©  Alyona Besser

This was the last directorial job by Pyotr Fomenko. Mikhail Bulgakov wrote his novel «A Dead Man’s Memoir» about love. It was the love for theater, mixed in with tenderness and hatred. There is a large dose of self-irony in the theater’s rendition of the sad story of writer Maksudov’s misfortunes in the complex backstage world. The world of theater has its own logic and its own truth, and everything happens in accordance with some other laws. This mysteriousness first charms the uninitiated, but very soon brings them to despair. But despite all the hardships, Maksudov is convinced that this is his world.

How else can one call it but a confession of love for the theater? This is the love, which is impervious to even the bitterest knowledge of this pleasure’s seamy underside. The Fomenko Theater’s performance is also a confession of love for the theater, equal in its measure to Bulgakov’s. This play is both very funny and desperate. The nature of this desperation lies in the feelings of love and hate, and in the fact that backstage every one is just a regular person, with all sorts of vices, while on stage they are great actors.

Marina Timasheva, Radio Freedom

Nobody is better at reading the prose than Pyotr Fomenko, who is capable of turning it into theater with seeming ease. Very few people possess the same freedom in laughter as Pyotr Fomenko. Which is why the final sentence of the play sounds so sharp and hangs above the audience with such a long echo: “… there is no such theater, never have been and never will be.”

Marina Tokareva, Novaya Gazeta

Opening night: April 10, 2012

Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes with one intermission

Upcoming Performances:

Ticket price range: 500—10000 rub.