Sunset (play)
Encyclopedia
The play Sunset was written by Isaac Babel
in 1926 and based on his short story collection The Odessa Tales
.
, Odessa
's Jewish Quarter in 1913. The plot revolves around the volatile relationship between neighborhood mob boss Benya Krik
and his philandering, alcoholic father Mendel Krik.
As the curtain rises, the Krik family awaits the arrival of Bobrinets, a wealthy suitor who wishes to marry Dvoira Krik. Although his daughter is already considered an old maid, Mendel Krik refuses to give her a dowry
and insults Bobrinets, who leaves in a huff. Later, a weeping Nekhama Krik reminds her husband that the Jewish elders are about to bar him from the synagogue
. However, Mendel mocks her as she laments having no grandchildren.
Later, Mendel drinks up his family's money at the local saloon and begins an extramarital affair with Marusia Kholodenko, a 20 year-old Gentile
. Despite their Russian Orthodox faith, the Kholodenko family is ecstatic to have a new source of money.
Enraged by rumors that their father is about to disinherit them and elope to Bessarabia
with Marusia, Benya and Lvovka Krik attack their father. Although Lvovka is severely beaten, Benya batters his father to a pulp and forbids him from leaving the house or Nekhama.
In the aftermath, Benya and Lvovka arrange to Dvoira to receive a dowry to marry Bobrinets. They also pay for an abortion
for the pregnant Marusia. At a party to celebrate Dvoira's engagement, Rabbi
Ben Zkharia declares that "everything is as it should be" and proposes a toast to the sons of Mendel Krik.
According to Babel's common law wife
, Antonina Pirozhkova, filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein
was quite fond of Sunset and often compared it to the writings of Emile Zola
for, "illuminating captitalist relationships through the experience of a single family." Eisenstein was also quite critical of the Moscow Art Theatre, "for its weak staging of the play, particularly for failing to convey to the audience every single word of its unually terse text."
Isaac Babel
Isaak Emmanuilovich Babel was a Russian language journalist, playwright, literary translator, and short story writer. He is best known as the author of Red Cavalry, Story of My Dovecote, and Tales of Odessa, all of which are considered masterpieces of Russian literature...
in 1926 and based on his short story collection The Odessa Tales
The Odessa Tales
The Odessa Tales is a collection of short stories by Isaac Babel, situated in Odessa in the last days of the Russian empire and the Russian Revolution. Published individually in magazines throughout 1923 and 1924 and collected into a book in 1931, they deal primarily with a group of Jewish thugs...
.
Plot
The play is sent in MoldavankaMoldavanka
Moldavanka is a historical part of Odessa in the Odessa Oblast of southern Ukraine, located jointly on Malinovskiy and Primorskiy city districts. Before 1820 a settlement just outside of Odessa which later engulfed it...
, Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
's Jewish Quarter in 1913. The plot revolves around the volatile relationship between neighborhood mob boss Benya Krik
Benya Krik
Benya Krik is a fictional Russian gangster of Jewish descent, whose gang of thugs is the main subject of Isaak Babel's collection of short stories The Odessa Tales. He also plays a prominent role in Babel's play Sunset...
and his philandering, alcoholic father Mendel Krik.
As the curtain rises, the Krik family awaits the arrival of Bobrinets, a wealthy suitor who wishes to marry Dvoira Krik. Although his daughter is already considered an old maid, Mendel Krik refuses to give her a dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
and insults Bobrinets, who leaves in a huff. Later, a weeping Nekhama Krik reminds her husband that the Jewish elders are about to bar him from the synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
. However, Mendel mocks her as she laments having no grandchildren.
Later, Mendel drinks up his family's money at the local saloon and begins an extramarital affair with Marusia Kholodenko, a 20 year-old Gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
. Despite their Russian Orthodox faith, the Kholodenko family is ecstatic to have a new source of money.
Enraged by rumors that their father is about to disinherit them and elope to Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
with Marusia, Benya and Lvovka Krik attack their father. Although Lvovka is severely beaten, Benya batters his father to a pulp and forbids him from leaving the house or Nekhama.
In the aftermath, Benya and Lvovka arrange to Dvoira to receive a dowry to marry Bobrinets. They also pay for an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
for the pregnant Marusia. At a party to celebrate Dvoira's engagement, Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Ben Zkharia declares that "everything is as it should be" and proposes a toast to the sons of Mendel Krik.
Reception
According to Nathalie Babel Brown,"Sunset premiered at the BakuBakuBaku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
Worker's Theatre on October 23, 1927 and played in OdessaOdessaOdessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, KievKievKiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, and the celebrated Moscow Art TheatreMoscow Art TheatreThe Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...
. THe reviews, however, were mixed. Some critics praised the play's 'powerful anti-bourgeois stance and its interesting 'fathers and sons' theme. But in MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, particularly, critics felt that the play's attitude toward the bourgeousie was contradictory and weak. Sunset closed, and was dropped from the repertoire of the Moscow Art TheatreMoscow Art TheatreThe Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...
.
According to Babel's common law wife
Common Law Wife
"Common Law Wife" is a song by the funk band Parliament. Recorded in 1972, it was released as a bonus track on the 2003 reissue of the album Chocolate City...
, Antonina Pirozhkova, filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
was quite fond of Sunset and often compared it to the writings of Emile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
for, "illuminating captitalist relationships through the experience of a single family." Eisenstein was also quite critical of the Moscow Art Theatre, "for its weak staging of the play, particularly for failing to convey to the audience every single word of its unually terse text."
Quotes
- Mendel Krik: "Break my back, Nekhama! Pour Jewish soup in my veins!"
- Benya KrikBenya KrikBenya Krik is a fictional Russian gangster of Jewish descent, whose gang of thugs is the main subject of Isaak Babel's collection of short stories The Odessa Tales. He also plays a prominent role in Babel's play Sunset...
: "This is my idea: A Jew no longer in the prime of life, a Jew who used to go about naked, barefoot, and filthy like a convict on Sakhalin Island! And now, thank God, he's getting up there in years, it is time to put an end to this life sentence of hard labor -- it is time to turn the SabbathShabbatShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
into Sabbath.
- Rabbi Ben Zkharia: "God bathes in red water in HeavenHeavenHeaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. Why red, why not white, because red is merrier than white."
- Rabbi Ben Zkharia: "Jews! Day is day, and night is night. Day drenches us with the sweat of our toil, but night offers its fans of Divine coolness. Joshua, the son of Nun, who stopped the sun, was nothing but a crazed fool! ...And here is Mendel Krik, a member of our synagogue, who has turned out to be no cleverer than Joshua, son of Nun. He wanted to warm himself in the sun all his life, all his life he wanted to stand where he stood at midday. But God has policemen on every corner, and Mendel Krik has sons in his house. The policemen come and see to it that things are as they should be. Day is day, and night is night. Jews! Everything is as it should be! Let's down a glass of vodkaVodkaVodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....
!"