Flight

The Russian Civil War is coming to an end. The remnants of the White Army offer desperate resistance on the Crimean isthmus. A wave of refugees is about to crash into Turkey, and then spread throughout Europe. A small group of Russian emigrants tries to save themselves from the Reds by moving from Crimea to Constantinople, and then to Paris. They all flee from the Bolsheviks, but for each of them, escaping from external circumstances is layered with an attempt to flee from internal problems. The stage history of the play “Flight” was not easy: after it was banned in 1928, the question of staging “Flight” was discussed four times at meetings of the Politburo. The play was criticized personally by Stalin, who called “Flight” an “attempt to evoke pity, if not sympathy, for certain layers of anti-Soviet emigré society.” During the author’s lifetime, the play was not staged—almost a catastrophe for Bulgakov. The premiere of “Flight” finally took place only in 1957 in Stalingrad. Today you have the chance to encounter yet another version of this outstanding work, performed by People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, lead actor of Moscow’s Academic Maly Theatre—Alexander Vladimirovich Klyukvin.