The heart of this production which is staged on the basis of the most mysterious work by Anton Chekhov is made up by the text of the writer. Not very easy, rather sensitive and psychologically intensive, this story tunes the audience to an intimate conversation about the meaning of real life guidelines and phony ideals that make a man inhuman.

Rustem Fesak, the director of the staging, in a team with actors of the Melikhovo theatre, first of all gives a great deal of thought to looking for something to believe in and, at the same time, he thinks about lack of faith that can destroy a person fr om the inside and lead him to nowhere, to absolute mental emptiness.

The Black Monk is regarded as one of the most enigmatic works written by Chekhov. There are many unanswered questions and so called inconvenient topics that affect something deeply personal of yours.

Nevertheless, the Director managed to stage a play for the general public through masterly placing accents in his production and thus having highlighted for the audience a sizable human tragedy – a tragedy of a gifted creative person living in the world of undermined principles – a tragedy which makes you involved and feedback with empathy.

Centuries pass, but the nature of fundamental truths remains unchanged. Creative work without understanding of the idea – in the name of what it does exist – may bring about not a creative, but a destructive force, while reluctance to seek Inward Light can drive a person mad. Here in Melikhovo, all these topics have the ring of truth just because this is the place wh ere lived and worked the great writer and doctor who used his literary scalpel to anatomize human manners.

"We are trying to read Chekhov's story so that to make it clear for us and to talk to people on topics that are always shadowed in our everyday lives. Just speaking to them in the Chekhov language," said the Director of the production. The Black Monk – is a timeless performance; it will be interesting for those who have not lost the ability to sense this language. Those who still have the ability to believe, love and think.