The premiere of the theatrical circus show "Pushkin's Dreams" will take place in Moscow

Moscow will host Russia's first world-class show in the format of the new Pushkin's Dreams circus. The shows, which will be held from May 29 to September 21, 2025 at the Druzhba Universal Sports Hall in Luzhniki, will open a new page in the history of the Russian circus — large-scale, original and truly innovative.

The production is based on Pushkin's fairy tales, told in the language of a trick: "Ruslan and Lyudmila", "The Tale of the dead Princess", "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", "About the fisherman and the fish", "About the priest and his employee Balda", "About the Golden Cockerel".

The show will feature 20 original performances combining classic circus genres with breaking, acrobatic rock'n'roll and modern dance. More than 60 artists will appear on stage: laureates of international festivals, honored masters of sports, champions of Russia and the world.

The members of the famous clown trio "Without Socks" — Konstantin Kopeikin, Artem Babinov and Maxim Karpov will play the roles of Pen, Paper and Inkwell in Pushkin's Dreams. The dark forces have absorbed the image of an antagonist — Villainy, which was embodied by one of the most famous clowns of the country Anatoly Okulov (Shark). A special role will be played by live musical accompaniment — virtuoso musician Anna Mart will perform in the image of a Babysitter. She performs a lullaby, accompanying herself on several instruments at once — from ethnic to classical. Production designer — Ovation Award nominee, set designer Yuri Antizersky, costume designer — Golden Mask nominee, Vadim Volya. The director of the show is the winner of the Golden Mask Award, the author of more than 50 productions in Russia and abroad, Zhanna Shmakova.

The general and creative producer of the show is Elizaveta Hamburg, a film and circus producer, a finalist of the TEFI award, the head of the New Russian Circus company, the founder of the Klounhouse clown label.

"This time we faced a difficult task — we were looking for new characters and new facets of humor. We perform here in unusual ways for us: not just clowns, but lyrical heroes. It was important for us to keep the lightness in the images and add the same humor that comes from the heart — without words. Our characters are very bright and expressive, and we complement them with plastics: we literally live inside these forms," Babinov said.

Polystylistic music will become an independent character of the show. Composer Taras Demchuk combined orchestral waltzes, Balkan rhythms, rock and modern genres, including trap and DJ sets.

The script of "Pushkin's Dreams" was written by the winner of the Golden Mask, one of the authors of the documentary web series "1917.Free History" and the performance Mysteries of Osiris by the London Rift Theater at the British Museum Mikhail Degtyarev. According to him, the creation was based on Pushkin's love of dreams.

The first episode of the show will be released on April 28 on the VKontakte social network in the Overclocking: Circus community. The project consists of five episodes, and the finale of the reality series will be broadcast live on VKontakte on May 27, where the winners will enter the arena for the first time at the gala premiere of Pushkin's Dreams.

"The main character here is Pushkin, and the circumstances of his fate, biographies become a cross—cutting action, within which a fairy tale is born. We start from the fact that Pushkin loved dreams, he dreamed of poetry in his dreams, and in his dreams he imagined these magnificent worlds. These worlds are associated with certain elements of personality formation. For example, in "Ruslan and Lyudmila" we see the struggle of courage with cowardice, in "The Tale of the Dead Princess" — love and envy, in "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" — truth and lies, in "Goldfish" — labor, greed and laziness. There is passion and loyalty in the Golden Cockerel. We find these elements in Pushkin's biography and connect them. Milestones such as childhood with a babysitter, as well as becoming a poet, fit into the magical world of dreams, where fragments of the real and unreal appear," he noted.

Thanks to the inventive video content, which is projected onto the most unexpected surfaces, the effect of complete immersion in Pushkin's fairy—tale worlds is created, and their central object, a mighty oak tree, is "assembled" from aerial gymnasts and dynamic screens.