First Performance took place on June 30th, 2005 at the Moscow
Art Theatre School, Moscow, Russia
The notion of adapting a work of narrative prose for the stage
always raises questions. The one that forever concerned me as I
embarked on this endeavor was: “Are there not plenty of good
plays around without going after works that were meant for a different
purpose?” The answer is that, of course there are plenty of
wonderful, powerful, entertaining plays around. It is not their
death that spurred me on. What fascinated me was the need to her
the whole of a Master's voice, and Mark Twain is certainly a master's
Master. In writing dialogue, a writer is in a position to hide behind
characters and allow himself to create the illusion of being invisible.
In creating a story, replete with descriptions, asides, observations,
and opinions, as well as dialogue, the author is more likely to
reveal himself, reveal his mind and soul. If this is true, how could
we not want to experience a revealed Mark Twain?
In approaching this project, we decided to keep every word of
Twain's narrative without rearranging their order even in the slightest.
The hope was that as a result, the great writer's true voice would
emerge. It is not for us to judge whether we succeeded or not, but
there is no doubt that during rehearsals we felt his presence, felt
warmed by his wit, stung by his sarcasm, moved by his generosity,
and embraced by his brilliance.