Shochimiki. Death by Flowers

"A Tedious Fairy Tale," as Dmitry Retikh defines his work, collects a digest of the primary Russian revolutionaries, terrorists, and their victims. The Decembrists, the People's Will, princes, Tsarevich Alexei, Trotsky, and the god Perun, all meeting either on the eve of death or in the other world, argue about the inevitability of sacrifice and the fate of the fatherland, and cannot agree on a way to get rid of the curse.

In Igor Makarov's production, this hell appears as an ironic fantasy blockbuster, where each new layer of sacrifice is akin to a level of a computer game: Buyan Island, a futuristic arena, or the top of an erupting volcano. In this world there are heroes who pass through levels, and there are masters of each level: Tsarevich Alexei, the invincible gladiator of the sacrificial arena; Trotsky, the priest of the bloody gods; and the martyrs who must eternally torment themselves with such questions as: “What is to be done?” “Who is to blame?” and “Whom shall we sacrifice?” The abundance of historical and generic clichés turn the theme of sacrifice inside out and expose their senseless bloody attraction in the sphere of theatre right here and now. This performance is an attempt to take a long look at history where sacrifices are certainly made in the name of a brighter future.

Dmitry Retikh's play Shochimiki. Death by Flowers is the winner of the competition of the Playwrights Workshop project. The production by Igor Makarov is a collaboration between the project and the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre.