Mystery-Buff
Mystery Buff – Vladimir Majkovski
Director Aleksandar Popovski
Adapted by Aleksandar Popovski
Jelena Mijović
Translator Tatjana Stanič
Dramaturg Darja Dominkuš
Dramaturgy consultant Jelena Mijović
Set designer Branko Hojnik
Costume designer Jelena Proković
Music Foltin
Light designer Milan Podlogar
Language consultant Tatjana Stanič
Assistant set desiner Urša Vidic
Assistant costume designer Katja Magister
Adriana Furlan
Cast:
Janez Škof – Eskimo
Silva Čušin – Actress
Tadej Toš k.g. – Groom, Adam
Barbara Cerar – Bride, Eve
Valter Dragan – Dictator
Bojan Emeršič – Poor Man
Klemen Janežič – Racketeer
Maša Derganc – Lady
Klemen Slakonja – Priest
Uroš Fürst – Businessman
Iva Babić – Professor
Janez Škof – Man of the future
Valter Dragan – Beelzebub
Janez Škof – Methuselah
Tadej Toš k.g. – Chaos
The play Mystery-Bouffe was written for the anniversary of the 1917 revolution, as a part of the festivities. It was directed and produced by Vsevolod Meyerhold, and the art was done by Kazimir Malevich. The premiere was in the Theatre of Musical Drama on November 7, 1918. After two years, Mayakovsky reworked the text of his play. This second version premiered in the First Theatre of the RSFSR on May 1, 1921. Mystery-Bouffe (1921) is “a heroic, epic, and satirical representation of post-revolution epoch”— the first Soviet play on a contemporary subject. While asserting the greatness and heroism of the common people, Mayakovsky exposed the creative impotence of the bourgeoisie. He stated in a preface to the 1921 edition that “in the future, all persons performing, presenting, reading or publishing Mystery-Bouffe should change the content, making it contemporary, immediate, up-to-the-minute. In this stage version eleven individuals are travelling to escape the new great flood. Unsatisfied with social revolutions and disappointed with hell as well as with heaven, they keep searching for the Promised Land. What they finally find is the stage.