Published on: 2026-10-01
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The theater stage has long become a space for direct dialogue between actors, directors, artists, and the audience. The number of topics for exploration grows with each decade, while plots created hundreds of years ago gain new meanings. Each era enriches history with its great personalities who inspire descendants. In October, premieres of performances dedicated to the prose writer and playwright Yevgeny Shvarts, opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin, and poet Nikolay Nekrasov will take place in Moscow theaters.
We tell about six productions in N.V. Gogol Theater, Theater on Trubnaya, theater “Center for Dramaturgy and Directing”, Stas Namin’s Theater, “Pokrovka.Theatre” and The Teresa Durova Theater.
On transformation, love, and… a bear
Can one imagine a wonderful transformation from a clumsy bear into a handsome young man? And is it possible to love a frightening creature with pure and selfless love? The Gogol Theater invites you to recall one of the most phantasmagoric and sincere love stories, imbued with folkloric motifs. The premiere of the play “An Ordinary Miracle,” based on the eponymous work by Yevgeny Schwartz, is timed to coincide with the 130th anniversary of the playwright’s birth. The production will be a gift for everyone who has read the play or remembers the cult film by Mark Zakharov starring Oleg Yankovsky, Irina Kupchenko, Yevgeny Leonov, Alexander Abdulov, and Yevgeniya Simonova.
The play invites reflection on the relationship between a man and a woman, which over the years becomes stronger if nurtured. “For me, this story is not only a fairy tale but also an exploration of the relationship between two people. He, the creator of the play, is overwhelmed by a creative crisis and the question of his own purpose. She, his life companion, tries to understand her place in the shadow of a great artist. Will they be able to hear each other in the end and find a way out of the labyrinth they created themselves?” — reflects director Pavel Parkhomenko.
As explained in the prologue of the play by Yevgeny Schwartz himself, “An Ordinary Miracle” is a fairy tale about love, in which the strength of the characters’ feelings “reaches such heights that it begins to perform true miracles.” The play was special to the writer and had an autobiographical character. He dedicated “An Ordinary Miracle” to his wife Ekaterina Ivanovna and embodied her features in the character of the Mistress, while the Master is in some way a self-portrait of the playwright himself.
Schwartz worked on the play for a total of 10 years, carefully making edits, reading excerpts to friends, and reflecting on every word. He also changed the title several times: initially, the work was called “The Bear,” and the final title was fixed in 1956 when the theater asked the author to come up with a heading for the posters. The play became a summing up for Schwartz, a profound reflection on the meaning of life, creativity, and, of course, the power of love.
The roles will be performed by Dmitry Vysotsky, Lyubov Konstantinova, Evgeny Putsylo, Maryana Epinatyeva, Sergey Muravyov, and others. The next performances will take place on October 10 and 24, tickets are available through the service. “Mosbilet”.
About a musical genius without boundaries
A young man from a simple peasant family who became the most sought-after artist on the best stages in the world — Fyodor Chaliapin. He was not only a singer but also an actor, artist, and author of outstanding memoirs. Thanks to his parents’ upbringing, he knew how to do everything: in his youth, he worked as a clerk, a hawker, and a loader, unafraid of hard and dirty work. But in the end, Chaliapin chose the path of art — no less easy, requiring willpower and endurance. He was received with sold-out performances at Milan’s La Scala, awaited with excitement in the best theaters of Rome, Paris, Monte Carlo, Berlin, in Japan, Canada, and, of course, on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. Chaliapin participated in Sergei Diaghilev’s Russian seasons, befriended Maxim Gorky, helped the children of Russian emigrants, and left a legacy of 70 opera roles and 400 chamber works.
The premiere of the musical performance “Shalyapin” will take place at the Theater on Trubnaya, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the world of the legendary opera singer. It will feature excerpts from Fyodor Shalyapin’s memoirs, poems by his contemporaries, and music inseparably connected with the artist’s life.
“It is a living picture of Shalyapin’s life. Actors on stage enact stories from his biography, taking on the personas of Maxim Gorky, Savva Mamontov, Boris Kustodiev, and even Marilyn Monroe. The performers ‘jump into’ these roles, and after playing them, take on others. All this is interspersed with live performances of arias from Shalyapin’s repertoire, while one of the actors literally captures everything taking place on a huge canvas right during the performance,” the director Mikhail Umanets says.
The roles are played by Maksim Maminov, Ekaterina Grishaeva, Maksim Maltsev, Elizaveta Karyakina, Ekaterina Lisitsyna, and others. The next screening will take place on October 17, tickets can be purchased through the service “Mosbilet”.
