This showcase of brilliant performances in a profound and spellbinding production by Kirill Serebrennikov is one of the best shows on the Moscow Art Theater's stage today. The story of the deterioration of a family undermined by personal vices is rendered here as a sweeping look at the deterioration of the human being, the country, the world. The director examines the dark times of conscience – be it that of a single man or a whole system of government, be it yesterday or today. The terrifyingly relevant production stupefies with its chilling, vampirical effect of depletion – and with its sheer perfection. "Little Judas" Golovlyov, a tender monster who speaks in the cadences of Dostoyevsky's Prince Myshkin, an Antichrist whose greatest danger is his superficial similarity to the most saintlike character in all of Russian literature, is one of Yevgeny Mironov's rare portraits of evil. The masterful actor demonstrates the myriad nuances of playing a one-string instrument, the way to dance the grand waltz on a single dot in a director's blueprint.
(In repertory)
Yevgeny Mironov's recognition for the role:
