The Philosophy and Drama of Life: The Theatrical Understanding of Dostoevsky

ABSTRACT This article discusses the little-studied issue of the dramatic content of philosophical issues in Fyodor M. Dostoevsky’s works. The polyphonic quality, the dialogism combined with the markers of the genre of tragedy, has served as the basis for numerous theatrical incarnations of Dostoevsky’s novels and stories. We note the markers of a carnivalesque worldview, the combination of the grotesque with subtle psychology in stage productions of the author’s work. The complex of existential issues correlates with social significant ones, and the choice of characters is made at different levels of life. We discuss the most notable productions during the late twentieth and early twenty-first century: Georgy Tovstonogov’s The Idiot, Yuri Zavadsky’s St. Petersburg Dreams, Valery Fokin’s I Shall Go, I Shall Go, and Konstantin Bogomolov’s The Karamazovs.