National Theatre Live in HD from London presents
Collaborators
Thursday, December 1 at 2:00 pm
Tickets $20 in advance or at the door. Reserved seating.
Moscow, 1938. A dangerous place to have a sense of humour; even more so a sense of freedom.
Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. And then he’s offered a poisoned chalice: a commission to write a play about Stalin to celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Inspired by historical fact, Collaborators embarks on a surreal journey into the fevered imagination of the writer as he loses himself in a macabre and disturbingly funny relationship with the omnipotent subject of his drama.
Killing my enemies is easy. The challenge is to
change the way they think, to control their minds.
And I think I controlled yours pretty well. In years
to come, I’ll be able to say: Bulgakov? Yeah, we
even trained him. He gave up. He saw the light. We
broke him, we can break anybody. It’s man versus
monster, Mikhail. And the monster always wins.
John Hodge’s blistering new play depicts a lethal game of cat and mouse through which the
appalling compromises and humiliations inflicted on any artist by those with power are held up to
scrutiny. Alex Jennings plays Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale, Stalin.
COLLABORATORS, opening in October is a new play by John Hodge (screenwriter of Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, The Beach) directed by National Theatre Artistic Director Nicholas Hytner. The play centers on an imaginary encounter between Joseph Stalin and the playwright Mikhail Bulgakov (best known for his novel The Master and Margarita); Alex Jennings (The Habit of Art) will play Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale (London Assurance) will play Stalin.
