Lurana Donnels O’Malley 
Two Comedies by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia 
Oh, These Times! and The Siberian Shaman

Catherine the Great (1729-1796) wrote over two dozen plays and operettas, but not until this edition has a complete translation of any of them been available to an English- speaking readership.

Oh, These Times (1772) is a satirical attack on many vices Catherine wished to root out from her society: religious hypocrisy, superstition and slander. The main character, Mrs. Pious, is a superficially religious old woman who resembles Moliere»s Tartuffe.

Catherine again sets her sights on superstition in The Siberian Shaman (1786), this time by satirizing shamanism as a deceitful profession which preys on the gullible. This play was part of a group of three plays usually known as Catherine»s ‘anti-masonic’ trilogy, written as a warning against the growing influence of the freemasons.

In a comprehensive introduction, Lurana Donnels O»Malley relates the plays to Catherine»s status and philosophy.