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Gaft Is Coolly Powerful as Stalin

The Sovremennik Theater unveils its second play about Stalin in the last few seasons, with one of Russia's most beloved actors, Valentin Gaft, in the starring...

British Connection

Russian and British theater have enjoyed a rich, if curious, symbiosis for some time. After all, Anton Chekhov is almost regarded as a native English soul...

Touching Italian Comedy 'The Thief' Revived

Haplessness and good heart, the endless to find meaning in life and get rich quick — all of these elements are present in De Filippo's "De Pretore...

Dreamy Show That Is Theater With a Capital T

Director Dmitry Krymov has his design students create a production full of stunning images in

his new show.

Inter-Pollination in the Russian Avant-Garde

There is something about the Russian arts of the first three decades of the 20th century that will not let us go.

Platonov's 'The River Potudan' Brought to Life

There is much to be said about a theater finding the place it belongs, as well as a space being put into the hands of someone who knows what to do with...

One Small Victory in the War on Cell Phones

The battle with cell phones in Moscow theaters has taken on an interesting new twist.

Remembering a Beloved Patron of Moscow Theater

It is next to impossible to imagine Moscow as we know it without Margarita Eskina.

The Sound of 'Glamur' Dying

Have you ever wondered what the sound of “glamur” dying is like? Listen closely.

Pryazhko Challenges Mainstream With 'Life'

Superb, ironic performances by the main quartet of actors help turn a script 'reading' into an actual performance.

Boogie-Woogie and Russian Theater

I took in a cool concert at Moscow’s House of Composers last week — a show featuring the boogie-woogie piano duet of Bob Baldori and Martin...

Fomenko Studio Dares to Bring 'Ulysses' to Life

If people are rewarded for demonstrating hubris — and they should be ?€” then my head is bowed to Yevgeny Kamenkovich.

Front Row Center? Give Me an Aisle Seat!

Have you ever spent as much time thinking about where, on what and between whom you are going to sit in a theater as you (expats) do when you go online...

Golden Mask Festival Is 15

At the age of 15, the Golden Mask festival is showing impressive signs of maturation.

Theater on a Farm

I found myself wondering this week what I was doing on a farm in the middle of Western Massachusetts.

Thoughts Prompted by the Golden Mask Festival: On Leo Tolstoy

I am filled with thoughts of Tolstoy thanks to the Golden Mask Festival, the Bolshoi Puppet Theater of St. Petersburg, and their production of “Kholstomer:...

Low Budget 'Exhibits' Misses Something in Cut

Is any theater in Moscow busier than Teatr.doc and the Playwright and Director Center these days?

Thoughts Prompted by the Golden Mask Festival: Chekhov or Not Chekhov?

Apparently, Anatoly Praudin’s production of Anton Chekhov’s "The Lady With the Lapdog" for the Bolshoi Drama Theater of St. Petersburg...

Thoughts Prompted by the Golden Mask Festival: English Drama in Russia

There is no lack of irony in Russia, but it is a completely different animal than that which shapes the British sense of humor.

Kids' Tales Attract Crowds, Criticism

Everybody knows that the future belongs to the children. If we want to glean some idea of what the future might be like, we take a look at the young people...

Thoughts Prompted by the Golden Mask Festival: Acclaimed Director Accused of Pornography

Yevgeny Marcelli is one of Russia’s most distinctive directors, as well as a modest, soft-spoken man prone to smiling when engaged in conversation...

New Drama Festival Dies

The Festival, originally a complement to and off-shoot of the Golden Mask, has ceased to exist after a seven-year run, marking the end of an era.

...

An American in Moscow

Philip Arnoult, a former actor, director and producer and founder of the Theatre Project in Baltimore, has traveled the world for over two decades helping...

Dodin Plays It Light With 'Love's Labours Lost'

The Maly Drama Theater takes a romp through Shakespeare's comedy of love in the Golden Mask Festival.

Olga Mukhina on Anton Chekhov

“Chekhov wrote in an impossible style. You can’t write that way. But by doing so, he gave us the right to write in impossible ways, too...

Early Risers, St. Pete Take Golden Mask Awards

It was a day that began with rain in the morning, moved on to bright sunlight in the early afternoon and ended with a few lonely snowflakes falling as...

The Golden Mask's Curtain Call

Awards in the arts must be one of the strangest creations on earth.

Playwright Olga Mikhailova Turns Critic

In addition to being a playwright who is one of the inspirations of the influential Teatr.doc and a screenwriter whose scripts have had particular success...

Over-the-Top 'Producers' Brings In the Laughs

Will wonders never cease? Anyone who has followed this newspaper’s arts pages even fleetingly will know that its theater critic is afflicted with...

Bulat Okudzhava's 85th Anniversary

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Bulat Okudzhava, who would have turned 85 this coming Saturday (May 9) were it not for his sudden death after...

Unexpected 'Kapnist Round Trip' Is Pure Levitin

Levitin's Hermitage Theater makes this 18th-century satire their own.

Festival of Student Productions 'Your Chance' Hits Moscow

For the fifth time in as many years, the Theater Center Na Strastnom will host one of Moscow’s most unusual and fastest growing theater events: the...

Lee Breuer in Moscow: 'The Gospel,' the Beats and the Blues

Lee Breuer, the brains and brawn behind Mabou Mines, one of the finest and most innovative theater organizations in the United States, has connections...

Levinsky's New Take on 'Krechinsky's Wedding'

Director Alexei Levinsky shows a new side to Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin's dark and disturbing comedy.

Backstage Battles

Acclaimed Moscow theater director Anatoly Vasilyev has become embroiled in a dispute with the city government.

Unhappy Birthday Party

One of Moscow's leading theaters, the School of Dramatic Art, marks its 20th anniversary with its founder, Anatoly Vasilyev, in self-imposed exile.

Strength to Strength

The renowned School of Dramatic Art has continued to thrive since the removal of its managing artistic director in 2006.

Anatoly Vasilyev?€™s School of Dramatic Art (Now Destroyed)

Ever since it became clear that Vasilyev would never again have control over the theater he created, I have wondered how I would feel setting foot in it...

Dorst's Tale of Marriage Fails to Come to Life

The German playwright Tankred Dorst is one of the “international” names of theater, a writer whose work is frequently translated into and produced...

Moscow Bids Farewell to Oleg Yankovsky

Oleg Yankovsky died at the age of 65 on Wednesday, May 20, in the wee hours of the morning. On Friday it seemed that half of Moscow’s residents left...

Francophone Slant to Chekhov Theater Festival

If it works once, it’s worth repeating. That is a motto that might describe the 8th Chekhov International Theater Festival in Moscow — although...

A Critic?€™s Dubious Premiere in a Moscow Theater

My job in “The Epic of Lilikan” was to perform as badly as I possibly could, a task for which I have no limitations.

A New York Actress in Moscow

While in Moscow on a recent visit, OBIE award-winning actress and playwright Heidi Schreck found time to check out a number of shows. I cornered her in...

Marchuk Shines in Unworldy Tale of Young Girl

Viktoria Zvyagina?€™s play shows a woman grow from a fetus to sexual maturity in 90 minutes.

Notes of Latino Los Angeles at the Usadba Jazz Fest

Los Angeles-based Latino group Kimera performed at the popular summer music festival outside Moscow on Sunday, following a tour of Russia embarked on by...

Chat-Show Host Shines in Story of 'The House'

Everybody knows that a house is not a home. But what happens when a man gets it into his head that a house he has seen is just the place where he wants...

The Plain, Hard Truth About Klim

Pardon me if you have heard me tell this one about the director Alexei Yankovsky. But Yankovsky himself loves to repeat the story. In fact, he did it again...

Dancing Tale of Every Man and Every Woman

Alla Sigalova mixes dance and drama in ‘Poor Liza,’ a love story that sees two performers shine with their acting and dancing skills.

In Search of Russian Theater

A duo of British theater makers came to town last week in search of material for a new project. David Farr, associate director at the Royal Shakespeare...

Chaplin Family Channel Charlie in Circus Acts

One of Europe’s most famous theatrical dynasties is in Moscow as part of the Chekhov International Theater Festival.

'Russia and U.S. Are Like Romeo and Juliet'

The man many people believe to be Los Angeles' best theater critic, Steven Leigh Morris, shares his thoughts on Russia and Russian theater. FEATURES VIDEO...

'God' Illustrates Banal Carnage of Middle Class

French playwright Yasmina Reza’s study of two couples and their bourgeois concerns comes to the Sovremennik Theater.

'Welding and Fusing' American and Russian Culture

As a former mathematician who now runs her own theater in Los Angeles, Olga Petrakova clearly is not cookie-cutter material. FEATURES VIDEO

A Personal Remembrance of Vasily Aksyonov

I have a personal connection to Vasily Pavlovich, who entered my life after he had already become the world-famous author of several of the most important...

British Director Reflects on the Russian Greats

The eminent Peter Brook took the stage at a theater festival in Poland to expound on his influences and predecessors.

Welcome to the Magical World of Cirque?€™s ?€?Secret?€™

If you think you?€™ve been to the circus, think twice. Le Guillerm will introduce you to the most unusual circus show you?€™ve ever seen.

Discovering Russian Art in Paris, Part One

Of all the inanimate objects that have entered my life unexpectedly, a find obtained on the quai de Gesvres one fall day in 1986 is probably the nearest...

The Moscow Times Theater Awards Go to ?€¦

Yogi Berra, one of the all-time great baseball players and an eminent American folk figure, once said it better than anyone else ever has: “It ain&rsquo...

Discovering Russian Art in Paris, Part Two

The Zhar-Ptitsa periodical was of extraordinary quality, something that is especially obvious in our age of fast and forgettable journalism.

How Kama Ginkas Changed a Photographer's Life

After beginning his career shooting patterns created by rust, British theater photographer Ken Reynolds met director Kama Ginkas, a figure who became...

100,000 Photos and 23 Chekhov Shows

A small numbers game provides a lot of insight into the scope of the portfolio Ken Reynolds has accumulated since turning his lens toward theater stages...

Tracking Lev Dodin Across Europe

Of all the Russian directors whose productions Ken Reynolds has captured on film, Dodin is second only to Kama Ginkas. FEATURES VIDEO

Loading Chekhov Up to Hit You in Solar Plexus

Little by little, Sergei Zhenovach has put together a classic collection of writers in the repertoire at his Studio of Theater Art.

Carrying the Russian Aesthetic, From Lithuania to Georgia

Eimuntas Nekrosius and Robert Sturua are arguably the greatest directors to emerge from their homelands in many decades — Nekrosius from Lithuania...

