This staging is weighty proof to the claim that the merits of a play itself don't matter so much: the most important thing is the merits of the director, as even the most brilliant plays get ruined sometimes by talentless interpretations.

Of course, I agree that some plays just can't be staged well, so poor, raw or blunt are they, but this obviously isn't the case with Ray Cooney's Out of Order, staged by Vladimir Mashkov. Though this comedy is not considered to be of an elevated style, the walls of the Moscow Chekhov Art Theater haven't heard such irrepressible laughter for many years.

A comedy of situations where the most unbelievable events happen one after the other in room No. 13 of London's "Westminster" hotel can't even be retold, so swift and intricate is the plot.

A significant figure in British politics, Mr. Richard Willy (one of the Sovremennik Theater's leading stars, Avangard Leontyev), instead of participating in Parliament debates, spends time with his lover, Jane (Yanina Kolesnichenko), who is terrified of her husband (Igor Zolotovitsky).

This is just the beginning. After this events become totally hectic and out of control because everyone seems to appear in the wrong place at the wrong time. The central figure of the play is Mr. Willy's secretary, George (absolutely exquisitely performed by Yevgeny Mironov), a very modest and cultured young man who has to cover for his boss and pretend to be passionately in love with his wife.

Anyway, by the culmination of the play the audience just groans with laughter. A brilliant staging and brilliant acting, and hence all tickets will be sold through the end of February. No, I'm not teasing you, just giving you the good advice to go and hunt for tickets for March, otherwise those will be sold out, too.