“The Karamazovs” by Konstantin Bogomolov

In a pitch black lounge which, with its corporate desks, marble facing, chesterfield sofas and plasma screens showing the actors’ expressions in real time, resembles nothing less than the anteroom to a VIP mausoleum, the murdered Karamazov père is laid out in a high-tech solarium.

Bizarre figures parade by to strange music: everything from Russian pop to ballads by Freddie Mercury and Nick Cave. The controversial production from Moscow’s historic Chekhov Art Theatre on stage outside Russia for the first time after an invitation from the Onassis Cultural Centre.

Extreme characters and extreme relationships. A police thriller and courtroom drama surrounding a cold-blooded patricide. Erotic intrigues and fiery speeches on justice, ethics, free will, faith, pleasure and debauchery. In “The Brothers Karamazov” (1880), Dostoyevsky explores the contradictory complexities of human nature through the story of the brutal Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his sons. Aesthetically unconventional, politically edgy and unsuitable for minors, Konstantin Bogomolov’s production updates the Brothers Karamazov from late 19th-century Russia and the abolition of serfdom to the modern bourgeois world of Russia’s oligarchs to lash with black humour the country’s current social and moral decline.

The word “Brothers” has been removed from the title and the youngest Karamazov is played by a female actor; because civil strife doesn’t blight a single family or men only—it’s a blight on all humanity.

Direction: Konstantin Bogomolov
Stage Design: Larisa Lomakina
Light Design: Damir Ismagilov
Video Design: Alexander Simonov
Stage Manager: Irena Arkhangelskaya
Cast: Igor Mirkurbanov, Roza Khairullina, Philipp Yankovsky, Konstantin Bogomolov, Alexey Kravchenko, Viktor Verzbitskiy, Darya Moroz, Aleksandra Rebenok, Marina Zudina, Natalia Kudryashova, Maxim Matveev, Pavel Chinarev, Danil Steklov, Nadezhda Borisova, Maria Karpova, Svetlana Kolpakova, Artem Panchyk, Vladimir Panchyk

Info:
3-6 JΑΝ 2016
19:00
Main Stage
5 hours (with two intermissions)
Tickets
Full price: 15–18–25–36–45 €
Reduced or Small groups
(5-9 people): 11–14–20–29–36 €
Large groups (10+ people):
9 – 12 – 18 – 27 – 34 €
People with disabilities: 5 € –
Companions: 10 €
Unemployed: 5 €

SOURCE: Onassis Cultural Centre
PHOTO: © Martin Argyroglo