Lyubimov Still Fit to Tell ?€?Tales?€™ at 92

As exemplified by his recent staging of ?€?Tales,?€? a compilation of stories by Wilde, Dickens and Hans Christian Andersen, Yury Lyubimov still brings...

Ken Reynolds on Shooting the Satirikon

The Satirikon is not merely one of the best theaters in Moscow — it is a photographer’s dream.

Top Talent is on Show in New Theater Season

In addition to the homegrown talent, such as as Pyotr Fomenko and Kama Ginkas, international all-stars such as English writer Tom Stoppard are also preparing...

Russian Playwrights Leap From Stage to Screen

These aren’t just cases of talented writers getting a chance to see their names on screen — we are talking about important writers potentially...

Vakhtangov Serves Up a New Take on Chekhov

Chekhov is the 900-pound gorilla in any room where people are talking about Russian drama.

Unforgettable Theater

Theater is arguably the most perishable art form; no two nights are ever the same. So what is left, then, when a show is gone?

?€?Mona?€™ is Star Without a Name in Ginzburg Show

Director Yevgeny Ginzburg stages a revival of Mihail Sebastian's play about a glamorous woman who turns up mysteriously in a sleepy town.

Russian Theater in Picture Postcards

Our theater critic gives us an in-depth look at some rare Russian theater postcards, all of them fascinating glimpses into the past.

Zakharov Launches Hyperactive ?€?Cherry Orchard?€™

'The Cherry Orchard' at the Lenkom Theater display Mark Zakharov?€™s occasionally underappreciated talent ?€” his ability to make big theater with...

Eda Urusova Teaches a Critic Some Lessons

Urusova was one of those people whose individual lives somehow embraced the entire history of a nation; an imposing, yet warm and gracious woman, a descendant...

Mukhina Makes Rare Return to Moscow Stage

?€?The Love of Karlovna,?€™ written by Olga Mukhina when she was just 21, is on at the Drugoi Theater.

How New Russian Drama Came to Slovakia

Romana Maliti is well-known in Europe as one of the most important figures in the Slovakian theater world, but her affair with Russian drama had precious...

Surprise Ending Sets ?€?Poplars and Wind?€™ Apart

?€?Poplars and Wind?€? at the Satirikon Theater is entertaining in measure, especially if you are easily amused by cute portrayals of curmudgeonly...

Polish Theater Festival Highlights the Past and Present

While directors like Ivo van Hove surprise and challenge us with works that, to quote Moscow critic Yelena Kovalskaya, come to us from the 22nd century...

Nabokov?€™s ?€?Invitation to a Beheading?€™ on Stage

Pavel Safronov directs the play about a condemned man in his cell waiting for news of when his execution will take place.

Did Bob Dylan Shed Tears of Rage in Russia?

“What do Russia, Bob Dylan and Christmas have in common?” One of the projected answers was this: “Dylan’s ancestors immigrated...

?€?Death of a Giraffe?€™ Is Modest, Enjoyable Triumph

The death of a patriarch, in this case a giraffe, provides the chance for an intriguing series of scenes in Dmitry Krymov?€™s production.

Maksym Kurochkin Cooks Up Great Drama

“Kitchen,” a weird, wild and wonderful force of nature that was commissioned by Oleg Menshikov — Russia’s one and only true matinee...

Raw and Rude ?€?Medea?€™ Confronts, Tells Truth

The notion of someone ?€?liking?€? or ?€?enjoying?€? Kama Ginkas?€™ new play seems absurd, because the truths that it tackles are true, regardless...

Lee Breuer 'Comes Home' to Moscow with 'Dollhouse'

Lee Breuer's "Mabou Mines Dollhouse” is an often bracing, often hilarious and always eclectic and hectic show that turns Henrik Ibsen&rsquo...

Devastating ?€?Meek One?€™ Dissects Marriage Life

Irina Keruchenko's adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story about the psychological battles arising between two humans seeking to put the planets...

Turning Our Backs on Anton Chekhov

In his new production of "The Seagull," Kristian Smeds did what any self-respecting contemporary visionary would do when confronted with a work groaning...

Young Talent?€™s Dream Comes True at Premiere

Georg Genoux?€™s production is about as bare-bones as they come. And that suits the play to a T.

Kristin Marting From HERE to Moscow

Director and producer Kristin Marting has found the time to travel to Moscow several times in her life, and it has intrigued her enough to keep coming...

Tongue-in-Cheek Tricks Abound in Theater Tales

The message in ?€?Exercises in the Beautiful?€? occasionally gets lost in all the tomfoolery, but it is devised and acted with healthy and equal parts...

The Noise of Time

Stihophone.ru, or the Virtual Theater of Poetry, offers mp3 recordings of poets reading themselves and actors reading poets. The selection is relatively...

The Secrets of a Director Unfold in ?€?Counselor?€™

Based on a Chekhov novella, Mikhail Levitin?€™s production follows a man disappointed in all of life around him.

Olga Mukhina's 'Tanya-Tanya' Leads Russian Drama Season in United States

Towson University in Towson, Maryland, is currently hosting an entire season of Russian drama in English ?€” ten plays by six authors presented in...

Rare Tsvetayeva Production Struggles to Succeed

Marina Tsvetayeva?€™s rough, chunky verse often contrasted with the more flowing poetry of Russia?€™s other great woman poet Anna Akhmatova.

Yury Klavdiyev, an 'Atom-Smashing' Playwright

Yury Klavdiyev’s mix of violence and tenderness, vulgarity and poetry, is now clearly beginning to make a mark in English, and his plays are not...

Rare Play That Looks at Past Meeting the Present

Nina Belenitskaya?€™s ?€?Pavlik Is My God?€™ looks at filial relations through the myth of Pavlik Morozov, a youth who is said to have turned...

Yegor Gaidar, New and Old Vocabularies and the Revival of Russian Theater

It surely would be a gross exaggeration to draw a direct line from Yegor Gaidar to the renewal of Russian theater. But by the time Gaidar began moving...

Raucous Gogol Evening Tells Tales of Slavic Town

Petro and Pidorka are a pair of lovers who come together on the eve of the solstice in a production based on Gogol?€™s famous story cycle, ?€?Evenings...

Stories Lurk Behind a Forgotten Photo of Vsevolod Meyerhold

There’s something intriguing about group portraits. The visages of famous people peer out at us from a sea of unfamiliar faces, reminding us that...

Barkhatov Reinvents Schiller in Bold Production

Vladimir Motashnev plays the older brother in Friedrich Schiller?€™s tale of greed, revenge, murder and sibling rivalry.

The Perfect Fit of the Russian New Year and Eldar Ryazanov

You would be forgiven for believing that Eldar Ryazanov is the sole embodiment of the Russian New Year. His 1975 comedy “The Irony of Fate&rdquo...

Russian Theater for American Students

Travelling to Russia as a student is something of a rite of passage for a good many young people from all over the globe, and right now there is a group...

Fomenko Fascinates With New Stage Opening

Madlen Dzhabrailova is fetching as the good-natured Laura in "Triptych," Pyotr Fomenko?€™s latest production, which next plays on Sunday.

My Chekhov

Anton Chekhov belongs to the world. In Russia he is Russian. In England he is English. In the United States he is American. Here I am, an English-language...

?€?Chekhov Days?€™ Fest For 150th Birthday

A six-day festival dedicated to Anton Chekhov begins in Moscow on Thursday.

Theater, Radio and the Internet

Thanks to my colleague Pavel Podkladov at Podmoskovye Radio, I recently learned about a web site that combines the media of radio-theater and internet...

Inventive ?€?Romeo and Juliet?€™ Vexes, Impresses

Vladimir Pankov puts on a multilingual, sparkling production of the Shakespeare classic.

Remembering the Great Vsevolod Yakut

Vsevolod Yakut was one of the Soviet Union’s great actors from the 1940s to the 1980s, performing more than 150 roles on stage and screen. An actor's...

'Masquerade' Returns 10 Years On, Remains Fresh

Rimas Tuminas's production of "The Masquerade" is a visually inspiring, sad and humorous interpretation of Mikhail Lermontov's take on the Othello myth...

Art Meets Life in A New Moscow Production

Mindaugas Karbauskis’ production of “A Stalemate Lasts But a Moment,” which opened last week at the National Youth Theater, affected...

Konchalovsky?€™s ?€?Uncle Vanya?€™ Mixes Theater, Film

The performance of the Anton Chekov classic is a strange and affecting stew of styles capable of cranking up the humor even as it appeals to our sense...

Snow No Match for Moscow Theater Audiences

As Moscow was gripped by a record-breaking snowfall during a long holiday weekend, our theater critic made a surprising discovery when he headed to the...

Godot and Dostoevsky Meet, Trapped in a Cell

In ?€?[bokh],?€? directed by Oleg Gerasimov, everyone is inside a jail cell, including the audience. The design actually becomes a character in the...

Doing the Henry Miller in Moscow

If you read the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, Rolling Stone or almost any other major American news publication, chances are you are reading...

Two-Tsars Show Exposes Russian Power Games

?€?The Kingdom of the Father and the Son?€? is a historical portrayal of Russian power games in action.

An Englishman From France Who Writes about Russia

Bernard Besserglik's experience as a reporter in Moscow for 3 years illuminated many a corner of the city's arts scene and helped influence his wacky musical...

Revival of 1920s Satirical Writer Lacks Punch

Nikolai Erdman was one of the most important playwrights and screenwriters of the 1920s, helping Soviet theater and cinema get on their feet.

'Playing Dead' in Baltimore

An encounter with one of the most iconic Russian plays of the last decade, brought something new into the life of writer-director Juanita Rockwell: Never...

Moscow Shines in Golden Mask Nominations

The annual Golden Mask theater festival gets underway, with the capital more than pulling its weight in terms of nominees.

Russian Drama in Middle America

Ahead of a production in Ann Arbor, MI, of Maxim Kurochkin's legendary "Kitchen," our theater critic sat down with the play's American director Katherine...

When a Jewish Ghetto Is a Chess Match?€™s Stake

The horror of Hitler's reign is evident in Mindaugas Karbauskis?€™ dramatization of a novel by Icchokas Meras, who as a boy miraculously survived the...

Russian Theater in Picture Postcards ?€” Part Two

John Freedman brings us another fascinating glimpse of Russian theater from the early 20th century seen through his personal collection of vintage postcards...

Earnest, Eccentric ?€?Ksenia?€™ Ponders Cost of Piety

If you missed ?€?Ksenia?€? at the Moscow Art Theater in early March, it continues in repertory at the Alexandrinsky Theater, just a quick train ride...

