| The Life of Man | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Leonid Andreyev |
| Date premiered | 22 February 1907 |
| Place premiered | Komissarzhevskaya Theatre |
| Original language | Russian |
| Subject | Futility of life |
| Genre | Symbolist drama |
The Life of Man (Russian: Жизнь человека, romanized: Zhizn cheloveka) is a five-act symbolist drama by Leonid Andreyev. Written in the September 1906, it premiered on 22 February 1907 in the Komissarzhevskaya Theatre, directed by Vsevolod Meyerkhold. On 12 December 1907 it was performed for the first time in the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Konstantin Stanislavski and Leopold Sulerzhitsky.[1]
An allegorical play, stylized to some extent after Maeterlinck's "static" plays, it is recognized now as a dramatic summary of several important short stories and novellas by Andreyev of the 1903–1906 period ("The Wall", "The Thought", "The Life of Vasily Fiveysky"), focusing, through a set of abstract and schematic characters and scenes, upon the meaning of human life, or rather the tragic lack of it, epitomized by the mysterious Someone in Grey, the symbol of both disinterested God and desperate human mind.[1]