A play about the last night in the life of Russian Czar Nikolai II (Aleksandr Zbruyev) and in the life of Yurovsky, his assassin (Mikhail Ulyanov). The action takes place on the dying day of the assassin, who is visited by the former head of the Cheka, another participant in the murder. He was played by Yevgeny Mironov – one of his strangest and most intense roles. Ulyanov and Mironov engaged in a striking dialogue of two different generations and schools of acting, neither of which would take a back seat to the other.

The production was built around this dialogue, as well as the concept of presenting the final moments of the butcher and his prey as a terrifying and compelling circus performance. Scenes of the hospital where Yurovsky lay dying were intermingled with sequences set in the room where the former ruler of Russia and his family spent the night preceding their murder.

(No longer in repertory)

Yevgeny Mironov's recognition for the role:
• International Stanislavsky Award for Best Actor of the Season, 1996-97