Heart Break Club

«What should theatre be about these days? The answer is simple. Only about what is so painfully lacking in a world obsessed with battles. About love! Art has yet to find a way to speak about the global other than through the personal – for it is created by human beings. To speak about love in the world, one must first of all speak about the love within us» – Alexander Rubtsov, collab.am

Reflections on the essence of love, drawing on modern and classical works of fiction and poetry. Starring theatre and film actors Varvara Shmykova and Nikita Elenev.

A sincere and honest conversation about love between the actors and the audience, in which every spectator can recognise a piece of themselves. Together with the guests of the Heart Break Club, Varvara Shmykova and Nikita Elenev pass through the joys and pains of human relationships, inspired by great texts about love. Perhaps it is on this very evening that we may come closer to an answer to the central question: What is love, really?

The performance features texts by: Michel Houellebecq, James Joyce, Veronika Tushnova, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Nikolai Zabolotsky, Ivan Bunin, Alexander Ostrovsky, Vera Polozkova and other authors.

• Playwright: Karina Besolti
• Director: Varvara Shmykova
• Concept: Varvara Shmykova, Mikhail Shamkov, Mikhail Degtyarev
• Lighting and sound design: Yuri Galkin
• Tour manager: Daniil Radlov
• Actors: Varvara Shmykova, Nikita Elenev

Produced by ARETE

A Q&A will take place following the performance.