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He Who Gets Slapped: A Play in Four Acts
Paperback
ISBN13: 9781025709376
Publisher: Tradd Street Press
Published: Feb 14 2026
Pages: 232
Weight: 0.73
Height: 0.49 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
He Who Gets Slapped is a haunting and symbolic four-act play by the renowned Russian dramatist Leonid Andreyev. Set against the vibrant yet melancholic backdrop of a French circus, the play explores themes of identity, betrayal, and the cruelty of the human condition. The narrative follows a mysterious, high-born intellectual who, after being betrayed by his wife and a close friend, abandons his former life to become a circus clown. Adopting the stage name HE, he gains fame by performing an act where he is repeatedly slapped by his fellow performers, transforming his personal humiliation into a public spectacle.
As the story unfolds, HE finds himself caught in a complex web of unrequited love and professional jealousy among the diverse cast of circus characters, including the beautiful equestrienne Consuelo and the wealthy Baron. Andreyev's work is a masterpiece of psychological depth, blending elements of tragedy and satire to critique the masks society forces individuals to wear. This play remains a significant work of early 20th-century theater, offering a profound reflection on the loss of dignity and the search for truth in a world governed by shallow artifice.
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