In two acts

A touching and highly dramatic story about simple Christian values for children aged 5-12, which has been regularly produced in theatres in Russia and neighbouring countries for more than twenty years. It encourages the younger generation to have high aspirations and and to search for the truth in defiance of egoism and pragmatism. The author, literally transforming dreams into reality before our eyes, sets out his story in a simple form, but the story contains more, in philosophical and in lyrical terms, than just a set of instructions. Just reading this play will leave a strong emotional impression.

In one act

A fairy-tale for children aged 5-10.

Four snowmen, built at the end of winter in the school playground, decide that, whatever happens, they have to survive till the next year comes. To do this, they must turn themselves into real human beings. What a wonderful idea! But the snowmen cannot agree on what a Real Human Being is like. Perhaps it is someone who goes to school with a huge rucksack and studies a great deal for many years, sometimes spending two or even three years in the same class? Or perhaps it is someone who is lazy, a truant, an aggressive bully who fires his water pistol at the cats in the yard every day and breaks the basement windows? Or is it a cry-baby, a sneak, a coward, who is scared to climb up to the top of the heap of snow and slide down, - is that what a Real Human Being is like? The snowmen spent a long time standing in the playground, getting a good look at everything. That’s how Stupid, Bully and Sneak came into existence. No name was found for the fourth girl-snowman. So she was left without a name. Or rather, she was given the strange name “No Way”. But it was No Way who actually became a Real Human Being, while the other snowmen melted away…

The story can be presented in a ‘winter’ version at New Year, and also in a ‘summer’ or ‘mid-season’ version.

In two acts

What is happiness? That’s the main concern in this story, full of questions and dramatic struggles, written for children aged 7-12. That’s the age when children first encounter the aching sensation of freedom and the first excitement of youth, the yearning to discover the unknown.

The story looks at a model of happiness, and the philosophical path to happiness, which makes it interesting for the parents of its young audience too. The romantic theme brings a non-didactic and lyrical melody into the story, leaving the audience spellbound from start to finish.

Unusual! Touching! Thrilling!

The play contains songs meant to serve as a musical accompaniment to the show.

In two acts

Imagine a town where it is always only one of the seasons of the year: winter. Every day its inhabitants celebrate the happy festivities of New Year, and the children have to go to one and the same lesson. A grandmother is the only one who remembers that when she was a little girl she buried a “secret” in the ground – a piece of green glass, through which it was such fun to look at the world!..

There are two villains living in the town: the rascally plumber Vorkis and his wife Alibaba Viktorovna Iaitskikh, a botany teacher. Vorkis, of course, found and stole someone else’s secret a long time ago and handed it over to his Boss in Murmansk. But, as you might guess, in the end Good conquers Evil and the endless New Year comes to an end.

The moral of the story is simple:

• Life should not be an endless celebration, however wonderful;
• Life should not be too luxurious or easy;
• Life should be free!

One day during a live television broadcast the Marabou bird goes missing from the airwaves. Twin brothers Lyokha and Seryoga set off to find it, riding on the Eagle, and they arrive in the topsy-turvy world of television, where things happen in accordance with rules which often go against logic, good taste, and common sense.

Together with the twin brothers we become participants in a colourful, vivid and amusing fairy-tale parody of adult television programmes which children between the ages of 5 and 12 often watch.

Roles for fairy-tale characters – 9

Scenery: television studio

Translations into English by
Dr Katharine Hodgson
Russian Department
School of Modern Languages
University of Exeter
England

“A plank over a puddle”
(A fairy-tale about Thursday for children and adults)

in two acts

The play “A plank over a puddle” is a magical comedy for children aged 7-15 and for families.

In an abandoned pioneer camp three fairy-tale sisters, no longer needed by anyone else, live out the rest of their lives. The eldest, Petrovna, has seen and experienced a good deal over her lifetime. The middle sister, Aglaya, is tormented by the fact that no-one needs her. And the youngest — Lizka — can't even make magic properly. All in all, they are fading away through idleness and longing. But the eldest sister, Petrovna, doesn't want to give in, and so she begins a new fairy-tale about the old legendary arrow.

