The golden age of Russian theater produced works of enduring vitality, dramatic interest, and literary merit -- among them, masterpieces by the four great writers included in this collection. Gogol's The Inspector General, a mistaken-identity farce that skewers venality, pretentiousness, and other foibles, is for many the greatest gem of Russian drama. A later gem, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, brilliantly depicts the approaching dissolution of the world of the Russian aristocracy. Gorky's The Lower Depths presents a grimly realistic view of the wretched lives of down-and-outers on the eve of the Russian Revolution. Turgenev's A Month in the Country -- a precursor of Chekhov's plays, fifty years ahead of its time -- explores the painful absurdity of romantic love on a country estate filled with the light of a nineteenth-century summer. Among the most widely acclaimed masterpieces of Russian drama, these four plays are essential reading for courses in modern theater, but will be devoured, as well, by theatergoers and drama lovers.