Gorky: Lower Depths

Na dne (the Lower Depths) of 1902 was Gorky’s most successful play and remains one of his best known works, and gave him international renown. Set in a doss-house, it carries a powerful message indicting the society which allows its members to become derelicts and down and outs, thieves and whores. Of universal value, this play was a hit, despite the Censor’s reservations, in Stanislavsky’s Moscow Art Theatre, and was subsequently filmed by Jean Renoir.