St. Petersburg staging of 1907 play 'The Kholops' endures two-year sold-out run

An obscure 1907 drama, The Kholops by Pyotr Gnedich, opened in St. Petersburg in 2024 and, contrary to expectations of a quick shutdown, is now two years into a sold-out run at the 800-seat Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater. The production, directed by Andrei Moguchiy, has drawn lavish praise from critics, swept the Golden Soffit awards and attracted officials, business leaders and others who routinely attend performances.

Shows run only a few times every other month, tickets have sold for as much as $450, and more than 3,000 people are on a waiting list for additional dates. Moguchiy’s staging keeps Gnedich’s portrayal of serfdom and autocracy at its core while adding a contemporary strand about Uzbek workers refurbishing the mansion and Chinese investors seeking to demolish it.

Many observers have suggested the play has escaped official interference because its critique lands indirectly, because its immediate popularity would make a closure politically costly, and because its expensive, scarce tickets limit access. "There are no hidden meanings here," said the critic Kristina Matviyenko; another critic called theater in Russia "a bit bigger than just theater." The production’s endurance comes amid a sharply constrained arts environment since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including the July 2024 sentencing to six years in prison of the playwright Svetlana Petriychuk and the director Zhenya Berkovich.

Key Topics

Culture, The Kholops, Pyotr Gnedich, Andrei Moguchiy, Tovstonogov Theater, Golden Soffit