A stage adaptation of Gogol’s great novella, acknowledged by all Russian writers who followed to be a masterpiece. Written in 1977.
Hibberd has interlarded his comico-tragic dramatization with several songs – about cities in general, the intention being to make the metropolis of St Petersburg have a universal dimension. The wretched central character is here called ‘Kak’; the other characters are all grotesques, who treat him abominably. He has, nevertheless, a sweetish revenge at the end, but is still without the overcoat for which he saved across a decade (in order to propel the sadsack up into a better class of society). A production requires a composer and some singers.
COPY of COVER of ‘The Overcoat, Sin’. Photo by Brendan Hennessy
