Screening: The Vakhtangov Theatre’s Eugene Onegin

Referred to by the New York Times as “…exuberant and arrestingly beautiful”, and by the London Telegraph theatre critic as “…one of the most extraordinary nights at the theatre I have ever known”, Rimas Tuminas’ miraculous Eugene Onegin is, at long last available to a world-wide audience.

The play unfolds in the memory and imagination of Pushkin’s characters. The images are split between past and present, between reality and imagination.The scale of the production constantly shifts from noisy celebrations to secluded contemplation, from crowd scenes to lonely recollections, all of which are drawn together from the past just like the fragments of Tatyana’s love letter, framed and hung on the wall, looming next to and above Onegin’s arm-chair.

Filmed before a live audience from Moscow’s venerable Vakhtangov Theatre.

Production: Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre of Russia
Russian with English subtitles
Running time: 3h 25m  (Includes one 15 minute intermission)