Penza, 17 June 2015. PenzaNews. The Penza regional Lunacharsky Drama Theater crew began the rehearsals of the comedy play “The Last Victim” after Alexander Ostrovsky, a performance that will be the first premiere of the upcoming 223rd theater season. The rehearsals started on Wednesday, June 17.

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The stage director of the play is the Distinguished Artist of Russia Vasily Konopatin, the Drama Theater literary manager Vitaly Sokolov informed PenzaNews agency.

“As most of Ostrovsky’s plays, the main themes of ‘The Last Victim’ are love and money. It’d be a tough job to describe its plot, but the play written 148 years ago is so rife with charged emotions and complicated relations that most modern TV series pale in comparison. And yet the stage director sees the future play as a subtle comedy full of irony: its main leitmotif is the inevitable reward for noble and generous minds and decisions,” he commented.

According to Vitaly Sokolov, the role of Glafira Firsova, the aunt-in-law of the young widow Yulia Pavlovna Tugina, will be played by the Distinguished Artist of Russia Galina Repnaya, while Yulia Kuzmina was assigned the latter role.

“Yuri Zemlyansky and Nikolai Shapovalov are also involved in the rehearsals: they will alternate with one another playing the roles of a prom-trotter Vadim Grigoryich Dulchin and a club habitué The Moskvich. Igor Serebryaniy will play as Luka Gerasimych Dergachev, Dulchin’s old buddy. Sergei Drozhzhilov and Evgeny Panov will alternate in the roles of a rich merchant Flor Fedulych Pribytkov and the News-Talker in the club,” the Drama Theater representative clarified.

He added that the roles of the old key-keeper lady Mikheevna and the widow Pivokurova will be played by Olga Belyakova and Lidiya Stakhanova respectively, while Pavel Tachkov is rehearsing in the role of Flor Fedulych’s nephew Lavr Mironych Pribytkov.

“The role of Lavr Mironych’s daughter Irina will be tried by two actresses at once, Yulia Kuznetsova and Marina Matvevnina. At the same time, the Distinguished Artist of Russia Genrikh Vavilov and Sergei Pakhomov will play the ‘Asian man’ Salay Saltanych, the lender to the many dramatis personae of the play. By the way, this is a new work for Genrikh Vavilov, his first for the last three years after he play Firs in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard in 2012,” Vitaly Sokolov noted.

He also announced that Vladislav Matyukin and Alexander Steshin will play as The Club Foreigner and the valet Sakerdon, while Artem Tikhomirov and Alexey Boldyrev will “swap” as Pribytkov’s valet Vasily and Dulchin’s servant Mardariy.

The play “The Last Victim” will be ready for the stage in October 2015.