Russian playwright Mihail Bulgakov’s 1929 work A Cabal of Hypocrites explores an artist’s struggles with governmental control and censorship through the semi-biographical story of the French comedist Molière. Molière has just produced the play Tartuffe, much to displeasure of Church officials, who conspire to discredit the author for what they deem as heretical thought. Bulgakov’s play itself was seen by the Stalin-led Soviet government as a dangerous criticism, and was similarly censored, banned after only seven performances.