An Ordinary Story

Young and enthusiastic Alexander Aduev arrives in the capital from province ready to conquer the world. Very soon though, all his ideals are trampled, and he repeats the fate of his practical and dispassionate Uncle Peter. "Russian classical literature has a terrible fate: it refers to the school, to the school curriculum, and becomes a favorite material for the Youth Theater. But in the second half of the XIX century, when Ordinary History came out, it was one of the most controversial and vivid novels, the most discussed, and provoked the same heated debates as those that are now going around the books of Vladimir Sorokin or Zakhar Prilepin – in a word, it was a strong literature on its effects. We would like it to sound at the same level of sharpness and polemicity here." (Kirill Serebrennikov, director). 

Kirill Serebrennikov, celebrated theatre and film director, director of the Moscow Gogol Centre, is connected with the Deutsches Theater in a special way: His productions Kafka and Machine Müller were shown here as guest performances and Who is Happy in Russia opened the festival Radar Ost last year. This season Decameron, Serebrennikov's first acting work premiered at the DT – developed with a mixed ensemble and artistic team. The young star of the Gogol Center Filipp Avdeev, who plays the leading role in An Ordinary Story, is also involved in this co-production. The video artist Ilya Shagalov, also on the artistic team of both works, realized another collaboration between the theatres in Berlin and Moscow for Digital Radar Ost: Little Requiem, on view in the rank foyer of the digital DT.