Selling Theater ?€” Down the River?

A new breed of theater ads are appealing to those who prefer the easy-to-swallow pill that is television; It is as if they are suggesting, ?€?If you...

Corporate Chic Becomes Drama of Slick Surprises

Be prepared to change your mind repeatedly about what ?€” and whom ?€” you are watching throughout the course "The Gronholm Method," a gripping...

What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?

If you are an American performer, writer or creator and you have visited Russia on any kind of official exchange (and vice versa if you are Russian), chances...

Nominee Tells True Stories From Soviet History

About a dozen elderly Russians tell their harrowing stories in "I Think About You," a real-life show and tell.

?€?Producers?€™ Takes Four at Golden Mask Awards

Thirty-six awards go to the best of Russian theater at the Golden Mask theater award ceremony at  Gostiny Dvor.

Stray Thoughts on the 2010 Golden Mask Festival

Our theater critic, who got up close and personal with the annual festival, gives his impressions and congratulations in this Golden Mask summary.

The Deep Influence of Russian Theater

Tony Award winner Robert Falls, one of the finest and most successful theater directors in the United States, talks about his connection with Russian drama...

?€?Woe From Wit?€™ Loses Bite in Musical Adaptation

With character changes and a contemporary touch, this version of ?€?Woe From Wit?€? is downgraded from a biting play into a soft piece of entertainment...

Aktovy Zal: A Diamond in the Rough

Chances are if someone took a vote to determine what the coolest, hippest cultural corner in Moscow is, it would be a place called Aktovy Zal.

Russian Army Theater Revives Wartime Classic

Viktor Rozov scripted his play ?€?Alive Forever?€? as the film ?€?The Cranes Are Flying.?€? Like the beloved movie, the play is a touching drama...

Keeping Track of Russian and East European Performance

John Freedman sits down with the editor of a small journal published at the City University of New York that has closely followed the development of theater...

Lyubimov Premieres Poetic, Colorful New Play

In a little-known fact, Italian screenwriter Tonino Guerra is an honorary Russian through his marriage and work. Now the Taganka Theater has unveiled ...

Theory Meets Practice at Towson University

When two Russian playwrights saw their creations realized and appreciated by American theater students at a conference in Baltimore, it was a moment of...

Chekhov Fest Goes Chekhovian for Anniversary

For the next few months, the Chekhov International Theater Festival will bring talent ?€“ and beauty ?€“ to the city's theater scene.

Repertoire, Innovation Found at Saratov Theater

Founded in 1908, Saratov Theater Yunogo Zritelya is the oldest professional children?€™s theater in the world. It also is a powerhouse of productions...

Chekhov?€™s ?€?Ivanov?€™ Not Suicidal in New Version

Yury Butusov has proven himself to be a bold director, though with Anton Chekhov's play ?€?Ivanov,?€? the director is not at his most impressive. But...

In Memory of Roman Kozak, 1957-2010

Roman Kozak, a director, actor and teacher who had an enormous impact on Moscow theater over three decades, was buried Sunday at the Troyekuroskoye cemetery...

Remembering Andrei Voznesensky. America. 1987.

In honor of the poet Andrei Voznesensky, who passed away Tuesday, John Freedman recalls a reading he witnessed Voznesnensky give at Tufts University.

?€?Mad Money,?€™ Fine Tribute to Late Director Kozak

Roman Kozak?€™s production of Alexander Ostrovsky?€™s ?€?Mad Money?€? at the Pushkin Theater was his last. Knowing he was dying as he rehearsed...

Anton Chekhov in Wood

Of all the subjects that Tomsk-based sculptor Leonty Usov has taken on over the years, Anton Chekhov is clearly a favorite.

How One ?€?Brother Ch.?€™ Squeezed the Slave Away

Yelena Gremina has nurtured a relationship with Anton Chekhov for years, and she returns to the Russian great in her latest play. It considers an unfamiliar...

Brian Friel?€™s Russian Connection

Irish playwright Brian Friel, who has adapted three of Anton Chekhov's works into original stagings, arrives in Moscow this week to see two of his productions...

Bold Magnitsky Drama Asks Questions of Us All

The just-opened drama about Sergei Magnitsky is one of Russia's boldest productions in years, our theater columnist says. ?€?One Hour Eighteen?€? is...

Seeing Past the Present in Moscow, Part One

Over the course of the coming summer, our theater critic will lead you on a few walks around Moscow to offer some glimpses at the monuments to famous Russian...

Ostrovsky's Drama Captures Money Lust, 130 Years On

?€?Money?€? proves again that Alexander Ostrovsky, who wrote his plays more than 130 years ago, represented the Russian experience as well as anyone...

Bringing Russian Theater to Texas

Ever since Graham Schmidt, who hails from Austin, TX, encountered the plays of Anton Chekhov, he has been a man on a mission.

Play Makes Tribute to ?€?Most Talented Poet of Generation?€™

A new play tries to illustrate the brilliant but short life of the late Boris Ryzhy, who has been declared ?€?the most talented poet of his generation...

Seeing Past the Present, Part Two

In part two of John Freedman's summer series about historical sites honoring Moscow's artistic past, the author takes us down Tverskaya Ulitsa to reflect...

Superb Acting Dazzles in ?€?The Gentleman?€™ Revival

"The Gentleman" is a totally forgotten comedy about the excesses, dangers and cruelty of wealth written in 1897. Reviving it at a theater whose name suggests...

Revival of ?€?Fallen Woman?€™ Play Lacks Modern Bite

Hailing from 1907, ?€?The Pretty One?€? was written by a Soviet man who took on liberal themes. The lead actress of this production brings substantial...

Developing Plays for Russia and America at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

Eugene O'Neill is one of those American writers whom Russians accept as if he were one of their own. Whether it's his Irish passion or his grand American...

Chekhov, "The Gentleman" Star in MT Awards

Drum roll, please. John Freedman presents the 18th annual Moscow Times theater awards for the 2009-2010 season.

A Russian Fairy Tale in Rural Massachusetts

Double Edge Theater, located on a farm in the tiny town of Ashfield, Massachusetts, is a unique and surprising organization. Its productions have been...

Seeing Past the Present, Part Three

In an exploration of one-time haunts of Moscow's major artists, our arts critic helps you enjoy an artistic stroll while avoiding the city's weather. Here's...

Theater, Social Commentary and the Paradox of Moscow Traffic

Our theater critic interviewed Thomas Irmer, a German journalist and theater critic, who had a keen outsider's view of a controversial play performed in...

Martha Coigney Recalls Marilyn Monroe and More

If just one person were American theater?€™s connection to the world, it surely would be Martha Coigney. She shares her stories of Marilyn Monroe,...

Festival Is Host to New Plays, Free Expression

It has become tradition that Moscow?€™s theater season begins with a daunting dose of new drama. This year, at the Lyubimovka playwriting festival...

Contemporary Writers Strong for New Season

The real season is about to begin in Moscow. Let the film, music and art pundits take potshots at me ?€” I don?€™t care. Because when Moscow?€™s...

Taking Russian Drama to Extremes

Few discussions stir as much fire, smoke and hot air as one that the Russian theater community has been having for the last decade about the so-called...

Chekhov ?€?Notebooks?€™ Is Just a Walk in the Park

If our theater critic had to boil down the essence of Sergei Zhenovach?€™s Studio of Theatrical Art to a single quality, it would probably be the director...

Theater Great Is Gone, But Legacy Is Just Beginning

Though Alexei Kazantsev died three years ago, the work of this playwright, director, producer and theatrical activist is thriving on the Russian stage...

Tale of 2 Generations in ?€?Machine Gunner?€™

In Vladimir Pankov's production of this Yury Klavdiyev play, snippets of political speeches and news reports are spoken by figures wearing masks looking...

Russian Answers to American Theatre?€™s Questions

I walked out of the theater and I had no idea what had happened there. All I could recall were costumes that bounced and ruffled and rustled and bloomed...

Wayward Tractor Drivers Get Bizarre Makeover

Pavel Pryazhko?€™s ?€?The Field?€? at the Contemporary Play School is one odd duck of a play. And you can say that twice about the mystical, mock-futuristic...

Lee Breuer Shakes Up Shepard in Saratov

Just three days before this conversation took place I had no idea I would be sitting in a theater in Saratov, talking to the renowned American director...

Presnyakov Brothers?€™ Revival in Modern Mash-Up

The title of the most popular and influential playwright in Russia belonged in the middle of this waning decade to two siblings ?€” the Presnyakov...

A New York Take on Moscow Theater

If anyone knows anything about developing new work for theater, it is Jim Nicola. Nicola has been the artistic director of the famed New York Theatre Workshop...

Raikin?€™s Dostoevsky Is a Luxurious Master Class

The first word that comes to mind when I think of ?€?Konstantin Raikin: An Evening with Dostoevsky?€? at the Satirikon Theater is ?€?luxury.?€...

Sheep, Critic Meet Over Sam Shepard

American director Lee Breuer premiered his production of Sam Shepard?€™s ?€?The Curse of the Starving Class?€? in Saratov, and critic Steven Leigh...

Vyrypayev?€™s Stand-Up Drama Fails to Convince

Good writers can be seen in even the shortest phrase they write. Each has a DNA code that reveals his or her vision, point of view and personality in all...

From a Scribe's Pen to a Harvard Classroom

Something at which Horace Lunt would rail at least once in every Old Church Slavonic course was ?€?scribal error.?€? Let me point this out: The scribes...

A Bold New Take on an Old-Fashioned Classic

Genriyetta Yanovskaya over the years has directed several rare or semi-forgotten works on the stage of the Theater Yunogo Zritelya. Her latest takes on...

Snaring Russian Theater in the Net

Recently I did some surfing on the Internet to see what has been written about Russian theater of late. It isn?€™t often that I find something I hadn...

Presnyakov Brothers Add Gloss to Jonah, Bible

What is it that makes a new play interesting? You have to assume that the Presnyakov brothers know. Their name is synonymous with what some call the ?€...

When Memories Are in the Program

My wife is to blame for what follows. ?€?Look at this,?€? she said. ?€?It?€™s the program from a performance of Vladimir Vysotsky playing Hamlet...

Sturua at His Creative Best in One-Act 'Tempest'

Robert Sturua?€™s production of William Shakespeare?€™s ?€?The Tempest?€? at the Et Cetera Theater looks to me like a watershed for the director...

'Cameras' as Allegory for Precious Quality of Life

A dark stage. A few puffs of stage smoke. A catchy rhythm and a dozen or so weird-looking objects ?€” are these insect larvae, eggs, somebody?€™s...

