BLACK SNOW

After being saved from a suicide attempt by a literary editor, the journalist an
d failed novelist Sergei Maxudov has a book suddenly accepted for stage adaptati
on at a prestigious venue and finds himself propelled into Moscow's theatrical w
orld. In a cut-throat environment tainted by Soviet politics, censorship and ego
mania - epitomized by the arrogant and incompetent director Ivan Vasilyevich - a
bsurdity gradually gives way to tragedy. Unpublished in Bulgakov's own lifetime,
Black Snow (also known as A Theatrical Novel) - here presented in a new transla
tion - is peppered with darkly comic set pieces and draws on its author's own bi
tter experience as a playwright with the Moscow Arts Theatre, showcasing his ini
mitable gift for shrewd observation and razor-sharp satire.