The performance Pushkin.Cases was staged on March 24, 2026, as part of the regular theatre program of Ložionica.
This contemporary theatre piece explores the phenomena of chance, fate, and personal choice through a fragmented and open dramaturgical structure. Inspired by selected prose works of Alexander Pushkin, the stories are recontextualized and brought into dialogue with historical parallels, the contemporary moment, and the audience’s personal experience. Fragmented narratives, love stories driven by chance, conflicts and rivalries, moments of loss, and life changes gradually reveal hidden connections, where seemingly random events prove to be meaningful and consequential.
The performance is based on stories from Pushkin’s Tales of Belkin: The Blizzard, The Shot, The Stationmaster, and The Squire’s Daughter.
Various characters alternate on stage, while the audience is actively involved in the flow of the story. The cast includes Evgenija Eškina-Kovačević, Daniel Kovačević, Rade Maričić, and Nikola Štrbac, who fluidly move between characters and narrators, occasionally engaging the audience through interaction, dance, or photography. The performance is in Serbian, with Russian subtitles.
Directed by Filip Vinogradov, an award-winning Russian theatre director and scenographer, laureate of the national “Golden Mask” award and Grand Prix winner of the Pop Mechanics S. Kuryokhin award. Since 2022, he has been living and working in Belgrade, where his work merges the rich Russian theatrical tradition with contemporary performance practices, bringing freshness and innovation to the local scene.
The performance raises questions about personal freedom, fate, and the impact of random events, social structures, and historical forces on an individual’s life, creating space for reflection and dialogue with the audience. Through a combination of drama, irony, and play, Pushkin.Cases opens up a space for rethinking universal themes: identity, freedom, and the meaning of life.
Photo: Jegor Želtouhov i Natalia Korenovskaja