This production is a deep cry for freedom, both social and personal. It speaks about the rise and fall of a free man who, in his own unique way, fights for freedom under a dictatorship, within a rotten, insidious and hypocritical society. It is clear that a free man is the greatest and most dangerous enemy of those in power, especially of a regime that rules through authoritarianism. And in all those great dictatorships, there is no room for the absurd and the meaningless.

We are living Kharms today. If we simply change our perspective, we will clearly see that everything around us is terribly absurd and realize that this is our reality. Working on Kharms is both a pleasure and a challenge. His personal life and his work constitute a vast, unique and extraordinary world, distant from us and yet, at the same time, remarkably close. His world is also our world; his struggle is also our struggle; in some way, we are all Kharms. In a life within such a dirty world, where all norms have been distorted, where everything has been displaced, where everything loses its meaning, where everything is masked and concealed, where freedom disappears while everyone slowly comes to accept it, theatre must not remain indifferent. It must ask great questions, fight, observe all social anomalies and comment on them, but at the same time it must also offer hope that perhaps things can be different—which is, ultimately, its essential purpose.

The world we have created in this production is made precisely through the blending of reality and meaninglessness, life and magic. Our world has no boundaries. Through it, we make powerful comments and ask great questions in our own way, which we believe to be both interesting and direct. Our production does not offer answers; it only asks questions. It delves into every aspect of life, opens up particular stories, and speaks about everything that surrounds us. The escape into comedy is merely a way of concealing a profound tragedy.

Kharms opens up an immense space in which everyone can find their own way to speak about their own pain, about what is missing, about what is both dream and life, about their own world, and to tell some of their own deeply honest stories. Through Kharms, I have tried to speak about the fragmented and absurd society in which we live, about the mentality of the petty bourgeoisie, the denial of freedom, political and state repression, and humiliation.

This production is my deep and personal cry, our shared cry…