With one of the country's principal theatrical events drawing near, the Melikhovo Spring International Festival, which this year runs from 23 May to 1 June at the Anton Pavlovich Chekhov Museum-Reserve "Melikhovo", has gathered for you…
"Uncle Vanya". "Theatre Ark in Dubrava" Drama Theatre (Sergiev Posad). This play by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is more than a hundred years old. The company behind the production asked itself: "Who are these people, Chekhov's heroes, now, in the 21st century?"
"Dreams of My Life". Independent theatre project "CHEKHONTE" (Republic of Belarus). The director reinterprets the love story of the writer Lydia Avilova and A. P. Chekhov.
"Seagulls". Novosibirsk City Drama Theatre. The production is an exploration of Chekhov's dramaturgy, combining the plots of several of his plays into a single statement on the playwright's principal themes.
"The Prozorovs". "SAD" Theatre on Pushkin Street (Ufa). A director's version of the play "Three Sisters". The surname of each of the four heroines present on stage. Nobody else. The production is built as though we see the women of this family in close-up, against which the remaining characters are lost.
"The Cherry Orchard". Oryol State Academic Theatre named after I. S. Turgenev. A play that for nearly a century and a half has not left the stages of Russian and foreign theatres.
"The Seagull". Tver Regional Theatre for Young Audiences. The action on stage unfolds outside time and the customary setting of a country house of the nobility. What matters here is not the outward, but what the characters experience and feel.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream". Tambov State Academic Drama Theatre. The production poetically extols ancient culture, celebrating the origins of world theatre. The heroes, passing through trials, receive from the gods the greatest of gifts: Love! To love or not to love? That is the question of the great Shakespeare.
"The Winter's Tale". Bryantsev Theatre for Young Spectators (Saint Petersburg). One of Shakespeare's last plays is explored in the production through the prism of the historical personality of the author himself, for whom, in the director's view, this work became a creative testament.
The oldest theatre showcase in Russia of productions based on the works of Chekhov or about Chekhov takes place this year for the 25th time. The festival also has its traditional special programme "Chekhov+", presenting productions based on the works of another author. At the 2025 festival it will include productions based on the works of William Shakespeare.
