About the Event

My Grandson Benjamin

Starring Lia Akhedzhakova
Based on the play by Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Directed by Marfa Gorvits
Also starring: Aleksandra Islentyeva, Olga Grudyaeva, Egor Trukhin

*This play is performed in Russian

The main protagonist, Esther (Lia Akhedzhakova), lives in the past, where traditions and rules from childhood are preserved in her memory. Authoritative and used to making decisions for others, she unsuccessfully tries to find a suitable wife for her only son. One day, Esther decides to go back to the small town of Bobruisk, where she grew up, and returns with the correct bride, a young beauty from a vetted family. It would seem that everything is going according to plan, but Esther’s attempt to build a new world on an old foundation eventually crumbles. Her son rejects his mother’s imposed marriage, and the bride is not who she was perceived to be…

The classic conflict between "fathers" and "children" in the play is interwoven with a funny, touching story about maternal love, capable of both creating something beautiful and destroying everything around. The main heroine must come to terms with the chasm between her traditional ideals and the new ways of the world.

Bestselling author Ludmila Ulitskaya wrote this play in the 1980s, but its themes remain timeless. Thanks to the work of stage masters Lia Akhedzhakova and Aleksandra Islentyeva, joined by a cast of bright young actors, the play is in turn poignant and comical, soul-gripping and hopeful.