Gogol. Portrait

Estere Bola

Gogol. Portrait

Based on motifs from Nikolai Gogol's novella

Duration - 3 hours 30 minutes (with 2 intermissions)

20+

Performed in Russian with Latvian and English surtitles.

NB! Smoking on stage.

Gogol's novella "The Portrait" does not sound like a romantic tale at all in the modern world. It is built on the Faustian motif of selling one's soul and includes a premise that shifts what is happening from the everyday plane to the realm of metaphysics. Gogol creates a world in which the embodiment of evil needs an artist so that evil can realize itself, manifest itself, and affirm its existence. And unable to resist temptation, the one who could serve beauty begins to serve the devil. This is a terrible tale that speaks to the present day.

"When you encounter in Gogol's text a character who, intoxicated by power and vengeful jealousy, 'rushed at it with tiger ferocity, tore, ripped apart, hacked to pieces and trampled underfoot' everything alive and talented he could reach, you are struck by the total, prophetic relevance of this character," says playwright Estere Bola. "Gogol's devil puppets are destructive and deadly, but the harm they can inflict is still commensurate with human ability. Today, devil puppets have ballistic missiles and a nuclear arsenal..."

The myth of the artist who could not resist the temptation of the easy way unfolds in the performance into an eschatological mystery, full of destructive temptations on the edge of the abyss.

Estere Bola (playwright) and Yuri Butusov (director)