The Cabal of Hyppocrites (Russian: Кабала святош, romanized: Kabala svyatosh) is a four-act play by Mikhail Bulgakov also known as Molière. Written in 1929 for the Moscow Art Theatre, it was read by Bulgakov for Stanislavski and his team at the 19 January 1930 meeting. The play, accepted by the theatre for production, was promptly banned by the state Repertoire Committee (Glavrepertkom). A year and a half later, after personal interference by Maxim Gorky, the ban was lifted. In March 1932 the rehearsals started, under the guidance of the director Nikolai Gorchakov. They lasted for four years and became the major cause for the rift between Bulgakov and Stanislavski who in 1935 decided he did not want to do anything with the play and asked Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko to deal with it from t