John Bassett Theatre (Toronto 13.11.2025)

FRANK is not just a stage performance. It is a confession. A deeply personal yet universal experience that Danila Kozlovsky lives through right before the audience’s eyes. It is a first – person story, told and sung on stage: memories of childhood and family, first love, encounters with idols, favorite songs, dreams and disappointments, and, of course, a subtle, ironic look at himself. All of this comes together as a musical stand-up – vivid, dynamic, and profoundly sincere.

If the word “monodrama” makes you imagine a dark stage, a single chair, and an actor under a lone spotlight, forget those stereotypes. FRANK breaks conventional formats. It is true theatrical magic, where music, text, voice, light, and the energy of the moment merge into one. On stage, it is not merely an artist. On stage, it is a human being – real, unmasked, and unguarded.

The title itself is rich in meaning. FRANK is the name of the legendary singer whose songs are performed in the show. But in English, frank also means “open” and “honest” – and this is exactly how Kozlovsky appears before the audience. In an age of social media, where emotions are often replaced by filters and clichés, this performance feels like a breath of fresh air – a reminder of authenticity, of live human connection, and of the power of being oneself.

The production is directed by Savva Savelyev, one of the most striking and forward-thinking theater directors of the new generation. Under his guidance, FRANK acquires a distinctive stage language: the visual design amplifies every emotional nuance, while the live music becomes not just accompaniment but a full participant in the action. This is a performance about what resonates with everyone — love, family, the journey toward oneself, the search for meaning, and the desire to remain true.

All pictures: flic.kr/s/aHBqjCE9kr

John Bassett Theatre (Toronto 25.10.2025)
“Notes of Madmen” Dmitry Krimov’s play | Starring Chulpan Khamatova and Maksim Sukhanov.

This is the first production by director and designer Krymov in the Russian language, created in emigration and featuring two popular actors. Chulpan Khamatova and Maksim Sukhanov, who nearly 30 years ago starred together in Valery Todorovsky’s film The Land of the Deaf, appear on the same stage for the first time.

Notes of the Madmen is a phantasmagoric story about people lost in space and time. The characters, finding themselves unwillingly in new life circumstances, intertwine real stories with scenes from literature.

Chulpan Khamatova: “This performance is about mad love, about loneliness and loss, about a sense of duty and personal dignity, about the world around us that went insane long ago—and apparently for a long time to come.”

Scenography – Dmitry Krymov, Pyotr Voznesensky; Video Artist – Pyotr Voznesensky; Costume Designer – Tatyana Dolmatovskaya; Lighting Designer – Oskar Paulinsh; Makeup Artist – Elena Nalichaeva; Director’s Producer: Inna Krymova; Producers, Entracte International: Kirill Zayakin, Daniil Erokhin.

All pictures: flic.kr/s/aHBqjCAjia

John Bassett Theatre (Toronto 05.10.2025)

Starring Ksenia Rappoport & Henry David | North American Premiere
Dramaturgy: Olga Fedyanina; Set and Costume Design: Ksenia Peretrukhina; Movement: Polina Dreyden; Light: Gleb Filshtinsky.

The play “Beyond the Light” is a collaborative work by renowned writer Marina Stepnova and screenwriter and director Avdotya Smirnova. It is a story of an unexpected meeting between two unusual characters, each of whom, until a certain point, is unaware of their own uniqueness.

What will happen when two eccentric personalities collide in a place, where it seems, they don’t belong to? Their coincidental encounter and the connection between them unfold unpredictably. She is a vibrant soul, an earthly woman from an entirely different planet. He is an algorithm which is slowly acquiring a human face. The roles are reversed, and where there once was chaos hope begins to grow. In the new world, pieced together from the shards of the old, everything feels at once familiar and grotesque — funny and sad.

The space, which is imagined by set designer Ksenia Peretrukhina, reinforces this atmosphere: a fantastical world is born from everyday objects — a world made of fragments of ordinary life, forming a new mosaic, paradoxical yet logical at the same time. Here, absurdity and reality walk hand in hand. In the lead role Kseniya Rappoport — flesh and blood, the very heartbeat of the magical act in which the woman triumphs over death. Her partner is Henry David, a second-generation star of the Gesher Theatre and a well-known actor of Israeli cinema, who complements and balances this magnificent duo.

Together, they bring unique theatrical alchemy to the stage. Their interaction is not only the plotline but a profound metaphysical journey, in which they discover their path to the truth through passion, pain, and redemption.

All pictures: flic.kr/s/aHBqjCxetk