Published on: 2026-09-22
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The theater is a place where book heroes come to life. The third bell rings, the curtain rises, and on the stage appear the ever-wandering Pechorin, the cunning Khlestakov, or Hermann, dreaming of discovering the countess’s card secret. Thanks to skillful acting, atmospheric sets, designer costumes, and modern stage solutions, the audience is immersed in the life of other eras and can feel like time travelers.
Moscow theaters offer relevant authorial adaptations to middle and high school students, which will help them fall in love with Russian literature and better prepare for exams. Here we tell you which performances you can see in Theater named after N.V. Gogol, Moscow Drama Theatre “Modern” and In the Moscow Children’s Musical and Drama Theater “Pokolenie”.
Comedy or drama about fates?
Anton Chekhov’s plays are commonly perceived as complex psychological dramas, but the writer himself did not think so. For example, he called “The Cherry Orchard” a comedy and was always upset when people cried at performances of his other works. Chekhov created unique characters whose fates are filled with unfulfilled expectations, joys, sorrows, and irony. His work had a significant influence on the development of Russian and world dramaturgy.
Anton Chekhov wrote “The Cherry Orchard” in 1903 — the play became the last embodiment of his aspirations, hopes, and visions for the future of Russia. By 1904, the writer was gone: in 44 years he created more than 500 works — stories, plays, novellas, notes, and sketches.
Acquaintance with the works of Anton Chekhov begins in the fifth grade. In middle school, children study short stories filled with irony and love for the “little man,” and in the 10th grade, in addition to the dramatic and lyrical “The House with the Mezzanine” and “The Lady with the Dog,” they read the play “The Cherry Orchard.”
At the Modern Theatre, Chekhov’s dramaturgy is treated in a special way. The theatre’s task is to preserve the multi-layered stratum of meanings and properly emphasize it through visual means: acting, physical expression, lighting, scenery, and costumes. The director and production designer of the play “The Cherry Orchard,” Yuriy Grymov, considers this play an icon of Russian dramaturgy, a great work that remains relevant to this day.
“This is a mirror for you and me. In a quiet, seemingly mundane story, there is everything: family—its absence or imitation; changing traditions that turn into an empty formula without our participation; people living life in their own way. There are no loud events here, but entire worlds collapse and are created—albeit inside a person. Finally, there is a sense of a changing world and a frightening unknown future,” says Yuri Grymov, the artistic director of the Modern Theatre.
Working on a piece that has been staged so many times is a special kind of mastery. But at the Modern Theater, they are absolutely certain: every author’s interpretation is unique, and the work itself is so rich that it allows for the search for new meanings even 122 years after its publication.
Tickets can be purchased at the “Mosbilet” service.
Ethical statement
Another key work from the 10th-grade curriculum, interpreted on stage, is Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.” On the stage of the Gogol Theater, in a production directed by artistic director Anton Yakovlev, the story is presented in a new light.
“I believe that a director should stage only what personally resonates strongly within him, what becomes vitally necessary. For me, a play based on ‘Crime and Punishment’ is not just an illustration of a brilliant classical text, but a personal ethical statement, as well as a search for a new, vivid form of interpreting great literature,” the director says.
To better understand Rodion Raskolnikov, the viewer finds themselves in an investigative experiment, becoming part of the main character’s feverish dream. Trying to unravel the web of Raskolnikov’s memory, whose psyche displaces terrible events, the investigative team of 10 people reconstructs the details of the crime.
The idea for the novel arose in Dostoevsky during the 1850s, while he was in penal servitude. Initially, he planned to write a ‘confession-novel,’ where the main character would narrate the crime and the spiritual torments himself, but later changed his mind. Active work on the book began much later—in 1865. Dostoevsky created a grand work in which he saw the only means of escaping moral ruin—faith, hope, and love.
For Anton Yakovlev, “Crime and Punishment” is a special work: “It is one of those major novels that must be read, even if you don’t like Dostoevsky, because it is a defining, key work in world literature. The novel astonishingly reveals the dual nature of human beings. It is like a mirror in which everyone can see their dark and bright sides, and I have always been interested in the theme of internal conflict, the split between these sides.”
