly motivated, it seems artificial.

Golubkov is an almost exact anagram of Bulgakov's surname. This hero embodies the hidden thoughts of the author. Bulgakov tried on the life of an emigrant for a long time, abandoning it only in the early 30s.

Golubkov easily signs evidence against Seraphim, but this does not characterize him as a scoundrel, but simply as a weak person.

Seraphim is the wife of a millionaire. She is somewhat reminiscent of Belozerskaya from the time of her emigration.

Privatdozent Sergei Golubkov is endowed with the features of the philosopher and theologian Sergei Bulgakov, who was also in the Crimea during the civil war and was exiled to Constantinople. Through Golubkov, Bulgakov comprehends the problem of the intelligentsia and the revolution. Unlike Sergei Bulgakov, Sergei Golubkov compromises with his conscience, returning to his homeland and resigning himself to Bolshevism.

Korzukhin - Comrade Minister of Trade. Korzukhin in the play is a symbol of the money-grubber. One of the prototypes is Krymov, an acquaintance of Belozerskaya, an entrepreneur and writer, who left Russia “as soon as the revolution smelled”. Krymov was not at all a disgusting and soulless person, as Golubkov characterizes in Korzukhin's play.

General Charnota is a nice character. Unlike Khludov, he did not stain himself with crimes. Such a person should find happiness, so Charnota naturally wins 20 thousand cards from Korzukhin. He tells Khludov about his position in life, that he did not run from death, but he will not go to the Bolsheviks for death either. In the finale, General Charnota associates himself with the Wandering Jew, the Dutchman, who are forced to wander forever, not finding peace, to be in a state of eternal running.

The image of Charnota is comical. Senseless it entrepreneurial activity in Constantinople, the "descendant of the Cossacks" looks comical in women's dress, without pants. But through ridicule, the hero is reborn into new life. The image of a brave general, a brave fighter overlaps comic episodes and turns Charnota into an epic hero.

Stylistic features

In a play big role plays the soundtrack. The monastery and cavalry detachments sound, Russia and Constantinople. With the help of sounds, Bulgakov expands art world to epic proportions, the problem of Russian emigrants is becoming global.

The "cockroach" motif is important in the play. Khludov speaks of the fleeing white army as of cockroaches rustling in the twilight. Charnota calls Arthur, the owner of the cockroach race, the cockroach king. All the heroes of the play are like cockroaches running in a circle, and bets are also placed on them. As Khludov says, they all go "one after the other."