My Poor Marat

My Poor Marat (also translated into English as The Promise) is a 1963 Russian play by Aleksei Arbuzov. About the lives and loves of three teenagers during the savage 1942 winter siege of Leningrad, as the Russians fight off the Nazi invaders. It was first produced in Russia in 1965, where it was staged in 66 theatres and ran for 1,636 performances.

The first production of The Promise, the English translation by Ariadne Nicolaeff was staged at the Oxford Playhouse in London on 21 November 1966, directed by Frank Hauser, with Judy Dench, Ian McShane and Ian McKellen.

The original text

Translations and adaptations

Translated into English in 1965 by British translator Ariadne Nicolaeff.

Translated into English in 1993 by American translator Angelina Bulbenko.

Translated into English in 2013 by American translator Oleg Ivanov.

Translated from a German translation into Afrikaans in 1968, under the title Arme Marat by Dawid Engela.

Performance history in South Africa

1967: The Nicolaeff translation was first produced in South Africa by Pieter Toerien and Basil Rubin at the Brooke Theatre in Johannesburg. It starred English actor Andrew Ray, John Fraser and Olive MacFarlane, directed by Leonard Schach. Decor by Raimond Schoop.

1968: The same Pieter Toerien production was staged in the Labia Theatre in Cape Town from 29 May.

An Afrikaans version translated from the German by Dawid Engela , entitled Arme Marat, produced in 1968 at the Hofmeyr Theatre, directed by Mavis Taylor for CAPAB starring Katinka Heyns, Pieter Fourie and Cobus Rossouw.

My Arme Marat was presented by PACT in 1972, directed by Truida Louw, starring Marie Koeleman, Jan Engelen and David van der Merwe.

My Arme Marat presented by PACOFS, 1990, with Dorette Nel as Lika. Also starring Cobus de Villiers and James van Helsdingen.