Plot synopsis

On April 2, 1923, the Bolshoi Theater celebrated the 20th anniversary of Vsevolod Meyerhold's directorial career and the 25th anniversary of his acting career. Delegations from factories and military units congratulated the hero of the day. The government awarded him the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR. And his theater on Sadovo-Triumfalnaya was renamed the Meyerhold Theater. After which one of the most vivid creative periods began in the life of the master.
At that time, the NEP (New Economic Policy, which replaced War Communism) had arrived in the country. Designed to boost the economy that had completely fallen into decline, the NEP granted all citizens some economic freedom for entrepreneurial activity. The concept of "NEPman" appeared, which very soon became a synonym for the bourgeois.
The NEP made a strong impression on everyone without exception. Some old Bolsheviks, who thought that the ideals of communism had been lost with the introduction of the new policy, even began to drink themselves to death. The denationalization of private enterprises, freedom of trade, and the return of money created a feeling of retreat from everything they had fought for in October 1917.
For many, the NEP turned out to be a great illusion. The intelligentsia, those specialists who had not left and were not exiled by 1923, observing what was happening in the country, thought that the bloody revolution was ending, that life was getting better and that it was possible and necessary to cooperate with the authorities. In 1923, no one knew that a new round of class struggle and "tightening of the screws" would soon begin, initiated by Stalin himself.

commentaries

Сценарии телесериала «Исторические хроники с Николаем Сванидзе», с 1913го по 1933 год. [Scénarios de la série télévisée « Chroniques historiques avec Nikolaï Svanidzé », de 1913 à 1933], Marina ZHUKOVA, Амфора, 2014

- Screenplay

Selected in the following festivals or events :

- Historical Chronicles with Nikolay Svanidze, (kinoglaz.fr), 2026

Images

Vsevolod MEYERHOLD (Всеволод Эмильевич МЕЙЕРХОЛЬД) 1874-1940