On pain, strength of spirit, and creativity — on the threshold of eternity
Another great cultural figure to be honored with a theatrical premiere is the poet Nikolai Nekrasov. This year marks the 205th anniversary of his birth. The play “Nekrasov” unfolds in the poet’s final hours. Before the audience stands a tired, tormented man who coldly and straightforwardly sums up his life on a global scale. Before him, as if on a palm, lies his entire life: both muses that inspired him, the stern censor ruthlessly ruling over manuscripts, and Nekrasov himself, appearing simultaneously in three different forms — at various years.
“We have all looked at the portrait of Nekrasov among others for years in the school’s literature classroom. Alexander Pushkin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sergey Yesenin, Nikolay Nekrasov… But the curriculum does not allow for a full understanding of the scale of his personality and creative legacy. For me, it is very important not to compete with the school, but rather to complement it with my theatrical methods, to do everything possible so that the younger generation regains the Russian geniuses, the great Russian language — the foundation of our faith, and is filled with pride for our powerful culture,” notes the artistic director of the theater and its chief director, Tereza Durova.
“The performance always depends on everyone.” Tereza Durova on live theatre and art without pretense
Nekrasov is familiar to everyone from the school curriculum; touching lines from his works “Frost, Red Nose,” “Russian Women,” “Who Is Happy in Russia” are read in lessons. However, the deep meaning of his compositions, filled with the poet’s emotions, his sincere sympathy for the peasantry, and subtle observations of human characters and destinies, becomes truly understood only years later.
Nekrasov’s father was a cruel landowner who often raised his hand against peasants and household members. But in the boy, who witnessed lawlessness and injustice, only compassion and sympathy for people were strengthened. Despite his father’s demand to receive a military education, Nekrasov followed his own path and became a writer. Enduring hardships and poverty, at first he gave private lessons and wrote vaudevilles, but thanks to his willpower and diligence, by the age of 26 he became the editor of the famous magazine “Sovremennik,” and later headed “Otechestvennye Zapiski.” Nekrasov had a great influence on public views and reflected much on serfdom in his works. At the age of 54, the poet died of cancer, leaving more than 400 works.
“In the play, we turn to the last hours of Nekrasov’s life, who was departing in inhuman suffering, yet until the very last second did not let go of his pen. To preserve a clear poetic mind, he refused to take painkillers. And at that time, crowds of people gathered at the threshold of his house, interested in what the poet’s final lines would be. Throughout life, and even after it, the creator may be accompanied by gossip, assumptions, and misinterpretations of his actions—and only in these fateful hours does a person fully realize himself; at the end of the journey, he is crystal clear. And the fact that Nekrasov passed away during the bright Christmas days probably says a lot,” adds the director.
To create the play, Teresa Durova worked with the funds of the Memorial Museum-Apartment of N.A. Nekrasov (part of the All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin in Saint Petersburg). Relying on rare photographs and documents obtained from scientific consultants, she carefully recreated the spirit of the time.
The roles are performed by Vladimir Sedletsky, Sergey Batov, Andrey Batov, Darya Lukyanchenko, and others. The upcoming performances will take place on October 2 and 21, November 26; tickets can be purchased through the service “Mosbilet”.
Eight women, lots of pink, and music
The premiere will also take place on the stage of Stas Namin’s Theater. The play “8 Loving Women” is distinguished by bright eccentric costumes, rich lighting, and dynamic choreography. The action unfolds on Christmas Eve. Eight women — representatives of three generations of one family — gather in a snow-covered country house. But the idyll quickly collapses: the body of the house owner is found in the study. The connection is cut off, the car has broken down, there are no outsiders in the house — therefore, the crime was committed by one of those present. Each has her own motive, personal drama, and secret. During the investigation, the heroines gradually shed their masks, and the established family roles lose their stability.
In the interpretation by the Stas Namin Theater, Robert Thomas’s play acquires new shades: the theater’s signature musical style harmoniously combines with the psychological depth of the acting and expressive scenography. Director Olga Terekhun emphasizes contrasts—from light humor to sharp dramatic experiences. The music serves as a full participant in the action, intensifying the emotional tension. Behind the outward facade of family well-being lie long-standing conflicts, unspoken grievances, and the vulnerability of human relationships. The production creators invite the audience to explore the contradictory nature of family ties—to see their bright and dark sides, to laugh at the absurdity of everyday contradictions, and to reflect on the fragility of trust that can rapidly collapse under the weight of mutual suspicions.
The roles are played by Vera Zudina, Nadezhda Bodrova, Irina Lakhnovskaya, Emily Gambrill, Karina Kolitinova, and others. The next performances will take place on October 15 and November 19, tickets are available on the service “Mosbilet”.
