Ever wonder what goes on in the mind of a playwright?
Our Author Insights series features personal essays from playwrights, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the ideas and experiences that shaped their work.
Below, read “Something in the Air: Writing The Nose”, where writer and musician Kit Goldstein Grant reflects on The Nose. You can also download a free PDF that pairs the essay with short, classroom-ready activities for students.
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Something in the Air: Writing The Nose
Kit Goldstein Grant
When I was a kid, my family went to see The Inspector General, the play by Nikolai Gogol, and we were obsessed. My mom even got each kid their own copy of the script, so we could read it and act it out. It was so funny!
As I got older, I read more and more works by Gogol, and expanded into all sorts of Russian and Ukrainian literature. One story I particularly loved was “The Nose.” It was totally ridiculous, and so much fun, intermingled with biting satire, and even some meta humor, calling itself out on how ridiculous and improbable the story was.
When I was looking for ideas for a musical, the story came back to me, and I reread it. I could see how it would work as a family musical, with fun absurdity, satire, and an implicit moral – it had something for all ages. And best of all, I’d have a ball working on it.
The musical version I created is an adaptation with changes, added characters, and plot inventions to create a new, unique take on the original. One big alteration from the Gogol is the addition of the new character, Matryoshka, and the amplification of Kovalyov’s character flaws. These changes help to underline the underlying message of the story.
As a writer, it’s always compelling to start a story with a flawed protagonist who needs to learn a lesson. Kovalyov is so obsessed with status and proving himself that he allows himself to be pushed into bullying his truest friend, Matroyshka, mocking her disfigurement. And – mysteriously! – circumstances occur which cause him to become disfigured next. Eventually he learns the error of his ways, as he finds himself on the receiving end of the mockery. In the end, he must stand up to the bullying Chief of Police in order to set matters right.
It all sound very didactic when I write it out this way – it’s more fun in the show, trust me. There is a giant nose running around Petersburg, a clerk who can’t stop eating salted cucumbers, and a doctor who prescribes nothing but his favorite remedy: turpentine, lard, and soap. There’s a 110-year-old lady being courted in French by a nose disguised as a state councilor, but also a deeper meaning about treating others the way we ourselves would like to be treated underlying the absurdities along the way. My goal is never to be too “on the nose” – even when writing a show which is literally “on the nose.”
Because, in the end, for a nose to be little, and then big, and to disguise itself as a state councilor… none of it makes any sense! It’s absurd! But… the strangest things are happening every day!