On February 6 and 7, the premiere of the play “About Love” will take place on the New Stage of the Peter Fomenko Theater Workshop. This is a joint project of the theater and the VII Winter International Yuri Bashmet Art Festival in Moscow.

Famous characters from various Chekhov plays and short stories will take the stage: Uncle Vanya, Charlotte Ivanovna, Mikhail Astrov, Nikolai Ivanov, Pavel Lebedev and many others. The title also has a provocative subtitle: “5 pounds of love, 22 misfortunes, 33 tantrums.” Outwardly, the plot is simple: guests from all Chekhov’s plays come to the couple – there is not a word “from myself”, but at the same time a new drama has been created. It is a kaleidoscope of human lives and destinies.

The space that the viewer will see on stage will turn out to be an unfinished gazebo in the garden. Polina Agureeva, the director of the play, explains: “All the guests gather for lunch, and the famous Jewish orchestra led by Yuri Bashmet is invited as entertainment. But there is nothing to pay for it. I won’t go on to say how it all ends. Let the intrigue remain.”

The production features dramatic actors Ilya Shakunov, Vladimir Toptsov, Varvara Nasonova, Alexey Vertkov, Maxim Litovchenko and others, as well as the Moscow Soloists Chamber Ensemble conducted by People’s Artist of the USSR Yuri Bashmet. The music for the play was written by Valery Voronov: this is his third collaboration with Polina Agureeva (before that, there were “The Living and the Dead” based on the novel by K. Simonov and “The Soborians” based on the novel by N. Leskov).

The festival is supported by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and the Moscow Government Department of Culture.

Based on the materials of the Musical Life magazine

Tickets: https://bmaf.ru/o-ljubvi-5-pudov-ljubvi-22-neschastja-33-isteriki/