LEV DODIN / MALY TEATR

THE MOSCOW CHOIR

Written by Lyudmila Petruschevskaja, writer of biting short stories and theatre pieces, The Moscow Choir narrates the lives, the aspirations, the dreams – but also the brutalities, the arrogance and abuses - of the inhabitants of a kommunalka, a shared flat in Moscow in 1956/1957.
The vivid group of personalities who populates this microcosmos is interpreted by the extraordinary cast of the Maly Theatre. The staging is by Igor Konyaev, a former student of Lev Dodin, who is the artistic coordinator of this project.

“Lyudmila Petruschevskaja is among the most important contemporary Russian dramaturges, a writer full of humanity and sincerity. The period she is talking about is already history, but it is also the time in which the origins of our present are taking shape. Staging The Moscow Choir, I’ve tried to remember those years of my childhood and adolescence. For me, it is a very special play and I hope that the public will discover its affinities to the Russian people.” Lev Dodin

The Moscow Choir illuminates the period of the XX Congress of the Communist Party (which began to question the cult of Stalin) with a glimpse of history, that shines through the private themes of the kommunalka.

The destiny of three generations of a Moscow family at the beginning of the Kruschev epoch: in a little apartment, Lika awaits the return of her sister and her niece, finally liberated after the new regime has closed down Stalin’s gulags. The arrival of these two women leads us into the heart of the family clan, surviving in a diverse and painfull reality. Parallely, the other inhabitants of the kommunalka have formed a choir, trying to win a singing competition: final prize is a travel to the attracting and “transgressive” Berlin of these days.

A great choral spectacle which is marked by the unmistakable poetics of the Maly Theatre.
Duration: three hours with one intermission.

PRODUCTION DATES
Milan, Italy, Italian Première, Teatro Strehler, 28 October - 2 November 2003