Stunning Design Surmounts 'Alice's' Slow Pace

I duly promise here and now, hand on heart, to eat my hat if I don?€™t select Ivan Popovski?€™s production of ?€?Alice Through the Looking Glass...

Theater History Emerges From Jottings

?€?What a mess!?€? I wrote in a short review in The Moscow Times in 1997. And I have it on good authority that I was right. Boris Milgram, the man...

French Director Stages ?€?End of Civilization?€™ Play

Christophe Feutrier likes to talk about being on a journey, or a road. He began his life in theater in his hometown of St. Etienne, France ?€” where...

Cue WikiLeaks: Russia's Image Abroad

"Don't you think that those awful new Russian plays are written expressly to tarnish the image of Russia abroad?" My answer to that question: No.

Mismatched Lovers Give Play a 'Killer' Edge

Productions at the famous White Room at the Theater Yunogo Zritelya have invariably been drawn from the Russian classics ?€” Dostoevsky, Pushkin and...

Not Getting Serious about Russian Culture

Filipp Kirkorov ?€” Lord, no, that?€™s not culture. During a TV taping, Kirkorov was so unhappy when a director questioned his star quality that...

5 One-Act Chekhov Plays for the Price of One

If you cannot get your fill of Anton Chekhov, the National Youth Theater has just the show for you: a full-course feast of Chekhov plays all in one evening...

Kama Ginkas Puts On a Lean and Mean Gogol

Interesting how striking out in a new direction can bring about a return to origins: In more than 40 years, Kama Ginkas had never staged a work by Nikolai...

Stop the Presses!

The first thing that came to mind when I saw it was a writer of a very different kind, time and place. ?€?It?€? is the relatively new Dostoevskaya...

Playwrights, Actors Lash Out Against State

Russian playwright and director Mikhail Ugarov is convinced that artists are better off creating art and avoiding political statements.

15 Plays That Made the Decade

Russia's theater can be unnerving or daunting. Our theater critic gives highlights and insights into the 2000-2010 period.

New Twist to Old Love in ?€?Schooling of Bento?€™

Maxim Kurochkin?€™s ?€?The Schooling of Bento Bonchev?€? ?€“ a play that has been on the slow burner for years and changed subtly over this...

15 Productions to Remember, 2001-2010

You think it?€™s too late for one more New Year?€™s list? Then you don?€™t live in Russia, like I do. Today we?€™re talking directors and...

Cathartic 'Killer Joe' Is Not Just Tarantino Farce

It was halfway through Javor Gardev?€™s production of Tracy Letts?€™ ?€?Killer Joe?€? that my trust meter began to wobble.

Arthur Kopit's Russian Doppelganger

The British historian James Howell had this to say about the art of translation: "Some hold translations not unlike to be / The wrong side of a Turkey...

Finding Words for the Death of Anna Yablonskaya

My wife clarified for me this morning why I have not been able to sit down and write about the death of playwright Anna Yablonskaya on Monday in the terrorist...

Innocence Doomed in Mirzoyev's Unadorned Tale

Witold Gombrowicz wrote ?€?Iwona, Princess of Burgundy?€? in 1935. It tells the tale of a strange and mysterious female who throws a royal family into...

'Natasha's Dream,' a Teenage Rebuke to Society

It?€™s a cliche that all you need to make theater is an actor and a chair.
But even that cliche gets trumped in Yaroslava Pulinovich?€™s ?€...

A Great Russian Playwright Rediscovered as a Great Screenwriter

Nikolai Erdman?€™s comedy ?€?The Suicide?€? tells the story of a forlorn, unemployed man whom a bunch of creeps, thugs and morons convince to try...

Kazantsev Play Shown in Theater That He Built

It was one of the unwritten rules at the Playwright and Director Center that Alexei Kazantsev ?€“ one of the most engineers of ...

The New Intertwining of Russian and American Theater

Under the umbrella of the Bilateral Presidential Commission, a plan for the funding of cultural events in Russia that came...

Stanislavsky Legend Debunked, Renewed

Konstantin Stanislavsky, a 20th-century icon of world theater, has been something of a thorn in the side of progressive Russian...

Belgorod's Crackdown on 'Spiritually Dangerous' Contemporary Plays

On Tuesday, February 15, news began popping up on my Facebook page with links to numerous other internet sites, including Lenta.ru, Live...

Youth Theater, Karbauskis Takes on Mann Novel

One of the many things Alexei Borodin has done right of late at his National Youth Theater is to entice Mindaugas Karbauskis back into ...

New Names and Developments in St. Petersburg Theater

The atmosphere at the very cool Poryadok Slov was a bit hectic, but Nikolai Pesochinsky is used to keeping his cool under chaotic conditions...

Tolstoy's 'Don Juan' Goes Awry at Maly Theater

If you rely on encyclopedias for your information, you are likely to suspect that A.K.Tolstoy was a minor writer in the 19th...

Golden Mask Festival Showcases Riches of Polish Theater and New Drama

There are more theater festivals in this city than, as an old high school friend used to say, you can shake a stick at. And if you've ever tried to catch...

'Caligula,' Story of a Tyrant Who Goes Nowhere

Theater is cursed ?€” sometimes blessed ?€” to be an art of the present moment. Rarely have I seen that basic law hold truer than...

A Rain of Satire on Russian Television

You rarely will hear me say anything nice about television. But I believe in paying credit where credit is due. So listen up while I change my usual...

Anne Frank, Helga Goebbels Tale Told Together

Over the last decade, Georg Genoux has quietly gone about creating a space in the Moscow theatrical territory that belongs exclusively to ...

Martin Luther King, Jr., Plays to a Russian Audience

American playwright Katori Hall's "The Mountaintop," a fictional depiction of the last hours of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life...

Golden Mask Turns Toward the Contemporary

Call this the year that the drama category of the Golden Mask Festival joined the modern world. This showcase has long been an ...

Playwright Yury Klavdiyev Plays Rock

Throughout March, playwright Yury Klavdiyev has been uploading to the Internet album after album of new musical compositions ?€“ three albums...

Dostoevsky's Prose Reappears on Moscow Stage

It has been said often, but it bears repeating ?€” Fyodor Dostoevsky never wrote a play, but for more than 100 years his works have remained...

Exile and Honor: Nikolai Erdman in Tomsk

What follows is a small example of how history and personal lives can intertwine over time in unexpected and significant ways...

Exile and Honor: Nikolai Erdman in Tomsk

What follows is a small example of how history and personal lives can intertwine in unexpected and significant ways. The ...

Bunin Love Stories Get Grand Guignol Treatment

Dmitry Krymov is arguably the most critically acclaimed Russian director of the last half-decade. But is that really what he is, a director...

'A Chorus Line' Adaptation Is 'Hit of the Season'

There are ideas that are not exactly obvious but which are so good they must be printed in the Book of Fate. They must be bound to happen...

Foreigners Scoop Awards at Golden Mask Awards

2011 will go down as the year when the Golden Mask truly went international. Non-Russian artists have won awards in the past, but this year...

Bashevis Singer's Stories Speak to All in 'Enemies'

Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel "Enemies: A Love Story" narrates the tale of several adults who escaped the horrors of ...

Politics and Art Mix in Upcoming Election Year

Today we're talking Russian culture and politics. It's not a pretty topic, but it is one that is increasingly pushing its way into the public...

Butusov Looks at Art in Extraordinary "Seagull"

Yury Butusov's new production of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" is the most voluminous I have ever seen of this play. That is not...

Nothing Much at First in "Ado," Then It Soars

Yevgeny Pisarev's production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Pushkin Theater is a big, colorful, ambitious production...

Hendrixs, Joplins and Morrisons Light This Fire

One of the great things about art is that it embraces the impossible. The latest proof of that for me is Teatr.doc's "Light...

International Theater in Town for Chekhov Fest

It must be a marriage made in heaven ?€” Moscow and the Chekhov International Theater Festival. Because even in this, the ...

Levanov's 'Gerontophobia' Opens in Winzavod

"This is real theater. Not contrived. It happens right here and now, and it will never happen again." The speaker was Vadim Levanov...

Malice Wins in Gogol's 'The Overcoat'

Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" tells a tale that, one expects, will always remain accessible and meaningful for Russian culture...

Theatricality Eschewed in Zhenovach's Dostoevsky

Sergei Zhenovach does not stray far from his core interests in search of material. Ever since his Studio of Theater Art was established...

Zakharov Fails to Convince With Ibsen's Gynt

The smart aleck with a big head is a perennial favorite in literature. He provides a good source of drama and insight...

Teatr.doc Looks Hard at Crime, Misery in 'Noise'

Teatr.doc turned its stages over to a full seven days of performances and readings of new plays last week. In part it was a ...

Lyubimov and Taganka ?€“ Is It Final This Time?

I have waited my whole adult life to say this: Leo Tolstoy was wrong. On the first page of "Anna Karenina" he wrote, "Happy...

Chaliapin, Chekhov Mix in Lyubimov's 'Mask'

Yury Lyubimov's latest production at the Taganka Theater may well be his last.

Inna Churikova Stars in Goldman's 'Lion in Winter'

I remember seeing "The Lion in Winter," based on James Goldman's play, when it hit the movie theaters in the late 1960s....

Vytoptov Dramatizes Chekhov Tales in 'Seryozha'

The very first moments of "Seryozha" at the Sovremennik Theater say much about the production that is to come. All along...

Booker Prize-Winning Novel Comes to the Stage

Yelena Chizhova is a fascinating figure in recent Russian letters. She debuted as a novelist in 2000 in her early 40s and ...

Winners at 19th Moscow Times Theater Awards

Ah! It happened again! Still another theater season in Moscow ended. You'd think with theater as good as it is here we could find a way to ...

Andrei Konchalovsky, A Calm, Focused Director

The? first time I crossed Andrei Konchalovsky's path was in? Warsaw in? 2006 where I attended the? premiere of? his theater production of? "...

Director Robert Sturua Leaves Rustaveli Theater

Thank God for Robert Sturua. I have known and loved the great Georgian director for two decades. His work with the Rustaveli Theater...

Lyubimovka Festival Feeds the Soul of Theater

The festival known as Lyubimovka is one of those intriguing misnomers that no one would think to question. Properly, Lyubimovka is the ...

Classics Rule in Moscow as New Season Begins

Now I don't want to start off on the wrong foot. After all, this is one of the great times of the year ?€” the start of ...

Belarus, Markelov Murder Play Out at Lyubimovka

The crush at Teatr.doc has long been a given. The tiny basement hall of the feisty little theater that mixes social issues, journalism...

