©  Sergey Petrov

The performance remained in the theater’s repertoire with a new cast of performers (from September 2023)

Once upon a time, this stage production became the theater’s “claim to fame", and today, 25 years later, it is still a part of the program. This production allows the audience to see the classical play from a completely different angle. There’s light play and light sadness, and the poetry of the by-gone world of the Russian estates, Chekhov’s Impressionism, and lots of humour. The play’s story — speculation with bills of credit — is presented in a sharp and even grotesque manner. The director doesn’t stress contemporary connotations, the audience feels them anyway. The production was performed in Poland (Toruń, 1993), Austria (Salzburg, 1993), Lithuania (Vilnius, 1994), Germany (Berlin, 1995), France (Paris, 1999), and was a part of the Avignon Theater Festival in July of 1997. Its awards include the Grand Prix at Contact-93 international festival in Poland and Best Actor prize for Yuri Stepanov (for the role of Lynyaev), and Stanislavsky Prize for actor Andrei Kazakov (for the role of Pavlin Savelyich). <!-->This performance carefully employs a classical text by Alexander Ostrovsky but, at the same time, it brings out new features in the play. It plays with lighting, open space, facile sadness, humor, and the poetic world of the old, long-gone concept of the Russian estate. The plot of the play – frauds on the loose – is shown obviously, almost grotesquely. Contemporary allusions need not be pointed out — they are evident. Award-winning performers in this production include Yury Stepanov, Best Actor, at the Kontakt International Theatre Festival (1993) in Poland, and Andrei Kazakov, Best Supporting Actor, at the Stanislavsky Season festival. It was a participant at the Avignon Festival (1997).<-->

So this what theater is really like? — because we seem to have forgotten it, like we forget everything, even the faces of our loved ones […] Everything seems like an improvisation, everything is thrown together, like a light sketch, a sand castle, a dream […] Farewell to convention! Farewell to the old productions, samovars, mouldy frocks and false beards, let the false rags and pretences rot away! Dirt-cheap tablecloths, two throw blankets, and two candle sticks are enough to bring all the vestiges and corners of the whole world to life. We leave the theater auditorium dazzled and pensive, the beautiful images turn our heads. And for a long time we remember this gracious nonchalance, the essense of Fomenko’s art, which seems so much like the suddenness of love. It’s as if you inhale the forgotten but beloved smell, which you missed so much.

Frédéric Ferney, Figaro

Opening night: May 22, 1992

Running time: 3 hours with one intermission