The play “Waiting for Lefty” by Clifford Odets: censorship and self-censorship of texts in the USA and the USSR

Abstract

The author examines the history of the occurrence of three different authorized print editions of the play “Waiting for Lefty”, written by one of the most significant American dramatists, Clifford Odets. The reasons for the author’s censorship of texts are considered here; they are related to stage versions of the play both on Broadway in the legendary Group Theatre and off-Broadway. Also, the discrepancies and abridgments of Soviet texts and their translations are discussed. This analysis of the print editions of Odets’s play in the USA and the USSR illustrated in this paper is aimed at expanding the views of his dramatic works; its goal is also to consider, through an example, one mechanism of censorship in the USSR in regards to foreign plays.Keywords: Clifford Odets, US dramaturgy, American theatre, censorship, USSR, play “Waiting for Lefty”. Refs 46. Figs 7.