Accidental Tricksters: The Transformation of the Hero in the “Production” Drama of Late Socialism

This article examines the evolution of “production drama” poetics during the late socialist period. The figure of the trickster serves as a foundation for the analysis, which traces the plays of some of the leading authors of the trend; namely, A. I. Gelman and G. K. Bokarev articulated the emerging socio-economic landscape, influenced by the “Kosygin reform” and the subsequent crisis of the planned economic system. By the mid‑1970s, tricksters began to appear regularly in “production” plays. In the beginning, these characters served as intermediaries between the official and shadow parts of the Soviet economy and formal and informal bureaucratic practices. In this manner, they relieved the protagonist of the obligation to engage in actions that would be considered unethical according to Soviet official morality to accomplish various objectives, including those related to production. By the early 1980s, tricksters had already become a prominent feature of the “production drama”. Their actions revealed a “performative shift”, indicating a divergence between the officially proclaimed ideological postulates and everyday reality. In such circumstances, even idealistic characters were compelled to employ trickster tactics to accomplish noble tasks (We, the Undersigned). On the eve of Gorbachev’s reforms, the figure of the protagonist of the “production drama” went through another stage of evolution. In the conditions of the collapse of the planned economy and the crisis of production, adherence to the rules officially established by the state was regarded as a special form of “noble madness”. Accordingly, the actions of the lead character of the drama Zinulya by Gelman were described by the author as part of the topic of false foolishness for Christ. This mode of description made it possible to show the abnormality of the Soviet economic model, the observance of the rules of which, at the end of its existence, was regarded as almost fanatical.