This comedy is intended for a family audience, and offers something for everyone: adults will enjoy amusing and touching episodes from their own “pioneer” childhood, and children will be entertained by the adventures of three magicians who are simultaneously both characters from folklore and contemporary Russian figures, who live in an endless Thursday.

in two acts

The play “The Tale of Sampo the magic mill and Louhi the wicked witch” is a tale of heroic adventure for children aged 7—10.

The tale of Sampo the magic mill and Louhi the wicked witch was composed and performed for us by traditional singers from the northern land of Kalevala.

It is the story of how the old singer Vyainyameinen persuaded Il'rnarinin the skilful blacksmith to forge a magic mill which would make the people of Kalevala happy However Il'rnarinin could not construct Sampo all on his own — for his work he needed to travel to Poh'elu and call on the forces of evil, in the person of an old witch. When Sampo was ready, Louhi did not want to share it with other people. And she hid the mill deep inside a cliff, so that it would mill gold for her.

The evil Louhi could not be defeated by one person alone. It was only together that the warrior Ahti Lemminkyainen, the singer Vyainyameinen and the blacksmith Il'rnarinin were able to conquer her. But they could not bring the magical mill back to their home of Kalevala — it sank into the sea. Its fragments lie there, at the bottom of the sea, to this day, and are the foundation of all the riches of both earth and sea.

A fairy tale in two acts

The play “Granny Mushroom, or a Little Bit of Magic” is a magical tale for children aged 7-12.

There's trouble in the magic forest — the mistress of the forest is ill. Granny Mushroom has been in bed for more than a month, and hasn't been able to get up. And now there's another problem: the dreadful One-Hand, the like of which has never been seen before, is forcing his way through the edge of the magic forest and is eating up the earth of the mystical glades. Granny Mushroom's beloved pupils, Little Leaf, Little Marsh and Little Pine are desperate and don't know what to do. They cannot defeat One-Hand. Quite unexpectedly, help arrives. In the magic forest, going about their own human business are Grandpa, his granddaughter Tania, and Konstantin the bulldozer-driver. And it turns out that the most ordinary events turn into wonders, and the other way round — wonders turn into the most ordinary events.

“There always has to be a little magic in the world!”

in three acts

The play “A game of DOOM” is an story for young people of 13—17.

“Imagine what might happen when millions of energetic young people who think in new ways and are equipped with the most powerful apparatus in history embark on adult life...”

(Don Tepskott, a well-known specialist on the economic influence of digital systems).

This play belongs to the genre of detective fiction: young people have begun to vanish from the town. Afanasii Pavlovich, a linguist by profession, is forced to set out and search for them. During the investigations, which are being carried out by the military enlistment office with his help, it becomes clear that the young people have been drawn in to some kind of worldwide game on the Internet... As anyone can hook up to the Net, it looks as though, in this case, Satan himself is involved...The play is intended for young people and adults who enjoy adventure stories.

Translations into English by
Dr Katharine Hodgson
Russian Department
School of Modern Languages
University of Exeter
England

Comedies

Three short one-act comedies, connected together by a theme which is subtle and at the same time plausible, otherwise known as life.

In the first of these (“Before the start of the show”) we encounter the characters' youth. In the second one (“Occurrence in a swimming pool”), we encounter their mature selves. One might assume that the third concluding part of this love story shows us their old age, but this isn't the case: in the comedy “When I was grown up” we see the carefree days of childhood. The comedies can be performed together or separately.

This comedy resembles a detective story: there's always someone breaking down the door of the flat where two old friends, Vera and Nadezhda, live, and the telephone keeps on ringing. The cast even includes 'fighters' with shaved heads, obligatory characters these days, and a policeman. And yet this is a story about the return of hope and... love.

Even if a woman is frivolous, and feelings unrequited.

