RussianImpostureMasterclass Pioneers Conceptual Theater with Sorokin and Gogol Adaptations

The RussianImpostureMasterclass, led by Zhak (Vadim Zhakevich), positions itself as Russia's first concept theater. The group's work explores linguistic deconstruction and visual incongruence, staging plays by Moscow conceptualists like Vladimir Sorokin. Their production of Sorokin's 'The Ditch' features soldiers in sterile white environments where obscene dialogue contrasts with clean, abstract staging. A long-term project adapts Gogol's 'The Overcoat' through multiple formats, including the theater piece 'Overcoat #2737,5' presented at Moscow's NET festival in November 1998. This production uses a circular snow-covered stage as a surface for projecting associative images derived from Gogol's text, creating virtual worlds independent of narrative meaning. The approach reflects theoretical frameworks from Jean Baudrillard's simulacra and Mikhail Epstein's conceptualism, where theater detaches signs from reality. Directors Anatoli Vasiliev and Eimuntas Nekrosius are cited for their textual playfulness, while critic Mark Lipovetski analyzes Sorokin's linguistic chaos. The article, published on October 27, 2000, by Birgit Beumers, examines how postmodern theater moves beyond illusion toward simulation, rejecting synthesis between realistic and self-aware theatrical forms.