Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre: The Good Person of Szechwan

A director who sells out theatres in Moscow, Yury Butusov’s modern-dress version of Brecht’s parable play is punchy and vigorous, with a no-holds-barred performance by Alexandra Ursulyak at its core.

In search of a good person, the gods come to earth and are won over by kindhearted sex worker Shen Te. Her reward is money to open a small tobacco shop where she seeks to turn her life around. But when freeloaders overrun her business and exploit her generosity, she invents a non-existent cousin, ruthless and pragmatic enough to thwart everyone’s schemes.

For her role as the opposing cousins, Ursulyak won a Golden Mask Theatre Award in Russia. She heads an ensemble of actors and musicians who perform Paul Dessau’s songs in the original German, their translation cranking up their political potency. With a focus on the duality of human nature and survival in unstable circumstances, the production is stripped-down, with nods to cabaret and the grotesque.

Creative team
Bertolt Brecht Author
Paul Dessau Music
Yury Butusov Director
Alexander Shishkin Set Design

With
Alexandra Ursulyak
Alexander Matrosov
Anastasia Lebedeva
Alexander Arsentiev
Vera Voronkova
Andrey Sukhov
Irina Petrova
Anna Begunova
Aleksey Rahmanov
Natalia Reva-Ryadinskaya
Alexander Dmitriev
Ivan Litvinenko

Duration: 3 hours 20 mins, including an interval
Age guidance 16+

Performed in Russian and German with English surtitles

See also:

5 – 6 February: Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre: The Cherry Orchard

9 February: Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre: Mother’s Field