“Your attention please! All inhabitants of large cities! Citizens, you are under the terrible threat of invasion by people from the provinces! Enlist in groups set up to bar their way! Be vigilant! The invaders may be anywhwere: amongst your distant relatives, former fellow-students, chance acquaintances!...” This is what the main action of the comedy “The one he failed to recognize” is tied up with.

So who is it that he failed to recognize? This secret is revealed in the final scene by a certain Lady. That's because she is the one he, the main character of the play, “citizen” Bukhol'tsev, didn't recognize, although he had made a date with her the previous day. He didn't recognize her because he was distracted by his struggle against the madman Gushchin, who was trying to “disarm” him, his former fellow-student, when he arrived as a tourist from the provinces and “compromised” the security of the capital city.

The collisions of this tragicomedy take place at the pedestrian crossing of a big avenue. After a long-time exile a poet Izvekov comes back here. He comes back to fulfill his ambitious plans of the past. Some time ago he had to escape poor and winded. But now he has the strength and has money enough to implement his noble charitable plans. All though during the time of his forced absence a lot has changed in his Motherland. Finding no place for himself in New Russia the Poet perishes.

A house set apart, on the very edge of the city, or on the very edge of the forest. The wind whistles, the blizzard howls, dogs bark — it's scary... mysterious...

Larisa, who appears to be an ordinary woman, lets a room to perfectly ordinary lodgers — Evgenii, a student, and a man called Neukov. She appears to be hoping to sort herself out an ordinary life. But what follows is such a jumble of events — real, mystical, phantasmagorical — that it's difficult to tell where normal life ends and myth begins.

The play “A plank over a puddle” is a magical comedy for children aged 7-15 and for families.

In an abandoned pioneer camp three fairy-tale sisters, no longer needed by anyone else, live out the rest of their lives. The eldest, Petrovna, has seen and experienced a good deal over her lifetime. The middle sister, Aglaya, is tormented by the fact that no-one needs her. And the youngest — Lizka — can't even make magic properly. All in all, they are fading away through idleness and longing. But the eldest sister, Petrovna, doesn't want to give in, and so she begins a new fairy-tale about the old legendary arrow.

This comedy is intended for a family audience, and offers something for everyone: adults will enjoy amusing and touching episodes from their own ‘pioneer’ childhood, and children will be entertained by the adventures of three magicians who are simultaneously both characters from folklore and contemporary Russian figures, who live in an endless Thursday.

a policeman's fairy-tale

It's a fairy-tale. But this time a fairy-tale about the police. Everyone in the world can dream, can't they? Even policemen probably have their own dreams.

Before us is a tale of extraordinary treachery — a paper avalanche of documentation, which almost wipes out the fate of an ordinary person: ordinary betrayal and similarly ordinary disenchantment. But it all gets blown up to extraordinary proportions!

Of course, if all the business done by our glorious policemen was just like this, it would make a real fairy-tale. But this is something we can only dream about.

A small fairy-tale about the police, about treachery and love.

seven tall tales

Nothing affects one's fate more than one's own character and inclinations.

Seven modern, very short fables about the metamorphoses of a person who is able to still remain himself in any circumstances.

Translations into English by
Dr Katharine Hodgson
Russian Department
School of Modern Languages
University of Exeter
England

a play in two acts

A home for retired actors: the imperceptible border between winter and spring, a sliver of time dividing night from morning, a moment between life and death which is as long as a man's fate. An aged, lonely Primadonna all by herself. And a dishevelled, barefoot, tear-stained girl, who has been borne into the room by a torrent of cold spring air - this is the nineteen year-old “Monkey” herself. Why is she here? To fling in the face of the Primadonna the unendurable words: “I have felt as though someone who came before me has already taken my life and chewed it up”? Or is it a chance to live life over again?

At some point every man has to do some serious thinking about his life. He has to think about how hard it is to go back home after a chance night with a stranger, about how difficult it is to explain to yourself why you did it. And about how completely impossible it is to understand that ... woman.

Translations into English by
Dr Katharine Hodgson
Russian Department
School of Modern Languages
University of Exeter
England