Gorky Plays: 2: The Zykovs; Egor Bulychov; Vassa Zheleznova (The Mother); The Last Ones (World Classics)

Hailed by Chekhov as the voice of his time, Gorky's four plays offer a panoramic view of Russia in the throes of revolution.

The Zykovs is set shortly before the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917. Antipa Zykov is a merchant adventurer. His young wife, Pavla is an unworldly convent-bred girl, too weak to realise these ideals in her stormy marriage.

Egor Bulychov is set on the eve of revolution as the rich businessman of the title is given power, after the Tsar's abdication. But the songs of the demonstrating crowds outside his window show that his days are numbered.

Subtitled 'The Mother' and hugely controversial at the time of its first production Vassa Zheleznova, is a tragic portrait of a woman with an iron will determined to root out the corruption in her family in order to keep control of the family business.

Written during his most religious phase, The Last Ones is about a corrupt police chief and his family who face death at the hands of revolutionaries as he tries to fight back by lynching a young man.