The main characters of the novel — young people, almost the same age as the young readers — experience a severe internal crisis. Alone, they try to cope with a flood of worries and problems. She — an 18-year-old girl with clear eyes, full of compassion and tenderness — Sonya Marmeladova, who has to compromise her spiritual values to help her family. He — a smart 23-year-old law student Rodion Raskolnikov, whom financial difficulties lead to moral and physical exhaustion, pushing him toward crime. Life circumstances, attempts to cope with them, and social ideas lead the characters down the path of self-destruction. But, finding support in each other, they not only discover love but also find a way out of despair and hopelessness — through repentance and accepting responsibility for their actions.
“This novel is especially important for young people who are just beginning to form their views on life. Even in my youth, it greatly helped me determine my attitude toward the world, faith, and the essence of things. The theme of dividing people into those who ‘have the right’ and the ‘inferior material’ is not just an abstract philosophical idea. Raskolnikov’s theory is alive, and such division, as life and history show, exists today as well. To what extent can a person go to the edge in their imaginary greatness? What can stop them before an actual murder? Is it only fear of punishment, or are there certain internal principles that make the very thought impossible?” — the director contemplates.
Tickets can be purchased at service “Mosbilet”.
Musical interpretation of the classics
A timeless novel — Alexander Pushkin’s “Dubrovsky” — was published only eight years after it was written, when the author was no longer alive. Critics condescendingly noted its flaws and highlighted its merits. Vissarion Belinsky called the work melodramatic and the protagonist Dubrovsky unsympathetic, while drawing attention to the talented depiction of the landowners’ way of life and lifestyle. Historian Vasily Klyuchevsky emphasized: “Dubrovsky the son is the other pole of the century and at the same time its denial. In him, features of the gentle, noble, romantically protesting and bitterly deceived by fate Alexandrovets, a member of the Union of Prosperity, are already noticeable.”
At the Moscow Children’s Musical and Drama Theater “Pokolenie,” located near Ryazansky Prospekt, a family play has been created. Children study the novel in the sixth or seventh grade, and the best way to understand the characters and feel part of the events is to go to the theater. In the play “Dubrovsky,” the drama and lyricism of the events are revealed through music, dance, and vocal performance.
The dynamic change of scenery, enhanced by light projections, keeps the young audience from getting bored. Watching the events on stage, the children completely forget about their smartphones. Here are the folk dances of the peasants, here is the bold rock performed by the judge Shabashkin, bribed by the landowner Troekurov, and here are the lyrical pop songs conveying Masha’s feelings.
“Music has long held a significant place in performances, even in dramatic ones. And of course, it is an important tool in our theater. What is this connected to? I think it helps reveal characters, emphasize a particular situation or action, and make the performance more vivid in terms of understanding for the audience,” shares Artur Mukhametdinov, the actor playing Vladimir Dubrovsky.
The “Pokolenie” Theatre was founded in 1987 under the direction of the Honored Artist and Honored Art Worker of Russia, Gennady Chikhachev. The director envisioned the theatre as a space combining professional vocals, dramatic acting, choreography, and orchestral music. That is why all vocal performances in the theatre are performed live and accompanied by an orchestra.
The literary adaptation of Pushkin’s novel for the performance was created by the honored artist Kim Breitburg and the author of poetic texts and libretto Karen Kavalerian.
“I believe that the key task of our theater is to carry kindness, brightness, eternity, especially for the young audience. As for me personally, I always try to convey to the audience the essence of my character: if he is positive, to show his bright sides; if negative, then somewhat didactically, through his image, explain to children how one should not act. But only the audience has the right to decide whose side to take and whom to sympathize with. And our actors’ task is to share energy, be honest with the audience and with ourselves,” adds Artur Mukhametdinov.
At the end of the performance, the actors and the audience do not rush to leave — the celebration continues. In a special photo zone, the actors spend a long time interacting with the children, taking photos as keepsakes, and giving autographs.
Tickets for the performance can be purchased at the “Mosbilet” service.
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