Yelena Skulskaya’s play The Sparrow and the Monster

Over its ten years of activity, several pleasant traditions have evolved at the HeadRead festival. One of them is our cooperation with the Estonian-Russian author Yelena Skulskaya (1950) who has been organising literary performances for the festival for years, usually at the Russian Theatre. This year is no exception. The poetic theatre programme The Sparrow and the Monster takes its material from the legacy of two Russian literary classics. First, Korney Chukovsky’s (1882-1869) parable The Monster Cockroach, where the titular character terrorises other animals. The other source is the Stalin-era children’s author and playwright Evgeny Schwartz (1896-1958) and his allegorical and satirical play for adults, The Dragon. It pits the brave knight Sir Lancelot against bureaucracy – certainly a bold move in the circumstances of the time. The play is in three languages – Estonian, Russian and English. The whole is made complete by the association Поэтическое содружество, founded by Skulskaya. The play will show at the small hall of the Russian Theatre.