Abstract: This study is devoted to the problems of perception of drama of the second half of the XIX century. Russian Theater of 1850–1870s traditionally considered the theater of A. N. Ostrovsky. The object of the research is the “tendentious drama” by N. A. Chayev, one of the potential rivals of the great playwright. The aim of the work is to confirm the hypothesis put forward that Chayev (as, incidentally, other “dramatists of the Ostrovsky era”) had his own view on the development of the artistic form of the genre and really competed with an outstanding playwright. In work methods of cultural-historical and structural-typological directions of literary criticism are applied. The methodological basis of the study consists of the works of E. G. Kholodov, L. M. Lotman, and A. I. Zhuravleva. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the liberal-accusatory dramaturgy of Chaev and Ostrovsky, on the basis of which a peculiar rivalry between two dramatists in the area of the “tendentious drama” style is revealed. N. Chaev is trying to offer a different from A. Ostrovsky, an improved artistic form of a “tendentious” play. The scientific novelty of the research is due to the fact that this issue is being raised in the domestic literary criticism for the first time. The author’s special contribution consists, firstly, in the appeal to the works of N. A. Chayev, which is little studied, and secondly, in the development and deepening of the problem “A. N. Ostrovsky and N. A. Chaev.