Korshunovas has followed an approach that modern directors will find unconventional – never missed a single line of the classic play and kept its structure intact.

Passions in the Alexandrinsky performance really run high. There is a feeling that the events are unfolding in the backstage space. Those who have ever been into the enormous stage pockets, will immediately identify their surroundings. Actors hide behind mannequins, frozen as dolls, then ‘thaw’, and don historical costumes at the end of the performance. But the most important thing in the performance is still the Katharine and Petruchio relationship, and the question of how to keep your freedom and personal space when you’re in love.

In the Alexandrinsky Theatre performance, the Lord who makes a brief appearance (Semyon Sytnik), and who is responsible for the actors’ tricking Sly, reminds us of wizard Prospero, sitting at his make-up dresser with pieces of an ancient theatre, old picture frames and portraits lying around him. The black-clad actors’ company serves as a pack of hounds that pull Sly into the theatrical dimension with proper canine devotion and loud howling.

The first impression is that of a high quality literary text. Multidimensional and artistically deep. Rigidly structured as free improvisation. Revealing a deep understanding of the comical, where everything is dead serious, nobody tries to make us laugh, and yet there are times one can’t help laughing because of the discrepancy between the situation and the detailed scenic commentary. The theatre’s feast. The theatre’s other side and its broken pieces.