At the end of the 1930s, the Russian theater theorist and director Nikolaj Evreinov wrote his play “The Steps of Nemesis” in exile in France as a response to the Moscow show trials.

The Stalinist show trials of 1936–1938 were total theater and anti-theater at the same time. Evreinov looks behind the scenes of the trials – but what do we actually see there? Truth and fiction, mask and exposure, facts that turn out to be mystification - these are all themes of “The Steps” that have lost none of their relevance, not least in view of current repressions and show trials in Eastern Europe.

The premiere on June 4, 2022 - a cooperation between the International Laboratory Ensemble, the Slavic Seminar of the University of Zurich and the Braunschweig State Theater - brought the piece, published in a small edition by Evreinov's widow and completely forgotten, to the stage for the first time, with an international cast of actors and performers from Germany, Scotland, Belarus and Ukraine. The production was impacted by the war against Ukraine, which had already lasted 100 days at the time and had a significant impact on the production in terms of content and personnel.

Parallel to the premiere, the annotated text of the piece - in German and English - was published by Diaphanes-Verlag by Sylvia Sasse and Gleb J. Albert. The project and the premiere were funded by the Agora program of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Reviews

“The production finds suitable expressions for despair, fear and the self-denial necessary for survival beyond the text, which is presented in German, English, Russian and Ukrainian. ... So 'Nemesis' ... is a harsh lesson about the social and psychological effects of a reality staged by propaganda and characterized by intimidation. In times of Russian war propaganda that babbles about 'denazification' and drags opposition figures to court with fabricated accusations, it is a piece that is bitterly topical." (FAZ)

“Russian playwright and director Nikolaj Evreinov was an early supporter of reenactment. He wrote the play 'The Steps of the Nemesis' about the Stalinist show trials. Director Yuri Birte Anderson turns this into a powerful “Lehrstück” about truth manipulation and the power of storytelling. ... The production leaves the ... premiere audience with a bitter realization: Everything is theater, in everyday life even more than on stage." (Nachtkritik.de)

“'The Steps of the Nemesis' shows the power struggle as a game of betrayal and intrigue in constantly changing coalitions behind the scenes. ... At first the defendants scurry across the courtroom stage in front of the screen, aghast. But soon this becomes the free space in which the players turn their innermost being outward with grotesque facial expressions and gestures: despair, fear, raging anger, disgust, accompanied by the tonally liberating musical avant-garde of the interwar years. ... The performance becomes acute at the moment when the performer Antonina Romanova appears on stage only via video and emphasizes that she is sitting in a basement in Ukraine - and explains that she does not currently speak the language of the aggressor and therefore also can’t play the text of the Russia-critical Evreinov. That's not part of the show, that's an authentic statement. … This is how we arrive at a convincing evening about the theatricalization of politics.” (taz)