February 12, 2022

All the Village Is a Stage


All the Village Is a Stage
A snapshot during the performance "Pick Mushrooms"  Myra.ru.

Performance art isn't just something for an urban environment; in the small village of Fomikha, it has found a place to flourish. 

"Out of the way" is the best way to describe Fomikha: you either have to use the ferry or you'll have to come fully equipped with an off-road vehicle to get to this settlement four hours east of Moscow. However, rough terrain won't be the only wild ride you'll go on when you arrive here. There’s a new theater in town, and it's ready to show the local village in a new light.

It started in the summer of 2020, when a group of actors, directors, and artists from Moscow arrived and bought a cattle barn, turning it into a small theater hall. Originally, it was only going to be a place for artist residencies, but after they performed Natalia Zaitseva's walking play "Pick Mushrooms," which features a psychedelic adventure into the forest and discusses the relationship between people and the outside world, all of Fomikha became a stage: all of its forests, fields, and rivers.

The company went on to create more plays that incorporate the landscape. On the one hand, it creates a more magical experience and on the other, it means that there is no need to build elaborate indoor sets. “In the play ['Pick Mushrooms'], an ecologist invents mushrooms that eat plastic. If we performed it inside, we would have needed elaborate sets, but when we came out into the forest, we saw a garbage dump covered [with] real mushrooms. It was amazing,” Dmitry Maksimenkov, a member of the company, remarked.

In January 2021, tragedy struck and the original theater was burnt down. Many locals believed that the company would leave town, but instead the company built a yurt, and the performances haven't stopped. 

You Might Also Like

How Leo Tolstoy Shaped the Modern Melodrama
  • November 06, 2020

How Leo Tolstoy Shaped the Modern Melodrama

On the 110th anniversary of Lev Tolstoy's death, we look back at his link to cinema: Tolstoy is more closely linked to the history of the cinema than any other writer of his time.
The Soviet Creative
  • April 05, 2021

The Soviet Creative

In the Soviet period, artists were treated with esteem and lived comfortably, but their privileged position also required sacrifice.
Lessons From the Russian Village
  • October 03, 2021

Lessons From the Russian Village

Life in a remote Siberian village can teach you a lot about adaptability, nature, food, and, most importantly, folklore. 
TikTok Gets Cultured
  • January 01, 2022

TikTok Gets Cultured

TikTok isn’t just for kiddies these days. The video streaming platform offers a range of people, such as those of Russia’s many ethnic groups, the opportunity to educate others about their cultures.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955