The Innocently Guilty

Young, sensitive women and authoritative elderly ladies, accustomed to controlling the lives of others with the iron grip of experienced commanders. Cunning and skillful conspirators, playing a subtle game for a sweet piece, and strong, aggressive entrepreneurs with steel jaws, sweeping everything in their path to success and profit. Actresses, like fish in water, swimming in a world of behind-the-scenes intrigues, and their patrons, for whom a connection with a stage star is a prestigious indicator of wealth and power. Daring young intellectuals, passionately playing at cynicism and hatred for the entire white world, and supporters of the theory of small deeds, calmly opposing universal greed and hypocrisy, bribery, and corruption... Such are the characters of Ostrovsky in the plays included in this collection. The images, both dramatic and comical, were created by him long ago, but are still fully recognizable and remain contemporary.