The Chief Prosecutor’s Speech

Vladimir Sorokin’s works provide an excellent opportunity to unfold multilayered situations on stage. This is made possible by a contemporary mythological figure that could be called the “spirit of human culture.” It is not a fully embodied physical character, but rather a kind of spirit, shaped by the imprints of the most significant achievements in cultural history. It reveals itself through the richness of linguistic associations, the absurdity of characters’ behavior, and the intrusion of shocking elements into entirely traditional theatrical action.

Thus, during “The Chief Prosecutor’s Speech,” the prosecutor examines the case of a certain defendant, who is essentially accused of elevating 21st-century art above all other achievements of human culture — Leonardo, Shakespeare, Mozart… Yet, in the process of analyzing the case, compelled to operate with specific cultural evidence and confronted with the defendant’s unconventional logic, the prosecutor himself repeatedly finds himself in the position of the accused.