The Master and Margarita [Paperback]

A mysterious stranger appears in a Moscow park. Soon he and his retinue have astonished the locals with the magic show to end all magic shows. But why are they really here, and what has it got to do with the beautiful Margarita, or her lover, the Master, a silenced writer? A carnival for the senses and a diabolical extravaganza, this most exuberant of Russian novels was staged in this adaptation at Chichester Festival Theatre.Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) qualified as a doctor but became a professional writer in 1919. He was asked by the Moscow Arts Theatre to turn his novel, The White Guard, into a play. At first delighted, he was subsequently horrified by the cuts and alterations demanded by the company and the censor. Nevertheless he went on to write many more plays, becoming arguably the most important Soviet playwright of the period.

Outstanding adaptation...breathtaking in its ambition and originality... the literary range is extraordinary Daily Telegraph

Edward Kemp's astute adaptation makes all the right adjustments... the work's mighty imaginative compass and its roller-coastershifts of tone. The Independent

An extraordinary mixture of Faustian romance, anti-Stalinist satire and religious enquiry. The Guardian