“Moskva” – now playing at City Garage, Santa Monica – Los Angeles theater review

City Garage is known for staging edgy and provocative avant garde theater and their latest production, Moskva, is no exception. Written by Steven Leigh Morris, Moskva is a bizarre and satirical fantasy based on the (posthumously published) pre-WWII Russian novel The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Weaving black magic with black humor, this is a zany—and somewhat incomprehensible—Faustian tale of a despondent writer lamenting a stolen manuscript. Juggling the wildly vacillating moods of fantasy, action/adventure and love story, Morris has updated Bulgakov’s sharp jabs at Stalin’s regime to attack today’s oppressive oligarchy under Putin.

The story begins when Satan (under the guise of a magician named Professor Woland) and his havoc-wreaking entourage descend upon present-day Moscow, encountering all manner of motley types such as mafia bosses, drug-dealers, hit-men, rock stars, reality TV “celebrities”—even Pontius Pilate and Christ.

The 13-strong ensemble delivers bold and brave performances, with some truly menacing characters amidst the mayhem. A highlight is a carnivalesque naked parade of infamous despots and underworld criminals…

With a decapitation, a vodka-swigging giant cat, and a nude witch running around clutching her broomstick, Moskva may not be your cup of tea, but it’s certainly a unique experience!

Moskva by Steven Leigh Morris

City Garage, building T1

Bergamot Station

2525 Michigan Ave.

Santa Monica, Ca. 90404

Runs through Sunday December 15, 2013

Performances:

Fridays, Saturdays 8:00pm; Sundays 4:00pm

Tickets:

$25.00, Students/Seniors w/ID $20.00

Sundays: “Pay-What-You-Can” at the door only

Box Office/Information:            (310) 453-9939

Purchase tickets here.