On November 28 and 29, the Irkutsk Drama Theater named after N. P. Okhlopkov will stage the season's main premiere, The Idiot by F. M. Dostoevsky. Director Gennady Shaposhnikov views it through a world without faith and Holbeins Dead Christ.
At the Irkutsk Regional Drama Theater named after N. P. Okhlopkov, the main premiere of this theater season will take place on November 28, 2015 — the play “The Idiot” based on the novel by the Russian writer F. M. Dostoevsky. The production director is Gennady Shaposhnikov. The creator based his vision of the production on the idea of a “world without faith,” touching on a key scene in the novel — the influence of the painting “Dead Christ” on the characters.“The novel mentions Hans Holbein’s painting ‘Dead Christ’ twice. I have seen productions based on different stage adaptations of ‘The Idiot’ (including one of the most famous — Yuri Olesha’s). Nowhere was this episode included. Apparently, burning money in the fireplace seems more interesting. But that detail is of enormous importance — the painting depicts Christ as a mortal and truly dead man who can no longer rise again,” says Gennady Shaposhnikov. “In world culture, the Resurrection of Christ is an image of the rebirth in a person’s soul of everything bright, pure, and sincere. If this does not happen, the world is doomed, Dostoevsky said many years ago. We are now living in such a world. We go to church, perform rituals, but no more than that. It is not within us. And if there is no belief in immortality, there are no boundaries and no reason to restrain oneself. So we live by the laws where anything is allowed. I am not calling for anything — I feel that if there is no spiritual support, no faith that our earthly life is not the final point on the journey, it is quite difficult for a person to remain human.”
The play “The Idiot” will run on November 28 and 29 at 6:30 p.m. on the main stage of the Irkutsk Drama Theater named after Okhlopkov
Tickets are available at the theater box office at: 14 Karl Marx St. (from 12:00 to 18:30)
Tel.: 8(3952)200-477, 200-488, 250-15
Reference: Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot” is one of the most powerful works of classical Russian literature. Here the individual — weak or strong — is broken down into tiny pieces, held together by a hurricane of passions.