About the world through thorns
The literary basis of the play “One Absolutely Happy Village” on the stage of the “Center for Dramaturgy and Directing” theater (as part of the theater “Lenkom of Mark Zakharov”) became the eponymous novella by Boris Vakhtin from 1965 — a work where pastoral motifs coexist with the tragic fracture of history, and the serene village life is swept away by war.
Director Vaclav Dembovsky transforms the story of a village into a multilayered artistic experience: the viewer does not observe from the outside but seems to live through fragments of this world from within. “One absolutely happy village is not marked on any map. It exists outside of time and space — where a person has not yet separated themselves from the land, river, and well, where everything is alive and spirited, and love is as simple as spring water. This is a performance about how a person, even when the world around is collapsing, is capable of remaining a part of nature, breathing in unison with it and loving,” says the director.
The Soviet writer, philosopher, and playwright Boris Vakhtin called his novella a song. The surrounding world in the text literally comes alive: a garden scarecrow “communicates” with the protagonist, a well-crane conducts inner monologues, and a tree “puts down roots with meaning.” The novella is built on the principle of accumulating episodes: autonomous scenes, devoid of direct logical connection, gradually form a holistic artistic image. Compositionally, the text is organized as a series of novellas. The setting remains unchanged — it is a northern Russian village, and recurring characters live there throughout an entire era. The chronology in the “song” covers the years of collectivization, the Great Patriotic War, and the post-war post-war period.
At the center of the narrative are the fates of peasants. The story of Mikheev and Polina unfolds through several key moments: a pre-war wedding, the loss of a husband at the front, and the subsequent finding of support alongside Franz — a German prisoner of war. Through these personal stories, the author recreates an authentic rural setting with its characteristic speech patterns, internal laws, and ethical principles. At the same time, the author avoids definitive judgments: everyday life appears as a blend of trials and bright moments, without embellishment or demonization.
The roles are played by Anastasia Pronina, Vitaly Vasilyev, Viktor Sapelkin, Maria Repina, Regina Azgamova, and others. The next performance will take place on November 13, and tickets can be purchased through the service “Mosbilet”.
About the price of a dream
A premiere awaits at the “Pokrovka.Theatre” space — a play about love, talent, and passions, “Fans and Talents,” based on a play by Alexander Ostrovsky. It is the story of a young actress from a provincial theater, Sasha Negina, who dreams of a big stage. She faces a choice: to lead a quiet and peaceful family life or to become a guest at social evenings and dinners with patrons? To remain true to herself or to compromise her principles for the sake of career and fame?
In the play, Ostrovsky asks the question: is it possible to become part of the star-studded theatrical world without losing one’s emotional sensitivity and purity, without becoming hardened by intrigues and passions? This is exactly what happened to the senior actress of a provincial theatre, Nina Smelskaya, who ceased to belong to herself. She has many generous admirers; she is frivolous and natural in her choice — and this is the same path that Negina offers.
“Although the play was written in 1881, if you reread it today, it becomes clear that in almost a century and a half many things have not changed. Questions of talent and money, actresses and admirers, dreams and circumstances, honesty and choice — all remain relevant. My heroine utters the phrase: ‘Is there anything worse than our female condition?’ Ostrovsky speaks about things and situations that we recognize perfectly today,” shares Anastasia Baykaeva, the actress playing Smelskaya.
Ostrovsky, with elegant irony and keen insight, reveals the backstage of theatrical life: fervent passions, ambitious pursuits, devoted fans, and tangled intrigues. In this world, creativity intertwines with financial gain, sincere feelings with cold calculation, and talent is forced to resist those who, while providing support, seek to impose their own conditions. In his play, director Stepan Danilov has striven to preserve the tone of Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy as much as possible, emphasizing it through lighting, music, and choreography.
“For me, this is a story about growing up, about the first encounter of youth with a complex, ambiguous world, about the choice between a dream and a quiet family life. And, of course, about the theater, about the people inside and around it,” explains the director.
To convey the contrast between the silence of a small town and the shine of metropolitan life, the artists created a conceptual space divided into two parts. “The main element of the scenography is the slanted floor: the space of the Negins’ house shrinks, and the ceiling presses down on the characters. The birch trees on the sides of the stage symbolize girlhood and a simple but genuinely emotional life. At the back of the stage is a billiard table—a symbol of the unreachable world of wealth. It’s always smoky and noisy there,” notes the production designer Anna Topuridze.
The screenings will take place on October 9 and 10, tickets can be purchased through the service “Mosbilet”.
Learn about plays, concerts, exhibitions, and other interesting events on the official channels of “Mosbilet” on “Makse” and “Telegram”.
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