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Performance "12 chairs"
Novokuznetsk Drama Theater
2026
Authors: Ilf and Petrov
Director: Nikolai Pokotylo
Set designer: Julia Vetrova
Photo: Diana Tokmakova
2026
Authors: Ilf and Petrov
Director: Nikolai Pokotylo
Set designer: Julia Vetrova
Photo: Diana Tokmakova
We created this play under a fairly tight deadline. The director was writing a stage adaptation of Ilf and Petrov's famous work "The Twelve Chairs." In the book, the action shifts rapidly, with incredible speed, as the characters chase jewels and literally travel across the entire country. It was important for me to reflect this dynamic, the rapid scene changes, in the set design. To achieve this, we immediately decided to use a turntable. This meant I had to create a set that would work with all its sides and facets, a three-dimensional world through which our characters travel. All the actors move dynamically within the set: up and down, through and out, in circles and linearly; we laid out a path for them in literally every direction. Another very important task for the director was: "We must create a kind of imaginary world for Kisa Vorobyaninov, his personal hell in which he lives; we must see through his eyes." I was very interested in seeing the world from this character's perspective, creating this world, even though this character was initially distant and incomprehensible to me.
The theater's wonderful workshops worked on the set; they quickly crafted two enormous French curtains for us, one of which falls onto the stage at the end of the performance, covering it like a shroud. I also created a cheerful giant skeleton with glowing eyes, which was supposed to dance with the actors at the finale. The confined space of the small room we needed transformed into the protagonist's bedroom, a train compartment, endless hotel rooms, corners, nooks, cabins, dens, apartments, offices, and institutions through which the characters pass. And, of course, an incredibly large variety of chairs. What's especially remarkable is that all these vintage and antique chairs were donated to us by residents of Novokuznetsk, where we produced our play. I really love this set, it's unlike any of my previous projects.
The theater's wonderful workshops worked on the set; they quickly crafted two enormous French curtains for us, one of which falls onto the stage at the end of the performance, covering it like a shroud. I also created a cheerful giant skeleton with glowing eyes, which was supposed to dance with the actors at the finale. The confined space of the small room we needed transformed into the protagonist's bedroom, a train compartment, endless hotel rooms, corners, nooks, cabins, dens, apartments, offices, and institutions through which the characters pass. And, of course, an incredibly large variety of chairs. What's especially remarkable is that all these vintage and antique chairs were donated to us by residents of Novokuznetsk, where we produced our play. I really love this set, it's unlike any of my previous projects.