Zoya's Apartment

The play is set in the 1920s—the time of the NEP. The enterprising owner of a multi-room apartment, Zoya Pelts, arranges the apartment as a tailoring workshop in order to avoid being consolidated and new tenants being moved in. In reality, however, in the evening it becomes a full-on den with women of easy virtue and the use of prohibited substances. Zoyka, along with her lover, Count Obolyaninov, dreams of saving money, getting the proper documents in order, and leaving abroad—but fate has other plans. The couple’s illegal activities come to light despite local corrupt officials covering them up, and the dangerous people whom the apartment owner befriends commit even the most severe crimes.