Event

Lisa Dalton as "The Darling"

His play The Darling (Dushechka) is a touching love story and philosophical inquiry as well as a masterpiece by one of the world's greatest writers and playwrights, Anton Chekhov. Called "a pearl" by Leo Tolstoy, it provokes a highly controversial attitude embodied on its hero Olga Semionovna Plemianikova. Her nickname emanates from a Russian idiom: Dushechka is synonymous with a total lack of one's own personality and identity. But is she truly a reflection of true love and dedication? That duality and oxymoronic conflict becomes the basis of a question that the audience at each performance will be invited to answer.

The story follows the life and mind of Olenka as she fantasizes dreams and adores the people around her. Prone to falling in love quickly, Olenka marries Kukin, the pessimistic owner of the summer theatre and adopts his every thought. But when he dies suddenly, she is left opinion less until she meets the optimistic lumberyard manager, Pustavalov. Absorbing is pleasant attitudes does nothing to protect his health, however, and so her lonely life goes. Her quest is a universal one. The audience must decided if the grail brings with it pity, ridicule or admiration.