To the 80th anniversary of the People’s Artist of Russia Vasiliy Ivanovich Bochkaryov

«“And that’s what happens, Doctor, when the investigator, instead of feeling his way and moving parallel to nature, forces the question and tries to raise the curtain”. For me this phrase is a key quote in the Bulgakov’s novella “Heart of a Dog”», – says Performance Director Honored Artist of Russia Aleksey Dubrovsky. – A great film by Vladimir Bortko released in 1988 is well known to all of us. It got into context of political and social changes which took place in our country and called “Perestroyka”. However, 35 years has passed and the emphasis has shifted. The perception of complicated time of 20’s is no longer one-sided and direct, because everyone had his own truth. The character of the novella, the dog Sharik, later turned into Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov, nowadays appears to be a victim rather than an antagonist. No wonder he repeats from time to time: “I didn’t ask you to do the operation, did I?”. Professor Preobrazhensky raised the “curtain”, went too far and didn’t realize where his mistake would lead. The mistake wasn’t in personality of Klim Chugunkin whose brain was inserted in Sharik, but in reasonability of the operation itself. Even the professor asks: “Will you kindly tell me why one has to manufacture artificial Spinozas when some peasant woman may produce a real one any day of the week?”.

Creating the scenery the designer was inspired by Tatlin's architectural project "Tower of the 3rd International", which wasn’t realized.
Performance Director – Honored Artist of Russia, laureate of the Russian Government Award Aleksey Dubrovsky
Set design and costumes - laureate of the Russian Government Award Maria Utrobina

Premiere - December 17th, 2022

Suitable for 12+ yrs