A press tour for the premiere of the play "Idiot" was held in Moscow

On May 12, the Pushkin Moscow Drama Theater together with the Moscow Dostoevsky House Museum Center (department of the State Literary Museum) held a press tour dedicated to the premiere of the play "The Idiot" based on the novel of the same name by F.M. Dostoevsky. Directed by Sergey Tonyshev.

At the Museum Center, the guests learned about the life of the family, the moral way of life, Dostoevsky's childhood impressions, his first reading and theatrical experiences, which were later reflected in his letters and works, as well as about the history of writing "The Idiot" — the "Pushkin" novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The guided tours were conducted by Anna Petrova, Deputy Head of the Moscow Dostoevsky House Museum Center, and Inga Drobyshevskaya, Senior Researcher at the Moscow Dostoevsky House Museum Center.

"The museum works with living meanings. It is important and interesting for us to analyze and follow how contemporary artists and directors explore Dostoevsky's work. Dostoevsky is considered to be a St. Petersburg writer, but the great classic spent his important, most tender years in Moscow — and this could not but affect his perception. It is valuable that on the eve of the premiere of the play "The Idiot", the Pushkin Theater decided to remind the audience about this," said Pavel Fokin, head of the Moscow Dostoevsky House Museum Center, Deputy Director of the State Museum for Scientific Work.

After the tour, media representatives were invited to the Pushkin Theater for a rehearsal in costumes and decorations of the play "Idiot".

Sergei Tonyshev's play is not an illustration of a novel, but a reflection on a world in which virtue seems to be madness, and the ability to be compassionate leads to a loss of reason. After a long period of treatment in Switzerland, Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin returns to St. Petersburg. He has no friends or acquaintances in this damp, foggy and noisy city. But it soon turns out that everyone who meets the prince on his way – from a general to a beggar, from a drunkard to an aristocrat, from a high school student to an old man – needs his attention and love.

"There are more and more performances of Dostoevsky, but there are fewer and fewer "Princes Myshkin" in life. And perhaps that's why this image is so necessary today. Not as a literary hero from the past, but as a reminder of the light, compassion and inner purity that modern man so lacks. Fyodor Mikhailovich's texts are usually associated with darkness, psychological abuse, sarcasm, and exploration of the darkest sides of the human soul. Sergei Tonyshev's play is an attempt to see beauty, light and poetry in Dostoevsky's world and bring a sense of hope through history," said Evgeny Pisarev, Artistic Director of the Pushkin Moscow Drama Theater.

Starring: Andrey Kuzichev, Evgenia Leonova, Alexander Kubanin, Veronika Safonova, Andrey Sukhov, Vera Voronkova, Natalia Reva-Ryadinskaya, Valeria Elkina, Nikolai Rysev, Sergey Kudryashov, Ruslan Chagilov, Sergey Miller, Alexey Rakhmanov.

The premiere of the play will take place on May 13 and 14.