The text of the libretto is based on the plot of Gogol’s unfinished story. However, it includes references to the images of the entire cycle “Evenings on a Farm Near Dykanka”: a red svytka, an enchanted place, etc.
The action is transferred to the modern context: Russian soldier Shpon’ka, disappointed, returns from the war. But there is no peace even in his native village in the Urals: his auntie Vasilisa Kashporivna draws Shpon’ka into a conflict with neighbors, and somebody kills her…
Who committed the crime? Ukrainian farmer from the neighboring village near Poltava who had a land dispute with the auntie? Her worker who was oppressed by Vasilisa Kashporivna? Or perhaps aggressive green aliens that regularly visit the neighboring meadow and shout in Russian “Meadow is ours”?
This case is investigated by the Detective, who eventually finds out: the personification of absolute evil is the Red Svytka. It is bigger than all characters, the meadow or the villages. But how do win it? Shpon’ka tried to fight the system but appeared too weak to defeat it.
In the final of the play written on the 26th of February 2022, the documentary footage is used: Putin threatens to “decommunize” Ukraine and sends tanks and rockets there.
As for the genre of the play, tragedy, comedy, and farce merge here. Besides, there is a full-fledged procedural built in the best traditions of detectives.
Characters: male – 4, female – 2 + crowds
