Anton Chekhov's first of four major plays dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts between its four main characters: Boris Trigorin, a well-known writer, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the would-be playwright Konstantin Treplev. Yury Butusov's Golden Mask Award-winning production abounds in an incredible freedom and openness, delving deep into the throes of artistic creation and the anguish of the artist who struggles to find a language of his own. This is not only a performance about the theatre, it is an anthology of the theatre. Chekhov's characters are in the process of creating their lives or watching them fall apart, which, according to Butusov, may be a closely related activity.