About the Artists

CAST: Alexander Arsentyev, Alexander Feklistov, Yuri Rumyantsev, Andrei Kuzichev, Petr Rykov, Nikolay Kislichenko, Ivan Litvinenko, Vladimir Ziberev, Igor Teplov, Alexey Rakhmanov, Anna Khalilulina, Elmira Mirel, Anastasia Lebedeva
 

Declan Donnellan is joint Artistic Director of Cheek by Jowl. As Associate Director at the National Theatre his productions include: Fuenteovejuna; Sweeney Todd; The Mandate; both parts of Angels in America. Other productions include: Le Cid (Avignon Festival); The Winter’s Tale (Maly Drama Theatre of St.Petersburg); Shakespeare in Love (West End). Opera includes: Falstaff (Salzburg Festival). Ballet includes: Romeo and Juliet; Hamlet (Bolshoi). Film includes: Bel Ami. In 2009, Declan shared the Carlemany Prize with Craig Ventner and Archbishop Tutu. He was awarded the Golden Lion of Venice for Lifetime Achievement in 2016 and an OBE for services to Theatre in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2017. His book, The Actor and the Target, was first published in Russian in 2000 and has subsequently appeared in fifteen languages.
 

Nick Ormerod is joint Artistic Director of Cheek by Jowl. For the National Theatre: Fuenteovejuna; Peer Gynt; Sweeney Todd; The Mandate; both parts of Angels in America. For the Royal Shakespeare Company: The School for Scandal; King Lear (RSC Academy) and Great Expectations, which he also co-adapted. Other work includes: The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (English National Opera); Martin Guerre (Prince Edward Theatre); Hayfever (Savoy Theatre); Antigone (The Old Vic); Falstaff (Salzburg Festival); Shakespeare in Love (West End). Nick co-directed the film Bel Ami with Declan Donnellan. In 2017, he was awarded an OBE for services to Theatre Design in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
 

Cheek by Jowl was established in 1981 by its co-Artistic Directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod. The company is dedicated to producing fresh and vivid productions that focus on the actor's art, producing work in English, French and Russian. The company has performed in over 400 cities in more than 50 countries spanning six continents.
 

The Pushkin Theatre is one of the most prominent Moscow repertoire theatres. It was founded by the legendary Russian theatre director Alexander Tairov in 1914. The company was formed and the building, which the theatre still occupies, was reconstructed especially for Tairov's needs. In 1950 the theatre changed its name to the Pushkin Theatre. Appointed in 2010, Evgeny Pisarev is the current Artistic Director. Prior to his appointment he had worked regularly at the theatre as a Director from 1996 and as an actor in the company from 1993.