©  Alyona Besser

Full of exquisite lyricism and Jewish humour, both sad and cheerful, this is a story of a father and a son, of loneliness and guilt, of long-standing questions with no answers. The time collapses into a tightly-wound coil — the protagonists can cut the vegetables while the tango plays, or tell their whole lifestory while the soup boils on the stove.

The theater has found its new playright in the person of Israeli writer Meir Shalev. Speaking of the novel, which gave birth to the stage play, a critic once said: “… It tells us that death doesn’t overcome love, and love doesn’t overcome death, but instead they stand there, staring each other down, while we go on living, too busy to take notice.” The novel, known as “The Loves of Judith“ or „The Four Meals”, has a great number of characters, whose fates become entwined. The theater chose just one of the book’s storylines and presented it as “four meals.” The handbill reminds the audience that a meal is not some on-the-go snack, but a real dinner accompanied by philosophical conversation. “Come in, come in”, directed by Yuri Butorin is four invitations to the conversation wrapped in one.

Maria Sedykh, Itogi

Opening night: July 15, 2012

Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes without intermission