Mention the

name Josef Stalin and all you will hear are epithets like “brutal dictator” or

“mass murderer” or “Communist reactionary.” And these are not untrue

descriptions. But they don’t tell the whole story. Every terrible person in

history was also just an ordinary person too. In The Red Poppy, we behold the man and not the monster. In these

seven scenes, we see the human side of the Soviet leader in a myriad of ways

never before portrayed. We see his humanity, his personal philosophy, his

anger, his sense of guilt and his endearing playfulness, all against the

backdrop of Mao tse-Tung’s impending visit to Moscow in 1949. The playwright

has done a masterful job of transforming Yuri Krotkov’s intimate knowledge of

Stalin into a fascinating, poignant, and at times hilarious collection of

vignettes that is as entertaining to read as it is to watch it on stage. The Red Poppy is truly a revelation.