By 1852, all of Ostrovsky's work, including any translation, had been banned from being produced on stage. Years later he wrote: "The author, especially the one who is just starting, who's got one or two plays banned without an explanation, becomes a slave to his own fear… Once he comes across a long idea, he tends to shorten it; once he creates a strong character, he weakens it, once he hits upon a fiery, powerful phrase, he dulls it for in all of this he now starts to see the possible reasons for future prohibitions." His new play was the result of such a compromise: it was a melodrama, less daring than the
Family Affair and not as ambitious as
The Poor Bride, with many sharp edges dulled. The main character, Rusakov, was the portrayal of a real person, merchant Kosheverov, actor
Prov Sadovsky's relative who delighted Ostrovsky with his openness and easy ways with money. Ostrovsky staged the play for the first time himself in the house of his friend Nikolai Panov (the one who first started to collect Ostrovsky's manuscripts, the work which later Nikolai Shapovalo took upon himself). Podkhalyuzin was played by the author himself and, reportedly, with this performance he made even Prov Sadovsky laugh. Another amateur performance of such kind has been staged in
Pavlovsky Posad, at the factory owned by Prince Yakov Gruzinsky, a man whose son, actor Ivan Nikulin, was a husband of actress
Lyubov Nikulina-Kositskaya. In the early February 1853 Ostrovsky went to Saint Petersburg for the first time. There he was received by the director of the Imperial Theatres Alexander Gedeonov and became friends with actor Fyodor Burdin who helped with getting the permission for another of Ostrovsky's plays, ''The Young Man's Morning
to be produced in the capital; it was premiered on February 12, 1853 in the Circus Theatre. On February 19 Stay in Your Own Sled'' premiered in
Alexandrinsky Theatre. Again it was a success although the actors' work was less inspired and more formulaic than that of their Moscow colleagues. Ostrovsky had to leave the capital before the play's premiere after having received the news of his father's dying. One of the shows in Alexandrinka was attended by Tsar
Nikolai I himself who appeared to be greatly impressed, having construed the play's message to be that "children should follow their parents' advice, otherwise, everything gets ruined." Addressing Gedeonov and his own entourage, he pronounced: "There's been not many plays which would have given me such pleasure," and added in French: "Се n'est pas une pièce, c'est une leçon." Next evening he brought his whole family to the theatre. In March 1853 the play was published in the March (No.5) issue of
Moskvityanin and later that year came out as a separate edition. Several years later
Nikolai Dobrolyubov wrote in "The Realm of Darkness" essay: "The main idea of the play is that
samodurstvo [petty domestic tyranny], no matter how meek or even tender forms it might take, still greatly damages the person subjected to it, leading to the loss of the latter's individuality. Such de-individualisation destroys both the consciousness and the reason, so that the subject of samodurstvo might unwillingly commit any kind of crime, and thus perish simply due to the lack of reason and character." ==References==