Alexey Dudarev is a Belarusian playwright and screenwriter. My first encounter with his work (or at least what I thought was my first) happened during my final years of school, as his play Riadovyie (“The Rank and File”) was part of the Belarusian literature curriculum. Our school library handed out the book Dialog, which included this play among others. I read a lot during my school years, but I was cautious about unfamiliar authors, especially those who were part of the required reading list. However, the Belarusian literature curriculum often included real gems. Many years later, I couldn’t recall the details of Riadovyie, but I was left with warm feelings about it, as it had been a pleasant surprise.
Later on, I learned that Alexey Dudarev’s plays weren’t only famous in the BSSR; they were also performed in many theaters across the USSR, including the Maxim Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater in Leningrad and the Central Academic Theater of the Soviet Army, among others. These performances featured actors who were well-known throughout the Soviet Union, including from films.
It wasn’t until even later that I found out Dudarev wrote the script for one of my favorite films, which nearly every Belarusian knows—Belye Rosy (“White Dew”). This simple yet profound story about the final days of a village being displaced to make way for the city’s expansion is filled with both humor and the drama of family relationships, as well as reflections on what is truly important in life. And what a cast—Nikolai Karachentsov, Vsevolod Sanaev, Stanislav Sadalsky, Galina Polskikh, Boris Novikov, and many others.
For many years, I held warm feelings toward that first play I had the chance to read back in school. Every now and then, I would consider reading more of the author’s works. Then, I finally came across that very same book from my childhood—a collection of plays by Alexey Dudarev titled Dyalog (in Russian, Dialog). Alexey Dudarev mainly wrote in Belarusian, but he translated many of his plays and scripts into Russian himself, so you can comfortably read his works in either language—both versions are authentic.
The specific edition I picked up includes five plays in Belarusian, with titles that can be translated as The Rank and File, Evening, Threshold, Takeoff, and The Choice.
Overall, Alexey Dudarev’s works revolve around two major themes: war and the lives of simple, rural folk, in the best sense of the term. He was born into a peasant family, and he carried his love for the land, as a nurturing mother, throughout his life and into his work. His characters are far from simple. Each one has their good and bad traits. Yes, sometimes one character might stand out as being the most righteous and decent, but as the story progresses, the other characters reveal different sides of themselves. Even someone who seemed entirely unpleasant at first may show by the end that not all is lost.
When it comes to war, Dudarev tries to portray the people in war—where there’s no place for heroes, only ordinary folks. They might have damaged souls, or they might be trying to remain human amidst hellish circumstances, and sometimes they succumb to base actions. But even in those cases, the author tries to show what drove them rather than just stamping them with a label.
At the same time, his work consistently weaves in the theme of love for the homeland, for the land that has nurtured us all.
This love for the land, for the simple joys of life, is the second major theme in all of Alexey Dudarev’s works. Rural people appear in almost all of them. One of the soldiers might be a worldly-wise farmer, or some of the characters might live in a village, or the play itself might revolve around three aging village pensioners, as in the play Evening, where two old men and an elderly woman constantly bicker, yet somehow coexist and support one another.
I never thought I’d be interested in reading about the relationships between old people in a village. And yet, the author managed to touch on various problems in our changing world, the dying rural life, and the purpose of our existence.
Several of Dudarev’s works were adapted into film scripts. For instance, the beloved White Dew stands as its own work, but also partially includes scenes and even dialogues from the play Evening. In the play, an initially negative character is nicknamed “Gastritis” because of his unbearable personality. This character’s image was transferred to Timofey in the film White Dew, where he was brilliantly portrayed by Boris Novikov—a perfect casting match.
Interestingly, four years after White Dew was released, the same director made another film based on Evening, titled Autumn Dreams. Boris Novikov reprised his role as Gastritis in that film. It was a good movie, though it slightly deviates from the original play, but it never gained the same popularity as White Dew.
Later, other films were made from Alexey Dudarev’s scripts, including the war films Dnieper Line and Brest Fortress. In 2023, Alexey Dudarev passed away.
But his books and plays remain, and they are definitely worth reading, as they leave a complex aftertaste that makes you reflect on our existence and what we strive for throughout our lives.
Many of his plays can be downloaded for free from the author’s website, both in Belarusian and Russian: https://www.dudarev.of.by/pesy.
As for me, I gave this book the highest rating.
My rating: 5/5
