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9. The veranda scene with Valyusha and Vladimir Ivanovitch does not contain any quotes. 10. The song starting 'When we hear of love ...’ is an airy drawing room tune from the first decade of this century. According to the director, it reinforces the operatta--like, parodical aspects of Koka's behaviour. Instead of this song, you could use a comparable popular cabaret song from Germany, if the director finds it necessary. 11. The beginning of the third act, the monologue about the Jade pavilion and the poems - these are the first pages of a novel by an anonymous seventteenth century Korean writer called 'The Dream in the Jade Pavillion’, which was published by 'Choedozjestvennaya Literatoera’ (p. 23-24) in 1982. These lines mean a lot to Petushok, because they speak of a community of poets living in heaven. 12. The game of Cerceau was very popular in wordly circles in (pre-revolutionary) Russia, both among adults and among chil-

dren. Nowadays it can be bought in toy shops, and children learn it in .kindergarten. The text of the Cerceau song was written by Nikolay Agnivtsev, a poet from the beginning of this century. 13,1 don’t want to specify whether Liza and Koka belong to the aristocracy. Liza might, but Koka is a doubtful case. His entire role actually revolves around his own romanticisation of the stories he tells about his past. He has lived a long, complicated life, and it has become hard for him to keep truth and fiction apart in his memories. Now, at eighty, he has the impression tat his youth was beautiful and romantic, but the question remains whether it really was. This duality in Koka is beatifully expressed by Petrenko. 14. A similar thing applies to Lars. That's his secret as a character in the play; is he really a Swede, or is he just pretending? In the last act, all the characters seem in fact to have changed into someone else, they are no longer the people they were at the outset. The audience should decide for itself who they really are, deep inside.

15, About the name Petushok (rooster): the same thing applies as in the case of ’The Cherry Orchard'. I was not thinking directly of Gogol while I was writing. But deep within me that word was certainly connected to something frivolous, something childlike and helpless. I don't know any German equivalent, but it should have a 'comical effect’, as you write. Something comparable to what it evokes in Russian in connection with the names Vladimir Ivanovitch and Pasha. 16. You mention the problem of the German audience’s unfamiliarity with a number of aspects of our reality, and indeed that is a complicated matter. I don't think it should be solved by exlanations within the text, but by using German equivalents. Let’s take the problem of Nadya’s cooperative house. According to our laws, someone who does not live there officially inherts a sum equivalent to its original building, costs, but not the house itself. In'the piece, someone answers: 'You can't inherit a cooperative’. But I really

don’t know how to explain that to a foreign audience without violating the textual structure. Perhaps by including comments in the printed programme? We will have to exchange further letters about such passages. It would be even better if you could come to Moscow for a few days, so we could discuss things. Everything I write is obviously intended for the Soviet audience and readers, and of course not everything is comprehensible to a foreigner. About the reactions to ’Cerceau’ in the press. I believe the best article about the play was published in ’Theatre Life’, nr. 5. 1986. If you can’t find it I can send you a copy, but it will take some time. I should also like to draw your attention to two articles in ’Teatr’ magazine; one in nr. 3. 1986 by N. Velechovaja entitled ’The Good, The Beautiful, The Bad’, and one in nr. 12, 1985 by V. Goeltsjenko entitled ’Oncoming Traffic', These articles contain passages about ’Cerceau’, About myself: in addition to plays, I also write humurous stories. I mainly publish in ’Joenost’ maga-

zine, and in the 'Literatoemaja Gazeta’ (on the back page). Some more information about myself at your request; I was born in Moscow in 1935. In 1958 I finished my studies at the Moscow Institute of Railway Engineering, and went on to work as a construction engineer (three years on construction sites, and two years in the office). Since 1963 I make my living as a writer; I am a member of the Writers’ Union of the Soviet Union. From 1967 to 1984 I presided over the 'satire and humour’ section of 'Joenost' magazine. My stories and columns appeared in many periodicals and newspapers, and my plays were performed in student theatres. In 1979, my play 'The Grown-Up Daughter Óf A Young Man’ was peformed for the first time in the Stanislavski Theatre in Moscow, under the direction of A. Vasiljev, and it has since been performed in many theatres in the Soviet Union and abroad. In 1985, 'Cerceau' was first performed in The Taganka Theatre. In 1983, Sovjetskaja Rossija published my book

'Plays’ (together with L. Petroesjevskaja). I wrote screenplays for various animation films - Tskoestvo kino' magazine nr. 6, 1986 contains my script 'Black And White Film', which received a number of prizes at international film festivals. My plays 'A Rotten Apartment’, ’Forst’, 'The Painting', and The Orchestra’ are available through the VAAP, and were all published in drama collections by Sovjetskaja Rossija. The rights of ,'A Rotten Apartment’ were acquired by the Austrian-German Thomas Żesler Verlag at the time; it was performed in Austria in 1982. I think I have answered all your questions. I hope you can come to Moscow. In September-October I’m expecting to be in Moscow, although I may be out of town for a while between 10 and 20 October. In October, the Taganka Theatre will open its season with ’Cerceau’. □ Yours sincerely, Viktor Slavkin.

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