Two Evenings in a Merry House

V. Verbin
A drama in two acts based on A. Kuprin’s novel “The Pit”
Director: Grigory Kozlov
Production Designer: Vasily Semyonov
Costume Designer: Natalya Grosheva
Light Designer: Elena Kuznetsova
Musical Direction: Maxim Studenovsky
Sound Designer: Andrei Yuryev
Stage Manager: Vera Lachinova
The play is based on A. I. Kuprin’s novel The Pit. However, V. Verbin, while taking the main storyline of that famous work, made significant changes to the plot.
In the closed space of a brothel live prostitutes. The feel pain and joy, make friends and enemies, argue and make peace, and desperately wait for a love that doesn’t come...
In Grigory Kozlov’s production, the women are more important and interesting than the men. They’re dignified, capable of love and friendship, self-sacrificing and generous, while the “strong gender” lacks these qualities. These women are doomed to live in a world created by men in their image, in a world of false values, petty passions and cheap ambitions. This world is “cruel and coarse”, but no other world exists. Beyond the walls of the brothel is another brothel, where there is even more violence, deception and perversion.
The show’s creators tell us a provoking story about the fate of women, of offended female dignity, of crucified femininity and beauty. It tells this story with pain but without strain or accusatory pathos. It’s a play about violence but without violence. It has a lot of warmth, tenderness, and light humor. For life is all around, and in it there will always be room for love, friendship and simple human joys...
The premiere took place on October 1st, 2011.
Duration: 3 hours with one intermission. For audiences 18 and up.
Cast:
Emma Eduardovna
Zhenka
Tamara
Manka
Lyubka
Sonya
Henrietta
Platonov
Gladyshev
Kolya Gladyshev
Simeon
Vanka-Vstanka
Solomon
Lyonka the Thief
Sobashnikov
Likhonin
Actor
Proshka
Ober-Conductor
Doctor, German Language Teacher
Georgy
Arina Lykova, Polina Sidikhina
Maria Valeshnaya, Alexandra Mareeva
Anna Arefyeva, Marina Damineva
Alyona Artyomova
Polina Vorobyova, Polina Prikhodko
Polina Nevedomskaya, Maria Polikarpova
Ivan Strelkin, Evgeni Shumeiko, Maxim Fomin
Andrei Gavryushkin, Sergei Intyakov
Mikhail Kasapov, Evgeni Shumeiko
Konstantin Grishanov
Alexei Vedernikov, Vladimir Karpov, Evgeni Perevalov
Ilya Shorokhov
Sergei Alimpiev, Vladimir Studenovsky
Oleg Abalyan, Evgeni Shumeiko, Vasily Shipitsyn
Vladimir Kochurov
Arseniy Semyonov
Nikolai Kuglyant
Ricardo Marin, Vladimir Studenovsky
Maxim Studenovsky
Oleg Abalyan, Andrei Didik, Mikhail Kasapov, Evgeni Perevalov, Evgeni Shumeiko