Feminine Folly, Wiles, Wisdom Take to the Stage

The list of awards that have accrued to Lyudmila Ulitskaya over the years continues to grow. The most recent, the Simone...

Gorky Show Disappoints, Even With Star Direction

One of the uglier parts of being a critic is when you are brought face to face with your prejudices. Most of the time you do a ...

'Theater of Medea' Delves Into Actors, Not Myth

"At first these texts attract me, they're beautifully written," Vladimir Berzin says of theatrical scripts composed by his friend and ...

'Occupation' Obscure But Intriguing Show

Of all the topics I have seen addressed in contemporary plays over the last two decades, I have seen nothing like Tatyana Orlova's...

Recognition for Theaters in the Russian Provinces

A few years back I was invited to Magnitogorsk to be a jury member for the Theater Without Borders festival. It was ?€“ I...

Metro Set 'Master and Margarita' Fails to Impress

If you are going to do it big, "The Master and Margarita" is a good place to start. Few literary works in the last century...

Ovation for Dmitry Bykov, Not So Much for Play

The audience burst into applause when Dmitry Bykov walked into the packed hall at the Contemporary Play School for the first performance...

'Pushkin's Little Tragedies' Is Satirikon at Its Best

The Satirikon Theater is back in a groove. This house is always a guarantee of quality, but it does occasionally slip into safer...

A Critic?€™s Back Pages, Part One

I began writing regularly about Moscow theater just over 20 years ago. It was for a pre-Moscow Times publication called The Moscow Guardian ?€” a kind...

'Don Quixote' Rebooted at a Hospital

Don Quixote is one of a handful of non-Russian myths that have played significant roles in the formation of the Russian cultural psyche. Yevgeny Slavutin's...

Klavdiyev Touches on Cannibalism, Survival

If anyone were going to write a play about cannibalism, it would be Yury Klavdiyev. Klavdiyev is one of Russia's most distinctive and challenging voices...

A Critic's Back Pages: 20 Years of Moscow Theater

I previously noted that 20 years have passed since I began writing about theater for the Moscow Guardian, a precursor to The Moscow Times...

Youth Theater Takes on "Rock 'n' Roll"

As one of the great men of contemporary theater, Tom Stoppard surely knows that theater and rock 'n' roll don't mix.

Good Start for Karbauskis at Mayakovsky Theater

Alexander Ogaryov's production of "A Month in the Country" at the Mayakovsky Theater is something of a beginning. It is the ...

Silence, Lies and Truth in Vyrypayev's 'Illusions'

Ivan Vyrypayev has an extraordinary ability to achieve the complex by way of the simple. He loves to stand actors virtually motionless on stage. They face...

Ignored Terrorists Make for Funny Political Satire

Natalya Moshina's "Heat," the newest play at Praktika Theater, is an unusual work. We are blessed with the riches of new plays good, bad and indifferent...

World of Culture Suddenly Becomes Politicized

How things have changed! A year ago, even a week ago, it would have been hard to find more than a hardcore handful of Russian performers and artists who...

How the Cultural and Political Worlds Collide

Life and the world will return to something resembling normalcy at some point. But at present, life in Moscow ?€” and ...

Stark Comedy Proves to Be No Laughing Matter

Carlo Gozzi. The famous 18th-century Italian writer of colorful, slightly unsettling fairy tales. In theater it has come precariously close...

Six Characters, Play in Search of a Link to 'Macbeth'

Valery Belyakovich has been a quietly prominent figure on the Moscow theater scene for more than two decades. He founded the feisty...

Odin Biron, American Star of Stage, TV

It is almost a holiday fairy tale. Just one year ago, Odin Lund Biron attended a New Year's party hosted by the Satirikon Theater. An actor in the company...

Bringing the New Play Movement to St. Petersburg

Milena Avimskaya was born in Kazakhstan, grew up in the Siberian city of Surgut and was educated in Moscow. She found her calling...

Soviet Classic 'Envy' Reworked Into 'Conspiracy'

Yury Olesha's "A Conspiracy of Feelings" was one of the dramatic works that defined an era in Soviet theater. Based loosely...

Teatr.doc Take On Belarussian Opposition, KGB

"Two in Your House" is the latest political act mounted by the folks who tirelessly bring us slices of theatricalized contemporary...

Ostrovsky Comedy is Unhurried Art at Mayakovsky

In Mindaugas Karbauskis' production of Alexander Ostrovsky's "Talents and Admirers" at the Mayakovsky Theater a man...

Irish Comedy Brings New Direction to Taganka

Whatever the Taganka Theater will look like from now on, it will not be what we are accustomed to. The break between the theater's...

Lost Version of 'Eugene Onegin' on at Princeton

A play lost but not quite. A musical score quartered and plundered. Three great names in the Russian arts ?€” Alexander Pushkin...

Melnikov Film Evokes Subtle, Chekhovian Spirit

Perhaps I am too close to today's topic to be believed. You are hereby forewarned that I attended the premiere of Vitaly Melnikov's...

Rising Star Takes on Mayakovsky, Brik in Biopic Play

"Mayakovsky Goes for Sugar" at the Mayakovsky Theater is small but noteworthy. It is a rare example of an experiment at ...

Fo's Tale of Half Putin, Half Berlusconi at Teatr.doc

It doesn't matter if you don't like politics. I know. I, too, would rather sink away into a world of theater and art ?€” that is, a ...

20 Years Ago: Yefremov, Smoktunovsky on Stage

As I have already had reason to say in this space, this season marks the 20th anniversary since I began reporting on theater for ...

'Fairy-Tale Lives' Fails to Live Up to Early Promise

There is no getting around disappointment. It creeps into every pore and colors every direction in which you look.

'Anarchy' Shocks and Indulges at Sovremennik

In his play "tHe dYsFUnCKshOnalZ!" which has had significant success in the English-speaking world since it premiered in 2007...

A Lesson, Attack on Soviet Drama in 'Gorki-10'

Dmitry Krymov describes his new show at the School of Dramatic Art as "lessons in Russian literature." The title is "...

Drama Section of Golden Mask Fest Set to Begin

If pressed to describe in one word the entries in the category of drama in this year's Golden Mask Festival, the 18th...

Powerful Belousova Stars in Brecht's 'Courage'

I was walking to the metro after seeing Mikhail Levitin's production of "Courage" for the Hermitage Theater, and I passed...

Yury Lyubimov Returns to Vakhtangov Theater

Yury Lyubimov last worked at the Vakhtangov Theater in the early 1960s, before he founded the Taganka Theater, which brought him international...

Despite Its Brevity, 'The Soldier' Packs a Punch

It would be easy to think that "The Soldier" at Teatr.doc is a con job. The information is there on the theater's website:...

Moscow Takes Top Honors at Golden Mask Fest

It wasn't the best beginning for a festive evening. The first four envelopes opened at the 18th annual Golden Mask Festival award ceremony...

In Michigan, Brodsky Learns of Soviet Censor

As the saying has it, what goes around comes around.
What prompts this small outburst of folk wisdom is a letter that arrived in my...

Ginkas Makes 'Shakespeare's Fools' Come Alive

Kama Ginkas' production of "Shakespeare's Fools" is something of a joke. Although being a Kama Ginkas show, the jokes it...

Sovremennik Stages Bergman's 'Autumn Sonata'

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned by another woman, especially if the two are mother and daughter.

Bulgakov's 'Theatrical Novel' Takes Center Stage

I wonder whether there is anything messier than the inner workings of a Russian theater. The intrigues, the backbiting, the animosities...

How Actors and Riot Police Make Bad Partners

A couple of weeks ago a twist of fate made me a player in a production created by Donatas Grudovich. It was a show...

Writers Turn the Week Around With Bulvar Walk

Officially it was called a Test Walk With Poets and Writers. Although, I already have to back down from that. As novelist Boris Akunin...

Short Shelf Life for Simonov's 'Choosing a Hero'

It was in early 2011 that I heard playwright Maksym Kurochkin make a fascinating observation. He was in Austin, Texas, attending a ...

Walking and Laughing With Artists on the Bulvar

"Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" is not just the title of a film that once won the foreign film Oscar. It is a phrase...

Timely Revival of Joan of Arc in Anouilh's 'Lark'

What price does an individual pay for standing up to authority and following the dictates of one's conscience?

Painter Nicolai Fechin Returns to His Homeland

As stories of relationships go, this one is small. But I'm too big a fan of paradox to ignore it.

Intimate, Warm Version of 'Ksenia of St. Petersburg'

We don't know yet what Vadim Levanov will be best remembered for. It has been only six months since his death in December at the age of ...

Denisova's 'Day of Dust' Tells of Passing Youth

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Teatr.doc Takes on Modern Mexican Play 'Alaska'

Throughout its 10 years of existence, Teatr.doc has tirelessly championed the cause of contemporary Russian drama. It has discovered and ...

Political Posters Use Humor, Cultural Knowledge

There is a woman I keep running into at all the political rallies around town. Her name is Tatyana and every time I see her she is...

Menshikov Takes on Russian Repertory System

Few topics in the Russian theater world make people lose their cool more quickly than a discussion about the future of repertory theater...

'Uzbek' Shows Moscow Through Immigrants' Eyes

Early in Talgat Batalov's self-directed, self-acted production of "Uzbek," the performer begins handing out passports and ...

Contemporary Play School Does People-Watching

If I had to choose the one thing that has haunted the minds of theater artists most over the last century it would have to ...

Theater Plus: Russian Culture Rocks Patti Smith

Patti Smith has released a new record called "Banga," in which the influence of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel, "The Master...

Bulgakov's 'Moliere' Still Has Political Resonance

Two productions lurk in Valery Belyakovich's staging of Mikhail Bulgakov's "Moliere: A Cabal of Hypocrites" at the Stanislavsky...

Facebook Wins Fans For Chekhov Library

I have passed by it hundreds of times. I even went inside once. But I had no idea that the Chekhov Library located at 8 Strastnoi Bulvar...

Brodsky's Potent Asylum-Inspired Poem Staged

Joseph Brodsky did not often cross paths seriously with the theater world. The great poet did write two plays and translated at least one I know of. None...

4th Theater Transforms Documented Life Into Art

Documentary theater has been an innovative, powerful art form at times over the last decade. Most often it is associated with Teatr.doc...

Meeting Pussy Riot: Neither Silly, Nor Hooligans

Whatever I might read about the members of Pussy Riot, I'll never believe for a minute that they are "silly" or mere "hooligans...

War Reporter Drama, Timely But Unconvincing

Journalism and the disasters of the modern world are a fine manifestation of yin and yang at work. It doesn't matter what...

