Evgenia Safonova reproduced in her production at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre the key constructive feature of W. G. Sebald’s novel: historical memory is both the protagonist and the place of action of Austerlitz.

Dmitry Renansky, Kommersant

Evgenia Safonova, having thoroughly worked on the novel, having accepted its meaning and philosophy, as well as a peculiar form of narration, creates an almost ideal stage equivalent of Sebald’s prose. The director seems to be leading the audience along the path of the protagonist: from the unawareness, the vague sense of unfilled or erased memory, the missed content – to the revealing of the very core, the finding of the lost item (in this case, the object of the search and the final find is the character himself).

Evgenia Tropp, St. Petersburg Theatre Magazine

The “broken” intonation of phrases works here as an artistic device: the text is intentionally “alienated” with the purpose of concentrating the audience’s attention on the central theme of the production – “the breakup” in the history of humankind, which the Holocaust was. Getting rid of the actors' interpretations and rejecting the enactment of the story on the stage, the director conveys one of the central ideas of Sebald’s novel: the narration about the catastrophe of the past can only be indirect: “the demonstration” of events, the mimesis are no longer appropriate in such a narration.

Svetlana Novikova,

TRIUMPH OF MEMORY: PERFORMANCES BASED ON SEBALD’S PROSE IN RUSSIAN THEATRE 2021

In her capacity as a set designer, Safonova organizes the space with irresistible effectiveness: the space, divided into two by the transparent screen, resembles both the endless Kafkaesque archive (which in fact it is – in the production of the Bolshoi Drama Theatre the interiors of the German archive in Theresienstadt have been reproduced) and some otherworldly waiting room. On the curtains-screens one may catch a glimpse of frames of architectural ensembles, fragments of some buildings, drafts, documents. Subsequently they are replaced with shots from the Nazi propaganda films about the great life of the Jews in the town, which has become a concentration camp. The footage perfectly fits in the fabric of the performance: faces and figures of people on the black and white film “cast a shadow” of the upcoming violent death, sensed almost physically.

Lilia Shitenburg, Colta

The denouement of Safonova’s performance, its conclusion and way out, is the scene from the middle of the novel: the story of the meeting of Austerlitz and Vera in her apartment at Šporkova Street. More precisely, it is his meeting with his real self, because this old woman is the only witness of his emergence in the world, and only she can confirm, “testify to” his present existence. This very moment the lost, disappeared, eliminated person is literally born again. The means of theatre help to express this in a very strong and extremely simple way.

Evgenia Tropp, St. Petersburg Theatre Magazine

The protagonist, played by Vasily Reutov, is for the time being deprived of the body, of the live voice, and, as a result, of the personality: his expressive close-up is projected onto the screen, the recording of his voice is heard from the loudspeakers behind the backs of the audience, we seem to discern his shadow behind the transparent curtain in the depth, between the archive catalogues. Being sated with “the memory of the world” and finding the address of his own home, the protagonist will be – literally – embodied on the stage, he will acquire the language (including the Czech language) and speech, he will get the right to his own name, history, meaning, and emotion.

Lilia Shitenburg, Colta

The graphic, minimalist, reserved production, gradually emerging like an old photograph. It captures you and doesn’t let you go. It is definitely and absolutely overwhelming at the end.

Alexey Pasuyev, St. Petersburg Theatre Magazine

The best production about Holocaust I have even seen. It reaches that very high standard of detached tragedy which is exactly needed in the conversation about the Shoah.

Andrey Pronin, Colta