Authors

Georgia Tsichritzis¹;  ¹ McGill University, Canada

Discussion

This paper presents and discusses a less-known but important dramatic work of the post-Napoleonic turbulent years referring to local revolts in the then Russian-occupied south-western Ukraine. Although a piece of theatre placed in a particular contested region of Ukraine, it depicts with great vigour and passion the attempts of the local population to regain its freedom against their Russian oppressors. Misleadingly entitled, L'armure, ou Le soldat Moldave, the work is a French mélodrame in three acts, on a libretto by Jean-Guillaume-Antoine Cuvelier de Trie (1766-1824), first staged at the Paris Théâtre de la Gaîté on 20 October 1821. The scene of the play is Tomarova, present-day Reni, south-western Ukraine, an important port of the broader Bessarabia region (much of which belongs to modern-day Moldova, hence the subtitle). Reni, renamed Tomarova after its annexation by the Ottomans in the 17th century, stands close to the river Prut, where the Greek-Romanian revolution of 1821 broke out, and which may have inspired the play, premiered some four months after the events. The French author (a former soldier) may not be familiar to modern audiences but is credited with inventing the popular genre of French melodrama, whilst he wrote other works of military themes (Machabées, La mort de Kleber etc.). The author will discuss the dramatic treatment of the historical events as well as the political implications that have some parallels with present situation in Ukraine.