Russian Play
By Nell Smyth
Age range
13 – 15, 16 +
Cast size
15 +
Approx. running time
60 – 90 mins
Gender breakdown
Male: 8
Female: 6
Also: One role can be played by any gender.
Female: 6
Also: One role can be played by any gender.
Setting
Russia 1917.
Note
A light-hearted comic drama inspired by the works of Anton Chekov, for a mid sized group.
First performance
Tuamgraney Teen Theatremakers, Co.Clare in 2017.
Synopsis
Set in the newly named Petrograd, Russia, the play opens against the flux of revolutionary events in 1917 and moves swiftly to the country where there are many cherry orchards and a nearby mental asylum. The newly discovered fascination with hypnosis plays throughout the comedy as town and country, revolutionary and landowner, privileged and less privileged, servants and masters collide. Characters firmly embedded in old 19 century ways of wealth, privilege and insularity must meet new revolutionary forces as their own youthful impulses come home to roost. Everything plays out in a light and comical vein as midsummer looms and the cherry blossom blooms.