He Who Gets Slapped is a play in four acts by Russian dramatist Leonid Andreyev; completed in August 1915 and first produced in that same year at the Moscow Art Theatre on October 27, 1915. Immensely popular with Russian audiences, the work received numerous stagings throughout the Russian speaking world in the two decades after its premiere, and then later enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the 1970s and 1980s in Russian theaters. The work is still part of the dramatic repertory in Russian speaking countries. While well-liked by the public, critical reaction to the work was initially negative in Russia. It was later reevaluated as a masterwork of Russian drama, and is regarded as Andreyev's finest achievement among his 25 plays.
Margalo Gillmore (Consuelo) & Richard Bennett (He) in the English-language adaptation of He Who Gets Slapped at the Garrick Theatre on Broadway
Photograph of Margalo Gillmore (Consuelo) and Louis Calvert (Baron Regnard) in the 1922 Broadway production
Richard Bennett as "He" (left) & Louis Calvert as Baron Regnart (right) in the 1922 Broadway production
Photograph of Margalo Gillmore, Frank Reicher and Richard Bennett in the 1922 Broadway production of He Who Gets Slapped
Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father of Expressionism in Russian literature. He is regarded as one of the most talented and prolific representatives of the Silver Age literary period. Andreyev's style combines the elements of realist, naturalist, and symbolist schools in literature. Of his 25 plays, his 1915 play He Who Gets Slapped is regarded as his finest achievement.
Autochrome self-portrait, published in 1912
Leonid Andreyev and his second wife, Anna
