The Dragon

The Dragon (Drakon) (1944) a satirical play by Yvgeny Schwartz (Evgeny Luovich Schwartz: 1896-1958)

The original text
Schwartz was a Soviet writer and playwright whose cult works include twenty-five plays and screenplays for three films (in collaboration with Nikolai Erdman). In 1944, Schwartz completed the satirical play Drakon, which was seen as subversive in the political climate of post-war Russia. The play tells the story of the knight Lancelot, who sets out to slay the dragon. However, in his quest, he stumbles on a community governed by a bureaucratic hierarchy using the dragon to cover their own use of power.

A filmed version, To Kill a Dragon, was produced in 1988.

Translations and adaptations
Translated into English as The Dragon by Max Hayward and Harold Shukman and published in Three Soviet plays, Penguin, 1966.

Translated into Afrikaans as Die Draak ("The Dragon") in 1975.

Performance history in South Africa
1975: Performed in Afrikaans as Die Draak by SUKOVS June 1975, stage manager Mavis Lilenstein.

1986: Performed in English as The Dragon by University Theatre Stellenbosch in the H.B. Thom Theatre in May 1986, directed by Noël Roos.

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