The debut of director Mindaugas Karbauskis as the artistic director of the Vladimir Mayakovsky Theater. This play by Ostrovsky was staged in 1969 by Maria Knebel, marking the beginning of the golden age of the theater under the leadership of Andrei Goncharov. It can be said that Karbauskis's performance became a response to one of the best leaders of Mayakovka and marked a new era in the life of the theater. Ostrovsky deeply and thoroughly studied the laws of theatrical life, knew many actors' fates, and his play about a talented actress is entirely based on this valuable experience. The main character, Sasha Negina, lives quietly in the province with her elderly mother, trying to reconcile the concepts of honor with success. Enjoying immense popularity among men, she refuses to accept the intrusive attentions of local wealthy men and chooses as her protector Meluzov, a poor student who embodies the image of the classical resonator in Ostrovsky's work. However, when Negina faces the dilemma of choosing between a pure, labor-filled life and the brilliant stage career promised to her by the merchant Velikatov, the actress prefers the latter. The set design by Sergey Barkhin reflects the characteristic conditionality of the theater. The actors are on a black polished disc, a revolving circle that accelerates and decelerates, with characters stepping on and off it. The entire structure of Negina's apartment embodies the world of theater, living by its own rules. The piano, which occupies a special place in this world, serves both as a table and as a storage for chairs, and even as a locomotive that takes the actress into a new life. Karbauskis's famous conceptuality recedes in this performance. The director made the actors, performers of a whole range of vivid characters, the center of his production, each of whom includes many small details. You can find more performances on our website in the theater section.