Moscow's Hidden Literary Sites Await Discovery

Moscow is filled with reminders of past cultural achievements. Monuments, house museums and memorial plaques dot the city, keeping us mindful of writers...

Protests Dominate the 20th MT Theater Awards

It wasn't present everywhere, as you will see in the following list of the 20th annual Moscow Times theater awards. But it was the season's...

Theater Plus: Remembering Pyotr Fomenko

The best productions of theater director Pyotr Fomenko challenged those of us who wrote about them to find ever new ways of describing elegant perfection...

Theater Plus: Lyubimovka Play Fest to Uncover New Voices

Lyubimovka is a festival that presents readings of new plays, and if this year is anything like the past, some plays will be so new they won't be finished...

New Beginnings Bode Well for Theater Season

If uncertainty breeds excitement I would suggest that the coming 2012-2013 theater season in Moscow will be one of the most exciting in ...

Theater Plus: Praise Enough for Lyubimovka 2012

At the Lyubimovka play festival, it's not the audience numbers that are important — it is the energy, the enthusiasm and ...

Giurgea Premieres in Moscow With 'The Aliens'

It's quite a simple play, Adrian Giurgea says about Annie Baker's "The Aliens."

Fomenko Studio Takes on Nabokov's 'The Gift'

One of the biggest unknowns facing Moscow theater in the near future is the fate of the Fomenko Studio.

Convent in Central Moscow a Rare Gem

You enter the grounds of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent looking at the side of the Savior of the Mother of God Church. If you...

'Don Juan' Probes Age-Old Myth of Great Lover

Theater is often a matter of a glass half-full or a glass half-empty. In the case of "Don Juan. A Version," as...

'A Fine Place to Feed the Dogs' Homes In on Havoc

We already know a great deal before the first words of Tarik Noui's "A Fine Place to Feed the Dogs" resound on ...

There's Blood and Hell to Pay in 'The Slow Sword'

Yury Klavdiyev's "The Slow Sword" is a contentious, ambitious play. Alexander Sozonov's interpretation of it at the Playwright...

Finding Solomon Mikhoels on Voznesensky Pereulok

I have always been fascinated by the personalities of buildings. Some have their own. Some acquire it thanks to people or events associated...

Mirzoyev Modernizes Classic Satire by Ostrovsky

It says something about the way things have changed that Vladimir Mirzoyev's production of Alexander Ostrovsky's "Enough Stupidity in ...

MT Theater Critic Remembers, Twenty Years On

No one needs to remind me how much time has passed since The Moscow Times emerged as a daily 20 years ago. Entire lifetimes, whole histories...

Krymov's 'New Fruit' Is Comic, Inventive Show

I do my level best to offer none but my own opinions in my articles. In regards to Dmitry Krymov's new production slyly entitled "...

Violence and Humor in 'Lieutenant of Inishmore'

One way to overcome the violence of the world we inhabit is to embrace it eagerly and entirely. At least, that is one conclusion...

Magical Storm, Talk But 'Snow' Not Quite Theater

Most of the elements going into Alexander Gordon's production of "Snow" at the Contemporary Play School point to a show...

Bottles, Fun, Beauty Abound in 'Moscow-Petushki'

?€?Everything in the world should happen slowly. Slowly and wrong, so that no one gets a big head.?€?

'School for Fools' Fails to Live Up to Book's Charm

One of the true literary wonders of the late Soviet period was Sasha Sokolov's novel "A School for Fools." According to the...

Russian-Themed Theater in Texas Takes on VFTV

Liz Fisher came around to Russian drama by way of rejection.

Karbauskis Turns Round Brecht's Halfbaked Play

There is something missing in "Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti" at the Mayakovsky Theater and it surely is the doing of ...

Menshikov Low Key as Yermolova Reign Begins

If he had wanted to, Oleg Menshikov could have done it very differently. One of the few actors in Russia who commands genuine star power, he...

In Memory of Playwright Alexandra Chichkanova

What I wouldn't give not to write what follows.
News came that Alexandra Chichkanova died. She hanged herself in her apartment in Yekaterinburg...

Serebrennikov Delivers Stunning 'Midsummer's'

Who would have guessed it, that by the beginning of winter the most popular play in Moscow would be "A Midsummer Night's Dream...

Adaptation of 'GenAtsid' Tries but Fails to Impress

Following the publication of his first novel "GenAtsid" in 2009, Vsevolod Benigsen found himself at the center of attention...

Magnitsky Play at Teatr.doc Hits Harder Than Ever

Some things remain relevant longer than you would expect.

Miller's Play Fills Small Stage With Big Emotion

Arthur Miller was once a staple on Moscow stages. Forty, fifty years ago. The ground-breaking American playwright has been revived from ...

"Sailors and Whores" Steer Fomenko Studio In New Direction

There's nothing original in my saying that a production of "Sailors and Whores" at the Fomenko Studio is highly original...

Men Play Pregnant Women in Social Experiment

"Nine Months/40 Weeks" is one of those projects that could only happen at Teatr.doc.

28-Year-Old "Cerceau" Made Fresh and Innovative

Vladimir Ageyev's production of Viktor Slavkin's "Cerceau" for the Drugoi Theater is something of a wonder. Not only because it...

Audiences Invited Into Kharms' Bizzare World

A lighthearted staging of Daniil Kharms?€™ crazy anecdotes raises serious questions about people?€™s hostility toward each other.

Generic Tale Irritates with Shrill Voices and Vampire Makeup

Gabriella Tuminaite's production of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's "Emilia Galotti" at the Sovremennik Theater is a fine example of ...

Play About Youth Comes Across as Infantile

Newcomer who wrote texts for the Gogol Center opening delivers a play about youth.

"Golden Mask Incorporated" Bursting at the Seams

You thought you knew the Golden Mask Festival. You know, that three-week extravaganza every spring that shows off the best that Russian theater...

4-Plus-Hour Show Drags Out Moments of Wit

Imagine a show that runs four-plus hours and you responded well to about half of what it threw at you. Now consider what that...

"Moscow Trials" Puts Art on Trial, Trials in Art

Journalist and theater director Mikhail Kaluzhsky called it a "theatrical slam." Olga Shakina, a journalist from the Dozhd...

A "Good Person" Lets Out a Memorable Cry of the Soul

Yury Butusov has a way of exploding a play from the inside out. He goes down inside and comes back to the surface with all...

Two European Directors Vie for Golden Masks

It is the 19th time we have gathered to celebrate along with the Golden Mask Festival. And it is intended to be a celebration...

Prague Spring Comes to Moscow

"A lot of people these days are finding parallels between the present and the 1930s, but the real connection I see is between...

'Onegin' and Ballerinas Rip Through a Blinding Snowstorm

The famous designation of Alexander Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" as an "encyclopedia of Russian life" can sound a ...

Konchalovsky's 'Three Sisters' Takes a Step Back

Andrei Konchalovsky is best known for his work in film, but in recent years he has taken several forays into theater.

Rebelling in 'Tango' Steps to the Edge of the Theater Stage

Stepping into the hall at A.R.T.O. Theater, you always have the notion you are about to see something that you could not see anywhere...

Unmasked, Still Golden: Awards for Theater Elite

The 19th annual Golden Mask Festival award ceremony began with a drum roll and a walking bass line from the Oleg Lundstrem Jazz Orchestra...

Audience Witnesses Self-Help Drama Third Hand

Annie Baker, an American playwright who hails from New England, is continuing to forge a professional relationship with Russia.

21st-Century Portrait of Dorian Gray Ages Rapidly

It has been a year since star actor Oleg Menshikov took over the Yermolova Theater, and a further five months since he reopened the ...

An Audience Odder Than Gorky's Pawns

"Odd People" by Maxim Gorky. A Comedy. That's what the program says, and that's what director Yury Ioffe aimed for in...

International Talent Gathers for Chekhov Festival

A theatrical feast for theatrical gluttons: In its 11th running since the inaugural festival in 1992, spanning eight weeks to ...

Elusive 30s Drama is a Suitably Odd Show

"Christmas at the Ivanovs" is one of the quiet classics of 20th-century Russian drama, and it comes across exactly as that...

'Enemy of the People' Contains a Hint of Irony

Nikita Kobelev's production of Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" accomplishes the inevitable. It puts contemporary politics...

Reckless Italian 'Brothers' Get Russian Makeover

Luchino Visconti's classic 1960s film "Rocco and his Brothers" as a Russian stage play in 2013? Not an obvious transformation...

'Idiots' Tears Down Boundaries of Convention

Lars Von Trier's original characters spiral away from 'normality,' but Serebrennikov's production is immaculately constructed.

'Mitya's Love' Pays Beautiful Attention to Detail

Bunin's tale of two lovers, taken to the stage by Vladislav Nastavshev, is a dreamy, touching and unusual adaptation.

Silver-Age Poet Has Work Adapted for Stage

There are some things you never expect to see. An old Leo Tolstoy, shaved. The politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky with his mouth closed. The ...

Wartime 'Song of Swans' Returns to the Theater

Alexei Dudarev's play "The Privates" appeared in 1985 on the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II. The tale,...

An Onstage Storm of Drinking, Spinning and Song

There is no way I will satisfactorily translate "Zaklikukhi," the title of a new production playing on the small stage of ...

Enigmatically Titled 'London Show' Is Immaculate

Konstantin Raikin plays games with the title of his new "London Show" at the Satirikon Theater. "Show" is the way...

Comedic Value Undermined in 'An Ardent Heart'

There are plenty of laughs in Yegor Peregudov's production of Alexander Ostrovsky's "An Ardent Heart" at the Sovremennik...

Best Thespians, Theaters and Themes of 2012-13

This season has seen some stark developments in Russian theater, with the recently opened Gogol Center leading the way.

A New Panfilov Production Has a Timely Message

It wasn't planned to happen like this, but it did. Gleb Cherepanov's production of "I Wish to Speak" opened just one week before...

Plenty of Surprises in New Moscow Theater Season

A quick glance at the shows slated to open during the 2013-2014 theater season in Moscow might make you raise an eyebrow...

Gogol Center Starts New Season With 'Fear'

The new season at Moscow's newest theater, the Gogol Center, kicked off where the last one ended ?€” with performances of ...

Yury Muravitsky Mixes Humor and Family Drama

What a start to the new season! The hot new Gogol Center hit the ground running. Lyubimovka, as always, kicked everyone in the...

A New Play Shows Viewers Only Part of the Whole

Any story you hear is only part of a greater whole. It's an obvious fact, but one we usually forget to consider, at least in the...

