Theatre
Codreanu
Not translated into English
Samuil Lehtțir · 1930
Synopsis
Episodes from the Moldavia of serfdom: the serf peasants, risen under the leadership of a haiduc, wage their revolt against the masters of the land. The play draws its figures from the haiduks and from other pages of the history of feudal Moldavia.
Context
Written in 1930, the work is regarded, together with Biruința (1933), as the first attempt at Soviet Moldavian drama. It was not staged during its author's lifetime, probably because of its historical subject, frowned upon by a theatre bound to proletarian directives; Piotr Iérchov judged it excellent, while reporting that it was reproached for “deviations”, and fragments were used in acting classes. Its themes were taken up in 1958 in Ataman Codr, one of the first films of Moldova-Film.
Who it is for
In Moldovan, that is, in Romanian printed in Cyrillic; a rare text, known mainly through what literary histories say of it.
Prizes and reception
According to the journalist David Khakham, only one copy survives, in the National Library of Moldova.