The Old Man is a character in Maxim Gorky’s eponymous play. It was published in 1915 after Gorky had written a number of articles about “Karamazovshchina”. In them, Gorky condemned people who felt justified in their unworthy and cruel deeds simply because they craved righteous revenge. In the preface to the American edition of “The Old Man”, he wrote,

The role of the Old Man in the production at the Kazan Academic Russian Bolshoi Drama Theater named after Vasily Kachalov was played by Nikolay Yakushenko. This role became the pinnacle of his career. In the 1960s, Yakushenko donated his costume to the museum’s collection. The actor perfectly embodied the character as envisioned by Gorky, who endowed the Old Man with a grim past and his “evil, sullen face.”

The first productions of Gorky’s plays in Kazan were staged by the impresario Nikolay Sobolshchikov-Samarin at the beginning of the 20th century. “The Philistines” and “The Lower Depths” enjoyed great popularity in the city, and this success made Gorky’s plays much sought after. The play “The Old Man” staged by the Azerbaijani theater director Anver Behbudov resonated the most among other productions of the 1950s. Yakushenko’s portrayal of the character became a vivid embodiment of the philosophy of hypocrisy and double standards.