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Diary of a Ukrainian Madman

Written by Liudmyla Tymoshenko. Translated by John Farndon.
Directed by Chris Loveless

13 Aug 2024 to 31 Aug 2024
Finborough Theatre, London, SW10

'And by the way gentlemen, Putin's head is bald now because he had scabies as an adult. Do you understand how this changes everything . . .?'

A new comedy inspired by Nikolai Gogol's classic Diary of a Madman by Ukrainian playwright and artist Liudmyla Tymoshenko.

A fabulously surreal reworking of Ukrainian-born novelist and playwright Nikolai Gogol's original, reimagined for a contemporary Ukraine racked by Covid and war.

Lonely, eccentric pharmacist Vasyl Petrovych works long hours and night shifts in the dingy pharmacy that is almost his home.

Harassed by his dreadful boss Serhiy, the boss's wife Valentina and junior colleague Stepan, he retreats into a rich fantasy life where he is on the verge of discoveries that will change the world.

His sanity might have survived the pandemic and the Russian invasion, just . . . until he falls in love with the boss's beautiful daughter Stefania . . .

On a set that is part modern pharmacy, part alchemist's laboratory and part madhouse, a gallery of Gogolian grotesques drifts through time and space in a headlong flight of wild imagination and fantastical humour.