The subject of the research in the article is the analysis of A. D. Simukov's comedy "Over the Oka River" in 1959 for the connection with the work of A. N. Ostrovsky, in particular, with his plays "The Storm" and "Talents and Admirers". The materials of the study were the draft and final version of the play by the Soviet playwright as well as the reviews of the production. In the course of the study, such features of the genre of plays-paintings used by A. D. Simukov are highlighted, such as a vivid description of everyday details and the playwright's attention to all the characters of the play. A brief historical and literary digression of the role of the "theatrical" theme in the drama of the XIX century is given. The main themes and ideas of these works are highlighted in order to compare them with the plays of the XX century. The attitude to the work of A. N. Ostrovsky in the XX century is revealed. Cultural-historical and comparative-historical methods, as well as the method of literary hermeneutics, were used in the research. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the lack of the research of the work of A. D. Simukov, whose plays were popular in the middle of the XX century, and the addition of knowledge about the perception and interpretation of the work of A. N. Ostrovsky in the XX century. The article concludes that the plot of the Soviet play is antithetical to the context of the original source of the selected quotations. A parallel is drawn with the plot of "Talents and Admires" through the image of Katya, a young actress dreaming of fame. The example of her fate shows the difference between the social conditions of the XIX and XX centuries. The reception of a play is evaluated as a game in a game. It is concluded that A. D. Simukov in "The Storm" highlighted the idea of thirst for life and beauty, the need to awaken the human soul and expressed it in his play through the characters' contact with the world of art. Author compares the draft and the final versions of the play, as well as the work on the images of the main and secondary characters. It is concluded that the literary reception of A. N. Ostrovsky's work is expressed in many ways in the plot, as well as in figurative, ideological, textual and thematic aspects of the work.