Love and Pigeons

Vladimir Pavlovich Gurkin (1951–2010) was a famous playwright and screenwriter, the author of the play "Love and Doves," on the basis of which one of the most famous and beloved films in Russia was made. Vladimir Gurkin was born in the Perm Krai in a family of a tractor driver. In 1971, he graduated from the acting department of the Irkutsk State Theatre School and in 1983 moved to Moscow, where he worked at the "Sovremennik" Theatre and the Moscow Art Theatre named after Chekhov. His first play "Andryusha" (later titled "I Light a Candle in the Day...") was very successful, but was banned by the authorities in 1980. In total, Vladimir Gurkin wrote eight plays, which are still performed in theaters across Russia. "Gurkin largely came from Shukshin," wrote actor Sergey Yursky about him. "This is our life, our people, we recognize them, it is us!" This collection includes all eight of Vladimir Gurkin's plays: "Love and Doves," "Weeping in the Palm of the Hand," "Baikal Quadrille," "The Golden Man," and others.