Russian Tsar Era Classics — Woe from Wit, Part 1, by Alexander Griboyedov
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
Alexander Griboyedov's "Woe from Wit" (written 1822–24) — the most quoted play in the Russian language — in a fresh in-house English translation, performed by the KacheliTV cast. Barred by the censors from the stage and from full publication, it circulated hand to hand in manuscript until all Russia knew it by heart: a verse comedy of wit, love, and a society that would rather declare a clever man mad than have to listen to him.
Part 1 of 2.
Alexander Chatsky comes home to Moscow after three years abroad, still in love with Sophia Famusov, the girl he grew up with. But Sophia's heart is given — in secret, at midnight — to her father's meek and silent secretary, Molchalin, and her father is grooming the bluff, braid-loving Colonel Skalozub for a son-in-law. Chatsky speaks his mind, as he always has — and Moscow quietly begins to find its answer to him. (Acts Three and Four are in Part 2.)
The acts:
0:00 — Act One: morning at Famusov's — a night visitor, a stopped clock, and Chatsky's return
29:57 — Act Two: the calendar, the career of a courtier's back, "And who are the judges?", and a fall from a horse
Source: Alexander Griboyedov (1795–1829), «Горе от ума» ("Woe from Wit"), written 1822–24; first published 1833 (censored); complete text published 1862 — public domain. Russian text via ilibrary.ru, cross-checked against 24glo.com. Fresh in-house English translation made for this performance; no existing translation was used. Nothing has been cut: across the two parts, the complete play — all four acts — is performed in full, in order. Period racial descriptors in Khlestova's speeches are rendered with neutral modern wording in the translation; no fact, event or sentence is altered.
Dramatized performance by the KacheliTV cast: narrated by Orson, with Felix as Chatsky, Amos as Famusov, Violetta as Sophia, Silas as Molchalin, Bruno as Skalozub, Lulu as Liza, Scratch as Repetilov, Madame de Pamplemousse as Khlestova, Magnolia as Natalia Dmitrievna, Benedetto as Platon Gorich, Morgana as the old Countess Khryumina, and Mira as her granddaughter.
Music: "Imperial Violin Masquerade" (KacheliTV instrumental library) — opening theme and between the acts. No music under the narration.
Season 147 — Russian Tsar Era Classics, Episode 8 (Part 1; Part 2 follows as Episode 18 — the season's numbering follows production order, and the two parts sit consecutively in the playlist). The shelf so far: Lefty, by Nikolai Leskov · The Queen of Spades, by Alexander Pushkin · The Overcoat, by Nikolai Gogol · The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy · The Lady with the Dog, by Anton Chekhov · The Tales of Belkin, by Alexander Pushkin · Woe from Wit, by Alexander Griboyedov · The Government Inspector, by Nikolai Gogol · White Nights, by Fyodor Dostoevsky · Fathers and Sons, by Ivan Turgenev.
KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
