The Red Poppy: Josef Stalin at Home
By J. Ajlouny
2/5
()
About this ebook
Mention the
name Josef Stalin and all you will hear are epithets like “brutal dictator” or
“mass murderer” or “Communist reactionary.” And these are not untrue
descriptions. But they don’t tell the whole story. Every terrible person in
history was also just an ordinary person too. In The Red Poppy, we behold the man and not the monster. In these
seven scenes, we see the human side of the Soviet leader in a myriad of ways
never before portrayed. We see his humanity, his personal philosophy, his
anger, his sense of guilt and his endearing playfulness, all against the
backdrop of Mao tse-Tung’s impending visit to Moscow in 1949. The playwright
has done a masterful job of transforming Yuri Krotkov’s intimate knowledge of
Stalin into a fascinating, poignant, and at times hilarious collection of
vignettes that is as entertaining to read as it is to watch it on stage. The Red Poppy is truly a revelation.
Read more from J. Ajlouny
Figuratively Speaking: Thesaurus of Expressions &Phrases: Thesaurus of Expressions & Phrases Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho Said That?: The Stories Behind Familiar Expressions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeet William Shakespeare: A superbly entertaining one-person play starring The Bard himself Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPractical Problems: Ten Stories for the Stage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarilyn, Norma Jean and Me Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Trial of William Shakespeare: A dramatization of the authorship controversy in which the audience renders a verdict Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdventures in Leninland: An Intrepid Journalist’s Quest to Understand a Place Once Called the Soviet Union Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Red Poppy
Related ebooks
Collaborators: A Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Camp Uprising: The Escape from Sobibor Concentration Camp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDare Call It Treason Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Soviet: James Acton Thrillers, #31 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRedemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Mind of Stalin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRed Spy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTorch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest Sci-Fi Stories of Mack Reynolds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMattress Toys of the Guitar Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWar and Peace (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Agony & Barbed Wire - The Grim Reality of Former East Germany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStalin: A Pocket Biography Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Nashville Rebel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Passenger Plane Shot Down by the Russians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTroika to Utopia Part 2: A Docu-Drama in Three-Quarter Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Stalin Code V.2 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Paul Is Undead Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Journey into the Whirlwind: The Critically Acclaimed Memoir of Stalin's Reign of Terror Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study Guide for Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Deluge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin’s Master Agent Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anastasia: Love and War, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWolf Messing - The True Story of Russia`s Greatest Psychic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNatan Sharansky: Freedom Fighter for Soviet Jews Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYugoslavia: Peace, War, and Dissolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Moscow Calling: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Performing Arts For You
Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macbeth (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Importance of Being Earnest: A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sisters Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lucky Dog Lessons: From Renowned Expert Dog Trainer and Host of Lucky Dog: Reunions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dolls House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unsheltered: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mash: A Novel About Three Army Doctors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Women's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Strange Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Turned Upside Down: Finding the Gospel in Stranger Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifth Mountain: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Woman Is No Man: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Red Poppy
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
The Red Poppy - J. Ajlouny
ACT I
Scene One
SCENE: Stalin’s Parlor
TIME: Morning
AT RISE: A big man in a military uniform is keeping guard outside the bedroom door where he thinks Stalin is sleeping. The guard is sitting on a stool, fighting to stay awake. He is wearing slippers on his feet. Stalin, unwashed and disheveled, wearing only a long shirt and socks, enters from his private study, not the bedroom.
Stalin:
You’ve got yourself into a pickle again, eh Comrade Shoposhnikov? (Shoposhnikov startled, jumps at attention.) Ah, but you guard your leader poorly. Only last night, who was on duty, Papatov? I slept downstairs in the den and there he was—guarding the library. What a fool!
Major Shoposhnikov:
Josef Vissarionovich, how can anyone keep up with you? A bed is prepared for you in every room, but which you choose, nobody knows.
Stalin:
That’s right major, nobody knows and nobody should know. Do you know why nobody knows where Comrade Stalin will sleep?
Major Shoposhnikov:
No Comrade Stalin, no.
Stalin:
You idiot! It’s a state secret that’s why. Nobody must know! But you Comrade Major, you are a member of the Committee for State Security. You are a captain of the internal guard. You must know! That is your duty. And, I might add, a distinguished duty.
Major Shoposhnikov:
Yes, Josef Vissarionovich.
Stalin:
The Soviet people have entrusted you with the life of Comrade Stalin. The Soviet people are counting on you major, is that not true?
Major Shoposhnikov:
Yes, Comrade Stalin, exactly.
Stalin:
And only the Soviet people?
Major Shoposhnikov:
No, the entire progressive world!
Stalin:
Shhh, not so loud. That’s right Comrade Major, you remember that. The entire progressive world is counting on you. Do not, I repeat, do not let them down.
Major Shoposhnikov:
Of course, Josef Vissarionovich. I will not. My duty is as sacred as my mother to me, no, more so, as sacred as my honor.
Stalin:
Okay major, don’t fall apart. Forget your mother, forget your honor. Just remember what you’ve learned here and I promise I won’t inform Comrade Beria.
Stalin washes up in a basin and puts on his customary tunic.
Stalin:
Tell me Comrade Major, you were on vacation, where did you go?
Major Shoposhnikov:
Oh, thank you Josef Vissarionovich. We had a most excellent time at the ministry’s sanatorium in Sochi. The Black Sea is as beautiful as the winter. My son, he’s just ten years old, he loved every minute. Marching, hymns, socialist instruction, young pioneer indoctrination. He enjoyed himself most of all.
Stalin:
Ten years old, huh?
Major Shoposhnikov:
Yes, Josef Vissarionovich, and he loves Comrade Stalin so much. He’s young, but he understands everything as if he’s already had a political education.
Stalin:
Good, then you’ll take him one of my books. I’ll autograph it for him.
Major Shoposhnikov:
Josef Vissarionovich, that would be as wondrous as party membership to a boy so small. And of course he hates Americans, like fierce animals he does. Why, I heard him say just yesterday, You know Papa, I would like to chop Truman’s head off.
(He becomes emotion-laden.)
Stalin:
Comrade Major, you are a war hero. You are a former boxing champion. But you’re a sentimentalist too. Did you cry after you punched your opponents in the nose?
Major Shoposhnikov:
Forgive me, Josef, it is just I love my young son so much.
Stalin:
Enough, major, I have a long day ahead of me. (Stalin pours himself a cup of tea, then laughs loudly.) Hey Shoposhnikov, what’s that on your feet,