Chatsky & Miser! Miser! Two Plays by Anthony Burgess

In Two Plays, we see Anthony Burgess, author of the seminal novel A Clockwork Orange, tackling major monuments of French and Russian theatre.


The complete texts of both plays are published here for the first time, in a special edition with facsimile pages of the author's original handwritten manuscripts.


Miser, Miser! is a bold reworking of Moliere's classic comedy of 1668. This translation, discovered in the author's archive, is the work of a writer working at the height of his powers. It is an attempt to reinvent Moliere for modern audiences.


Chatsky, subtitled 'The Importance of Being Stupid' is another verse comedy. First performed in 1833, Griboyedov's play was so heavily cut by Russian censors that it was barely recognisable. In Chatsky, Burgess remakes a classic Russian play in the spirit of Oscar Wilde.