Roshchin Criticizes Moscow Theater in 'Cruaute'

It's good seeing Nikolai Roshchin have the opportunity to work with space again, as he does with his new production of "Cruaute."...

New Play Shows When Theory Meets Real Life

It seems to be a universal problem in the 21st century: How do you build a functional state? Ask anybody in Greece, Egypt, Italy...

Chekhov Remade in New Production by Krymov

It must be magic. How else do you explain it? Dmitry Krymov's latest production at the School of Dramatic Art does what most of his productions...

A Fresh, Russian Take on Shakespeare's Othello

One thing any decent critic must do is come clean when the situation demands it. Harboring hopes that I may have claims to decency, I prepare...

New Volodin Play Tells a Lonely Tale

As I watched Genrietta Yanovskaya's production of "Don't Part With Those You Love" at the Theater Yunogo Zritelya, I could not help...

Gogol Center's 'Medea' Brings New Light to Old Tale

What is it about Medea that has captured the imagination of Moscow's theater artists? A new production of the Greek myth at the...

Grace and Grit Dramatization Celebrates Life

Ivan Vyrypayev's dramatization of "Grace and Grit" at Praktika Theater is not the usual theatrical celebration, that's for ...

Love and Theater in 'Lear Rehearses Death'

I once participated in a public discussion about perceptions of theater in the U.S. I spoke my piece and one of the actors of ...

Protests and Scandals Strike Moscow Theaters

If Russian theater is a mirror of Russian society ?€” and most any Russian theater artist will tell you that is true ?€” then Russia...

Ginkas Pulls No Punches in Lady Macbeth

"Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District," a 19th-century sketch by Nikolai Leskov, is arguably one of the harshest works in ...

Scandal Can't Stop Indomitable Taganka Theater

The premiere of Andrei Stadnikov's "Orchestra Rehearsal" makes very clear that the Taganka is still alive and full of ...

Karamazovs on Stage at Moscow Art Theater

Let's get the chaff out of the way. A huge scandal hit the fan when two previews of Konstantin Bogomolov's "The Karamazovs"...

Gogol Center Makes a Contemporary 'Hamlet'

Like few stories told over the centuries, Shakespeare's "Hamlet" seems always to be relevant, and this production appears to ...

'Three Days in Hell' Condemns Material Lives

A new production of Pavel Pryazhko's play will open after the holidays, when Muscovites are well-rested and ready to watch.

Taganka Tension Silenced by Brilliant Production

Let's get this out of the way for the scandal-mongers. I attended the first performance of "Presence" at the Taganka...

Remembering Popov's Designs

When Igor Popov died on Jan. 1 at the age of 76, we lost one of the great Russian theater artists of the last half-century.

New Play Pairs Contrasting Actors for a Great Result

Donald L. Coburn's "The Gin Game" became an instant classic in the 1970s because of its extreme simplicity and, I would wager...

Theater News for all Languages

Theater is a world unto itself. Sure, there's Russian theater and American theater and theater from England, France and and Bali...

The Artistic Community Responds to Events in Kiev

When the going gets tough, as we have seen repeatedly in recent years, the tough take to Facebook. At least that's what they do...

Human Theater Shows Absurdist European Drama

Lyudmila Roshkovan's Chelovek, or Human, Theater has always stood apart from the rest of Moscow's theaters. That is true geographically ...

How Dozhd Television Rocked the Boat

Let's admit it. Ever since the Dozhd television station appeared in early 2010, many of us have wondered how long it could last. We now...

Cubed Collage of Hamlet Shakes Up City Theater

"Hamlet/Collage" at the Theater of Nations is, without question, one of the biggest events — though not achievements ...

Shared Fame and Shame at the Sochi Olympics

I once wrote most of what I planned to be a book about Russia. I got as far as sending chapters out to publishers. One of the...

'Dead Souls' Slaps Russian Mores in the Face

Kirill Serebrennikov's production of "Dead Souls" at Gogol Center starts with a prolonged slap in the face of Russian...

Underwhelming Fairytale on Steroids Gets Few Laughs

It sounded like an interesting pairing — Maxim Kurochkin, the wildly imaginative playwright, and Talgat Batalov, a director...

'Summer Wasps' Are Entertaining in February

The title is a bit clumsy and it takes a good while before it begins making sense. One character in the play on the old stage...

Russian Intellectuals Slam Crimean Occupation

Leo Tolstoy wrote famously about his experiences in the Crimean War in the mid-1850s. His book, "The Sevastopol Stories," has been...

'Berdichev' Crams Lifetimes In One Performance

There is a lot to Nikita Kobelev's production of Fridrikh Gorenshtein's "Berdichev." It takes nearly four hours to perform...

New Yorker Brings Yekaterinburg Play to Moscow

Nicole Kontolefa is a New Yorker born and bred. One might say, however, that at least part of her heart lies in Moscow. She was...

New Masquerade Remakes Lermontov's Masterpiece

"Masquerade Masquerade" is not quite a play so nice it had to be named twice. Actually, playwright and director Mikhail Ugarov...

Russian Culture's 'War of Signatures'

In the final hours before Sunday's referendum in Crimea, Russia's cultural community experienced a schism it has not known since the ...

New Age Philosophy for the Masses in Vyrypayev's 'UFO'

It has been awhile since Ivan Vyrypayev opened a new play in Moscow, but now we have had two premieres of new works at two different...

The Always Timely Poet Alexander Timofeyevsky

I don't think it really had anything to do with World Poetry Day, which fell on Friday, March 21, this year. I don't think it had all that much...

Moscow Holds Yearly Night in the Theater

Ah, Moscow! The city where you never call an acquaintance before 11 a.m. or a friend before noon! It?€™s no wonder that projects like Night in the...

Golden Mask Theater Festival Keeps On Growing

A packed house will gather at the Vakhtangov Theater on Thursday night to celebrate and honor an annual event that has become an institution in Russian...

Apology Demanded For Taganka Insults

There's an old Russian anecdote about a stolen coat that reminds me of the Taganka Theater. "Someone stole a coat," the ...

Vladimir Pankov Shows 'The Yard' at Gogol Center

Director Vladimir Pankov has finally unveiled his first new show, an ambitious and crowd pleasing play, on Gogol Center's large stage.

Can Art Save Russia's Face?

What follows is similar to a column (they were called blogs back then) that I wrote just before the beginning of the Winter Olympics in ...

Moscow's Ten Theater Puts Shakespeare on the Menu

It sounds like one of the worst cliches you can imagine: "one of a kind," meaning the only one like it. Anywhere. Anytime. Yeah...

Doctor Osipov, Writer Maxim

This may not end up being my best column, but it will be one of my personal favorites. It has no real plot and very little dramatic line. It...

Culture Ministry Purges Prominent Arts Figures

The Russian Culture Ministry raised eyebrows this week by replacing several respected figures in two departments involving the fine...

Russia's New Culture War

I've seen this before. Not in my lifetime, no. I saw it unfold before my astonished eyes in crumbling, yellowing newspaper clippings from ...

British Connection

Russian and British theater have enjoyed a rich, if curious, symbiosis for some time. After all, Anton Chekhov is almost regarded as a ...

Inter-Pollination in the Russian Avant-Garde

There is something about the Russian arts of the first three decades of the 20th century that will not let us go.

One Small Victory in the War on Cell Phones

The battle with cell phones in Moscow theaters has taken on an interesting new twist.

Remembering a Beloved Patron of Moscow Theater

It is next to impossible to imagine Moscow as we know it without Margarita Eskina.

The Sound of 'Glamur' Dying

Have you ever wondered what the sound of "glamur" dying is like? Listen closely.

Boogie-Woogie and Russian Theater

I took in a cool concert at Moscow's House of Composers last week &mdash a show featuring the boogie-woogie piano duet...

Front Row Center? Give Me an Aisle Seat!

Have you ever spent as much time thinking about where, on what and between whom you are going to sit in a theater as you (expats)...

Theater on a Farm

I found myself wondering this week what I was doing on a farm in the middle of Western Massachusetts.

Thoughts Prompted by the Golden Mask Festival: On Leo Tolstoy

I am filled with thoughts of Tolstoy thanks to the Golden Mask Festival, the Bolshoi Puppet Theater of St. Petersburg, and ...

Thoughts Prompted by the Golden Mask Festival: Chekhov or Not Chekhov?

Apparently, Anatoly Praudin's production of Anton Chekhov's "The Lady With the Lapdog" for the Bolshoi Drama Theater of ...

Thoughts Prompted by the Golden Mask Festival: English Drama in Russia

There is no lack of irony in Russia, but it is a completely different animal than that which shapes the British sense of humor...

Thoughts Prompted by the Golden Mask Festival: Acclaimed Director Accused of Pornography

Yevgeny Marcelli is one of Russia's most distinctive directors, as well as a modest, soft-spoken man prone to smiling when engaged in ...

New Drama Festival Dies

The Festival, originally a complement to and off-shoot of the Golden Mask, has ceased to exist after a seven-year...

An American in Moscow

Philip Arnoult, a former actor, director and producer and founder of the Theatre Project in Baltimore, has traveled the ...

Olga Mukhina on Anton Chekhov

"Chekhov wrote in an impossible style. You can't write that way. But by doing so, he gave us the right to write in ...

The Golden Mask's Curtain Call

Awards in the arts must be one of the strangest creations on earth.

Playwright Olga Mikhailova Turns Critic

In addition to being a playwright who is one of the inspirations of the influential Teatr.doc and a screenwriter...

Bulat Okudzhava's 85th Anniversary

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Bulat Okudzhava, who would have turned 85 this coming Saturday (May 9) were it not for ...

Festival of Student Productions 'Your Chance' Hits Moscow

For the fifth time in as many years, the Theater Center Na Strastnom will host one of Moscow's most unusual and fastest growing...

Lee Breuer in Moscow: 'The Gospel,' the Beats and the Blues

Lee Breuer, the brains and brawn behind Mabou Mines, one of the finest and most innovative theater organizations in the ...

Anatoly Vasilyev's School of Dramatic Art (Now Destroyed)

Ever since it became clear that Vasilyev would never again have control over the theater he created, I have wondered how I would feel setting foot...

Moscow Bids Farewell to Oleg Yankovsky

Oleg Yankovsky died at the age of 65 on Wednesday, May 20, in the wee hours of the morning. On Friday it seemed...

A Critic's Dubious Premiere in a Moscow Theater

My job in "The Epic of Lilikan" was to perform as badly as I possibly could, a task for which I have no limitations...

A New York Actress in Moscow

While in Moscow on a recent visit, OBIE award-winning actress and playwright Heidi Schreck found time to check out a number...

