Based on actual events, A Bright Swarm of Beetles follows the breathtaking career of the greatest writer of the Soviet Union: Mikhail Bulgakov. From his beginnings in the Red revolution as a nearly homeless opium addict, to the dizzying heights of literary stardom, to destitution again when his work is denounced and banned, to a final chance at redemption or collaboration with the sinister dictator, Joseph Stalin, Bulgakov must survive in a world fraught with madness, betrayal, and triumph. Narrated and directed by the Devil himself, this play is a wild, fast-paced journey through fifteen years of one of the darkest periods of modern history.