The premiere held on 2009, 12. 19

“Take “The Diary of a Madman”, this ugly grotesque, this strange, whimmy dream of the artist, this debonair mockery of life and man, of the miserable life and the miserable man, this caricature, in which there is such an abyss of poetry, such an abyss of philosophy, this psychiatric medical history that is told in a poetical manner, amazingly deep and true, worthy of Shakespeare’s hand. You are still laughing at a simpleton, but you laughter dissolves in bitterness, laughter over the madman, whose delirium makes you smile but at the same time provokes compassion”.

V. G. Belinsky, “About Russian short novel and Gogol’s stories”.

Toward the close of 2009, declared by UNESCO to be the year of Nikolay Gogol, The Vakhtangov’s Theatre released the premiere of “The Diary of a Madman”. The Theatre had already drawn itself towards this mystical work 4 years ago. Permanent creative research that was made by Yury Kraskov, who plays the part of Poprishin, supported by artistic director of the theatre Rimas Tuminas ended up in a new version of the Gogol’s titular councilor story.

The Theatre invites everybody to reread “The Diary of a Madman” on the 19thof December.

Running time: 1 hours.

The play is recommended for audience older than 16 years (16 +).