With director Cynthia Marsh keen to tackle a more modern text, in 1990, the department staged the British premiere of Mikhail Bulgakov’s tragicomedy Zoya’s Apartment. The play is set during the years of the New Economic Policy in the 1920s, when a measure of private trade was permitted in order to help restore the economy after the Civil War. In order to keep her six-room apartment under new housing committee rules, Zoya Denisovna Peltz is forced to use her living space for business purposes… as a high-class brothel. Highlighting issues such as the widespread occurrence of bribery, the corruption of officials and the treatment of foreign nationals, Bulgakov’s play was banned by censors following its premiere, and underwent enforced revisions.
Left: Bob Collins getting into character as model Madame Ivanovna.
Top right: Cast member Jo Jones (Maryushka) practises her Russian pronunciation with Russian lectrice Evelina Zolotovskaya.
Bottom right: Former student and professional actor Roger Ringrose returned to the department to take the role of Ametistov..