Tretyakov, Sergei Mikhailovich

Tretyakov, Sergei Mikhailovich (1892–1939), Soviet poet and dramatist, who worked at the Proletkult (later the Trades Unions) theatre in 1923–4 with Sergei Eisenstein for whom he wrote two propaganda plays—Are You Listening, Moscow? and Gas Masks. His best-known play, Roar, China!, was produced at Meyerhold's theatre in 1926. Although melodramatic and written avowedly for propaganda purposes, it is a vivid historical document, presenting with intense conviction a conflict between Chinese coolies and British imperialists which had taken place only two years previously. It was seen in translation in New York in 1930, and also in England. During the 1930s, Tretyakov, whose later plays are negligible, was the first to champion Brecht in the Soviet Union and translated several of his plays.