John Hodge’s blistering new play COLLABORATORS will be broadcast live from London's prestigious National Theatre to The Strand. Set in 1938 Moscow, Collaborators depicts a lethal game of cat and mouse between writer Mikhail Bulgakov and powerful Joseph Stalin. Through their relationship, the appalling compromises and humiliations inflicted on artists by those with power are held up to scrutiny.
Moscow in 1938 is a dangerous place to have a sense of humor; even more so a sense of freedom. Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. And then he’s offered a poisoned chalice: a commission to write a play about Stalin in honor of his sixtieth birthday. Bulgakov must surrender to the dreaded task of penning Batum, a play celebratiing Stalin’s youth.
Inspired by historical fact, Collaborators embarks on a surreal journey into the fevered imagination of the writer as he loses himself in a macabre and disturbingly funny relationship with the omnipotent subject of his drama.
Collaborators stars National Theatre veterans Alex Jennings (The Habit of Art) as Mikhail Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale (London Assurance) as Stalin. (Estimated running time is 2hrs 40mins)
4 STARS - "Dream casting of Alex Jennings as Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale as Stalin... A truly tremendous double act which thrills, chills and makes you laugh out loud - even though you know you shouldn't." -Daily Telegraph
4 STARS - "Rare and special… An absurdly fantastic view of Stalin, and it’s seriously funny." -The Times
The Strand Theatre is the exclusive Midcoast-area venue for this series of plays — captured live in high-definition from London's prestigious National Theatre. National Theatre Live (NT Live) is a groundbreaking initiative to broadcast the best of British theater to cinemas around the world. The first season of events, which began in June 2009 with the acclaimed production of Phèdre starring Helen Mirren, was seen by over 165,000 people on 320 screens in 22 countries. This season's line up includes two thrilling collaborations with other British theater companies, Complicite and the Donmar Warehouse.
Other NTLive titles this season include: Travelling Light, The Comedy of Errors and She Stoops to Conquer.
