Bloody Mary

By Dmitry Krymov

In an emergency room, people from different worlds and eras converge. Among them are two actresses preparing to perform Mary Stuart. Gradually, their conversations begin to merge with the play itself, and the old story of power, jealousy, and execution unfolds here and now. When everything ends in death, life continues - and the cycle begins again.

Dmitry Krymov’s Bloody Mary is neither an adaptation nor an illustration of Schiller’s drama. It is an entirely new theatrical world, constructed from fragments of a bloody historical plot, from our conscious and unconscious memories of it, and from the realities of the present day, in which Mary Stuart becomes the starting point for a profound contemporary conversation.

Its fictional characters - grotesque, almost circus-like figures, people transformed into symbols gradually acquire flesh and blood before our eyes. Masks crack, clowning turns into confession, and theatrical personas become startlingly human. In this theater, comedy always stands beside tragedy, and play becomes both a way of existing and a means of telling the story of our complicated lives.

Dmitry Krymov - one of the most influential directors of his generation, he is known for dismantling theatrical conventions and reinventing the language of the stage. His theater operates according to the laws of imagination and play - dangerous, absurd, and deeply human. Here, fantasy exposes reality and reveals its hidden meanings.

Creative Team
Play and Direction: Dmitry Krymov
Based on "Mary Stuart" by Friedrich Schiller
Set and Costume Design: Katya Erdeni
Dramaturgy: Katya Sassonsky
Music Editing and Sound: Michael Vaisburd
Lighting: Gleb Filshtinsky
Assistant Director: Katherine Vizitey

Cast
First Grandmother / Queen Elizabeth: Israel (Sasha) Demidov
Second Grandmother / Mary Stuart: Evgenia Dodina
Nurse: Polina Pakhomova
Cyclist / Assistant Director: Nikita Goldman
Man Pierced by a Rapier: Nikita Oleinikov
Granddaughter of the First Grandmother: Ruth Senderovich
Grandson of the Second Grandmother: Itay Tarkhanov
Diver / Prompter: Boris Repetur
Makeup and Costume Crew: Polina Pakhomova, Nikita Oleinikov, Ruth Senderovich, Itay Tarkhanov

First Performance: June 21, 2026
Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes, without intermission

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE “BLOODY MARY CLUB” FOR SUPPORTING THIS PERFORMANCE

Olga and Alexander Turkot,
Olga and Gleb Rudenko,
An anonymous donor described as “the most extravagant person in the world”,
And another anonymous donor described as “the most unpredictable person in Europe”.