INOSTRANKA

On Saturday, November 21, 2026, MOM Cultural Center in Budapest hosts the world premiere of “INOSTRANKA”, a new production by Maxim Didenko based on the novella of the same name by Sergei Dovlatov. Starring Masha Mashkova. The production is presented by Bird&Carrot Productions, Developing Artists Foundation and Msquared. The performance runs from 19:00 to 21:00 local time.

What makes a person leave home? Politics, history, circumstance, or simply a “bad mood”? “INOSTRANKA” searches for answers to these questions, bringing Dovlatov’s story sharply into today’s reality. It is not only the story of Marusya Tatarovich, but also the deeply personal story of actress Masha Mashkova herself: her attempts to break into Hollywood, her life in Los Angeles, and her memories of family, childhood and belonging. Inspired by real events.

“INOSTRANKA” is a conversational performance without a fourth wall: ironic, honest, funny and ultimately therapeutic. It speaks of emigration as an enduring human experience, the attempt to find one’s place in the world and preserve a sense of humour when everything around becomes foreign and unfamiliar. If in the 1980s emigration was often a domestic drama, today it has become an existential leap into the unknown. Yet the essence remains unchanged: at some point, each of us becomes a “foreigner”, in a new country, a new profession or even within our own life.

Masha Mashkova says she was searching for material that would allow audiences in the theatre to laugh out everything that had accumulated inside them, to laugh until tears. Then the heroine Marusya appeared before her, from Novosibirsk, who emigrated to America and, once emigrant life set in, suddenly very much wanted to go back. “I turned the pages of the novella with trembling hands, eager to find out as quickly as possible whether Marusya would return.”

Director Maxim Didenko’s distinctive artistic language combines live theatre, cinema and multimedia to create a contemporary stage form. The performance unfolds through two parallel processes, theatrical action and cinematography, with cinema itself becoming an integral part of the live event, adding depth and meaning. Maxim Sukhanov, Varya Shmykova, Nikita Kukushkin and Nikola Ashurkov appear in the filmed sequences.

Creative team: playwright Mikhail Durnenkov, director Maxim Didenko, composer Anna Drubich, costume designer Tatyana Dolmatovskaya, set designer Ksenia Peretrukhina, choreographer Vladimir Varnava, lighting and sound design Yury Galkin, multimedia Oleg Mikhailov, stage manager Ilya Kuznetsov. Producers: Aleksandrina Markvo, Katerina Kashintseva and Masha Mashkova.