Notes of Latino Los Angeles at the Usadba Jazz Fest

Los Angeles-based Latino group Kimera performed at the popular summer music festival outside Moscow on Sunday, following a tour of ...

The Plain, Hard Truth About Klim

Pardon me if you have heard me tell this one about the director Alexei Yankovsky. But Yankovsky himself loves to repeat the story. In ...

In Search of Russian Theater

A duo of British theater makers came to town last week in search of material for a new project. David Farr, associate...

'Russia and U.S. Are Like Romeo and Juliet'

The man many people believe to be Los Angeles' best theater critic, Steven Leigh Morris, shares his thoughts on Russia and Russian...

'Welding and Fusing' American and Russian Culture

As a former mathematician who now runs her own theater in Los Angeles, Olga Petrakova clearly is not cookie-cutter material. FEATURES VIDEO ...

Volkostrelov's Innovative Golden Mask Production

The Golden Mask Festival is a boon for us sit-at-homes. You can't travel to Kazan or Ryazan to see the latest work from ...

A Personal Remembrance of Vasily Aksyonov

I have a personal connection to Vasily Pavlovich, who entered my life after he had already become the world-famous author of several...

Discovering Russian Art in Paris, Part One

Of all the inanimate objects that have entered my life unexpectedly, a find obtained on the quai de Gesvres one fall day in ...

Discovering Russian Art in Paris, Part Two

The Zhar-Ptitsa periodical was of extraordinary quality, something that is especially obvious in our age of fast and forgettable...

How Kama Ginkas Changed a Photographer's Life

After beginning his career shooting patterns created by rust, British theater photographer Ken Reynolds met director Kama Ginkas, a figure...

100,000 Photos and 23 Chekhov Shows

A small numbers game provides a lot of insight into the scope of the portfolio Ken Reynolds has accumulated since turning...

Tracking Lev Dodin Across Europe

Of all the Russian directors whose productions Ken Reynolds has captured on film, Dodin is second only to Kama Ginkas. FEATURES VIDEO...

Carrying the Russian Aesthetic, From Lithuania to Georgia

Eimuntas Nekrosius and Robert Sturua are arguably the greatest directors to emerge from their homelands in many decades &mdash...

Ken Reynolds on Shooting the Satirikon

The Satirikon is not merely one of the best theaters in Moscow &mdash it is a photographer's dream.

Russian Playwrights Leap From Stage to Screen

These aren't just cases of talented writers getting a chance to see their names on screen &mdash we are talking about important...

Unforgettable Theater

Theater is arguably the most perishable art form; no two nights are ever the same. So what is left, then, when a show is gone?

Russian Theater in Picture Postcards

Our theater critic gives us an in-depth look at some rare Russian theater postcards, all of them fascinating glimpses into the ...

Eda Urusova Teaches a Critic Some Lessons

Urusova was one of those people whose individual lives somehow embraced the entire history of a nation; an imposing, yet warm...

How New Russian Drama Came to Slovakia

Romana Maliti is well-known in Europe as one of the most important figures in the Slovakian theater world, but her affair with...

Polish Theater Festival Highlights the Past and Present

While directors like Ivo van Hove surprise and challenge us with works that, to quote Moscow critic Yelena Kovalskaya, come to us from ...

Did Bob Dylan Shed Tears of Rage in Russia?

"What do Russia, Bob Dylan and Christmas have in common?" One of the projected answers was this: "Dylan's ancestors...

Maksym Kurochkin Cooks Up Great Drama

"Kitchen," a weird, wild and wonderful force of nature that was commissioned by Oleg Menshikov &mdash Russia's one and ...

Lee Breuer 'Comes Home' to Moscow with 'Dollhouse'

Lee Breuer's "Mabou Mines Dollhouse" is an often bracing, often hilarious and always eclectic and hectic show that turns Henrik...

Turning Our Backs on Anton Chekhov

In his new production of "The Seagull," Kristian Smeds did what any self-respecting contemporary visionary would do when confronted...

Kristin Marting From HERE to Moscow

Director and producer Kristin Marting has found the time to travel to Moscow several times in her life, and it has intrigued...

Kristin Marting From HERE to Moscow

Director and producer Kristin Marting has found the time to travel to Moscow several times in her life, and it has intrigued...

The Noise of Time

Stihophone.ru, or the Virtual Theater of Poetry, offers mp3 recordings of poets reading themselves and actors reading poets. The ...

Olga Mukhina's 'Tanya-Tanya' Leads Russian Drama Season in United States

Towson University in Towson, Maryland, is currently hosting an entire season of Russian drama in English ?€” ten plays by ...

Yury Klavdiyev, an 'Atom-Smashing' Playwright

Yury Klavdiyev's mix of violence and tenderness, vulgarity and poetry, is now clearly beginning to make a mark in English...

Yegor Gaidar, New and Old Vocabularies and the Revival of Russian Theater

It surely would be a gross exaggeration to draw a direct line from Yegor Gaidar to the renewal of Russian theater. But...

Stories Lurk Behind a Forgotten Photo of Vsevolod Meyerhold

There's something intriguing about group portraits. The visages of famous people peer out at us from a sea of unfamiliar...

The Perfect Fit of the Russian New Year and Eldar Ryazanov

You would be forgiven for believing that Eldar Ryazanov is the sole embodiment of the Russian New Year. His 1975 comedy "The Irony...

Russian Theater for American Students

Travelling to Russia as a student is something of a rite of passage for a good many young people from all over...

My Chekhov

Anton Chekhov belongs to the world. In Russia he is Russian. In England he is English. In the United States he is American...

Theater, Radio and the Internet

Thanks to my colleague Pavel Podkladov at Podmoskovye Radio, I recently learned about a web site that combines the media of radio-theater...

Remembering the Great Vsevolod Yakut

Vsevolod Yakut was one of the Soviet Union's great actors from the 1940s to the 1980s, performing more than 150 roles on ...

Art Meets Life in A New Moscow Production

Mindaugas Karbauskis' production of "A Stalemate Lasts But a Moment," which opened last week at the National Youth Theater...

Snow No Match for Moscow Theater Audiences

As Moscow was gripped by a record-breaking snowfall during a long holiday weekend, our theater critic made a surprising discovery when...

Doing the Henry Miller in Moscow

If you read the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, Rolling Stone or almost any other major American news publication, chances are you...

An Englishman From France Who Writes about Russia

Bernard Besserglik's experience as a reporter in Moscow for 3 years illuminated many a corner of the city's arts scene and ...

'Playing Dead' in Baltimore

An encounter with one of the most iconic Russian plays of the last decade, brought something new into the life of ...

Russian Drama in Middle America

Ahead of a production in Ann Arbor, MI, of Maxim Kurochkin's legendary "Kitchen," our theater critic sat down with the ...

Russian Theater in Picture Postcards ?€” Part Two

John Freedman brings us another fascinating glimpse of Russian theater from the early 20th century seen through his personal collection...

Selling Theater ?€” Down the River?

A new breed of theater ads are appealing to those who prefer the easy-to-swallow pill that is television; It is as if they are suggesting...

What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?

If you are an American performer, writer or creator and you have visited Russia on any kind of official exchange (and vice versa...

Stray Thoughts on the 2010 Golden Mask Festival

Our theater critic, who got up close and personal with the annual festival, gives his impressions and congratulations in this Golden...

The Deep Influence of Russian Theater

Tony Award winner Robert Falls, one of the finest and most successful theater directors in the United States, talks about his...

Keeping Track of Russian and East European Performance

John Freedman sits down with the editor of a small journal published at the City University of New York that has closely...

Theory Meets Practice at Towson University

When two Russian playwrights saw their creations realized and appreciated by American theater students at a conference in Baltimore...

Russia's New Culture War

I've seen this before. Not in my lifetime, no. I saw it unfold before my astonished eyes in crumbling, yellowing newspaper clippings from ...

Repertoire, Innovation Found at Saratov Theater

Founded in 1908, Saratov Theater Yunogo Zritelya is the oldest professional children's theater in the world. It also is a powerhouse...

In Memory of Roman Kozak, 1957-2010

Roman Kozak, a director, actor and teacher who had an enormous impact on Moscow theater over three decades, was buried Sunday at ...

Remembering Andrei Voznesensky. America. 1987.

In honor of the poet Andrei Voznesensky, who passed away Tuesday, John Freedman recalls a reading he witnessed Voznesnensky give at ...

Anton Chekhov in Wood

Of all the subjects that Tomsk-based sculptor Leonty Usov has taken on over the years, Anton Chekhov is clearly a favorite.

Brian Friel's Russian Connection

Irish playwright Brian Friel, who has adapted three of Anton Chekhov's works into original stagings, arrives in Moscow this week to ...

Seeing Past the Present in Moscow, Part One

Over the course of the coming summer, our theater critic will lead you on a few walks around Moscow to offer some glimpses...

Bringing Russian Theater to Texas

Ever since Graham Schmidt, who hails from Austin, TX, encountered the plays of Anton Chekhov, he has been a man on a mission...

Seeing Past the Present, Part Two

In part two of John Freedman's summer series about historical sites honoring Moscow's artistic past, the author takes us down Tverskaya...

Developing Plays for Russia and America at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

Eugene O'Neill is one of those American writers whom Russians accept as if he were one of their own. Whether it's his Irish passion or his grand...

A Russian Fairy Tale in Rural Massachusetts

Double Edge Theater, located on a farm in the tiny town of Ashfield, Massachusetts, is a unique and surprising organization...

Seeing Past the Present, Part Three

In an exploration of one-time haunts of Moscow's major artists, our arts critic helps you enjoy an artistic stroll while avoiding...

Theater, Social Commentary and the Paradox of Moscow Traffic

Our theater critic interviewed Thomas Irmer, a German journalist and theater critic, who had a keen outsider's view of a controversial...

Martha Coigney Recalls Marilyn Monroe and More

If just one person were American theater's connection to the world, it surely would be Martha Coigney. She shares her stories of Marilyn...

Martha Coigney Recalls Marilyn Monroe and More

If just one person were American theater's connection to the world, it surely would be Martha Coigney. She shares her stories of Marilyn...

Festival Is Host to New Plays, Free Expression

It has become tradition that Moscow's theater season begins with a daunting dose of new drama. This year, at the Lyubimovka playwriting...

Taking Russian Drama to Extremes

Few discussions stir as much fire, smoke and hot air as one that the Russian theater community has been having for the last decade...

Theater Great Is Gone, But Legacy Is Just Beginning

Though Alexei Kazantsev died three years ago, the work of this playwright, director, producer and theatrical activist is thriving on ...