Sovremennik Theatre (Russia’s oldest theatre company) makes a return to London this May (following a season at the Noël Coward Theatre in 2011) with a triple bill of plays at the Piccadilly Theatre, performed in Russian with English surtitles and directed by Artistic Director Galina Volchek, one of the company's founding members.
The season begins on 3 May with Three Comrades, based on the 1936 novel All Quiet on the Western Front by German author Erich Maria Remarque. Set in Germany at the height of the depression, it tells the story of Robert Lohkamp, a disillusioned figure whose outlook on life is marred by his horrifying experiences in the trenches during the First World War. When Robert meets a beautiful and mysterious young woman, his nihilistic outlook starts to change.
This is followed on 8 May by a Russian twist on the American drama Two for the Seesaw by William Gibson. Set in New York, the play follows the course of an intense and tempestuous affair between a brooding Nebraska lawyer who has relocated to New York to escape his marriage and an eccentric dancer he meets at a party. Chulpan Khamatova and Kirill Safanov will perform the lead roles.
The season concludes with the return of The Sovremennik’s production of Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters.
The first play that Chekhov wrote specifically for the Moscow Art Theatre, The Three Sisters, like many of his works, explores the decay of the privileged class in Russia and their search for meaning in the modern world. Three sisters, Olga, Masha and Irina Prozorov yearn for a life in Moscow away from their provincial home. As a succession of guests, family and lovers visit their house, events unfold that will shape their destinies.