Includes the plays
The Forest
,
Artistes and Admirers
Wolves and Sheep
and
Sin and Sorrow
Four of Ostrovsky’s finest plays. The best known of these,
(1871), has two young lovers in thrall to their tyrannical elders, who are prevented from marrying until a pair of strolling actors come to their rescue. In
(1881), a comedy of theatre life, a dedicated young actress renounces both love and fortune in order to pursue her sacred calling. In the comedy
(1875) Ostrovsky returns to a favourite theme, the double-dealing and hypocrisy of the Russian landowning classes, while the melodrama
(1863) explores the tragic consequences of a bored provincial wife’s brief affair.