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The Mandate

by Nikolai Erdman
in a new version by Declan Donnellan

Such a tremendous country – then, quick as a flash, bang, revolution, and now look at us! It's so shaming… and in front of foreigners too.

The revolution turns the Guliachins' world upside down. First they must track down members of the working class to pose as relatives. And there's 'Copenhagen Twilight' to replace with a portrait of Karl Marx. But in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, the cook is confused for the Grand Duchess Anastasia… or a call girl, depending on whether she is in or out of her dress.

Banned for decades in the USSR, this uproarious new version of Nikolai Erdman's lost comic masterpiece exposes a society riddled with hypocrisy and confusion.

Cast credits:

Olymp Valerianovich Smetanich : Bruce Alexander

Autonom : David Collings

Ensemble : Sarah-Jane Drummey

Nadejda Petrovna : Deborah Findlay

Varvara Sergeevna : Naomi Frederick

Anatoly : Daniel Hart

Pavel : Martin Hutson

Ensemble : Sean Jackson

Vishnevezkaia, Tamara Leopoldovna : Carol Macready

Nastia : Sinead Matthews

Valerian : Laurence Penry-Jones

Ensemble : Michael Rouse

Ivan Ivanovich Shironkin : Adrian Scarborough

An Organ Grinder : Roger Sloman

Agaphangel : Harry Towb

Ensemble : Anne White

: Music played live by

Music Director/ keyboards : Walter Fabeck

clarinet / saxophone : Emma Fowler

trumpet : Andrew Gathercole

drums / percussion : Michael Gregory

Production credits:

Director: Declan Donnellan

Designer: Nick Ormerod

Lighting Designer: Judith Greenwood

Music: Catherine Jayes

Director of Movement : Jane Gibson

Sound Designer: Rich Walsh

photo Getty Images

The Mandate finished on: 26 January 2005

The Mandate

Cottesloe Theatre

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