Overview

Originally produced at the Taganka Theatre in Moscow where it ran eight years, this cinematic slice of Moscow life was first produced in English using this fine version by the author of Noises Off and Copenhagen. A Muscovite machine supplier, Viktor, lives with his wife Lena and teenage daughter Natashka in a one room flat with a shared bathroom. Viktor's elderly mother Ksenya has a one room flat and a house in the country. Since she can live at the dacha, Viktor wants to exchange the two one room flats for a two room flat for his family. Ksenya is amenable, but what about Viktor's sister and her husband who stay in the dacha when they are not working in Siberia? Viktor must barter his better nature and familial loyalties in a desperate search for better living conditions.