Renowned British Director Declan Donnellan and top-class Russian theater actors will perform the Russian classic Boris Godunov next month which will be its Asian debut.

Poster design by Kean | Lanyon for Pushkin's Boris Godunov Director: Declan Donnellan Designer: Nick Ormerod

Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong government, Boris Godunov will be staged from November 29 to December 2. Since its premiere in the 2000 Moscow Chekhov International Theater Festival, Donellan's Boris Godunov has been invited to arts festivals globally including the Netherlands, France, the US, Germany and Brazil.

The play is about politics, power and human nature. Russian literary titan Alexander Pushkin, the playwright of Boris Godunov, turned a piece of unofficial Russian history into drama.

Boris Godunov plotted to kill a prince and succeeded in usurping the throne. His lust for power is satisfied, but his people have proved fickle and his conscience is not at peace. Being privy to the sham that Boris throws over the people, a young monk Grigory disguises himself as the slain prince in his ambition to seize the throne and expose Boris.

Chekhov International Theater Festival has been held since 1992 to introduce to the world theater of great Russian playwrights such as Chekhov, Stanislavsky and Meyerhold. It also brings famous works to Russia, including those of Peter Brook, Peter Stein and Tadashi Suzuki.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2007)