It’s 1931, and Joseph Stalin wields more power over Russia than any czar ever did. Not content to lead his comrades into the new economic order, he means to reengineer their psyches as well. Private life has been abolished as a relic of pre-Bolshevik decadence. The new human is to be, wholly and completely, a component of the state.
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Stalin’s despotic vision reaches down into the quiet confines of the government publishing house depicted in John Lowell’s sharp 2009 play. Anna is an editor preparing a famous Russian composer’s letters for publication—which basically means vacuuming out references to his exuberantly “pornographic” sex life. She’s doing her job extremely well. But when she’s called into the director’s office, she finds that her own secrets are subject to equally intense scrutiny. After all, there’s no such thing as a private life.
Through 2/24: Tue-Wed 7:30 PM, Thu-Fri 8 PM, Sat 4 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 6 PM, also Wed 12/19, 12/26, and 1/30, 2 PM, Writers’ Theatre at Books on Vernon, 664 Vernon, Glencoe, 847-242-6000, writerstheatre.org, $50-$60.
