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Mikhail Bulgakov's mystical fantasies have perfectly taken root on the Moscow stage, keeping the satirical hints, philosophical thoughts, theological and mystical moods and the lyricism of the title characters of his perennial Master and Margarita novel.
The famous Hungarian stage and film director Janos Sas did not hesitate to send the heroes of the novel to the abstract XXI century, and set the scene nowhere else but in the Moscow metro. The innovative version of the classical novel is performed at the famous Moscow Chekhov Art Theatre.
So the stage costumes and occupation of the characters correspond to modern realities. Thus, Koroviev appears as the top manager of a certain advertising company, Georges Bengalsky as a TV showman, and Styopa Likhodeev as a bohemian canary. Woland performed by Dmitry Nazarov, although elegant and charismatic, is nevertheless simplified and reminds of a powerful modern oligarch.
The main characters of the novel and, accordingly, the play are not only and not so much Master and Margarita, as Joshua and Pilate. One brought Goodness to the world, contrary to prevailing realities, and eventually paid with his earthly life for it; the other caved in under the same realities and thereby doomed himself to eternal torment. Their duet is the nerve centre of the entire stage production.
A very special role belongs to the setting of the play. The mood of the whole production is determined by the metropolitan subway - a tunnel with an inevitably and aggressively approaching searchlight, aggressive turnstiles and an endless human flow. 
The magnificent scenery created by Nikolai Simonov is expressive and symbolic. At the end of the play, the tunnel in front of Master and Margarita is illuminated with a lunar disk, which is associated with the Melancholy planet of Lars von Trier, pouring its dark light onto the European plains.
The stage production lasts 3 hours 20 minutes.
When: January 30, February 6 and February 14, 2020.
Where: Chekhov Moscow Art Theater at the address 3, Kamergersky Lane, next to the metro station Okhotny Ryad, Moscow.
Read the Biography of Mikhail Bulgakov
The Bulgakov House Museum
Author: Vera Ivanova
