The Russian province of Tula hosts the “Tolstoy” International Open-Air Theater Festival

The sixth annual “Tolstoy” International Theater Festival, which started on the eighth of this month, concludes at the Yasnaya Polyana Museum in the Russian province of Tula.

This year’s festival was devoted to the theme of family and childhood. This was stated in a statement published by the local government.

The statement said: “This year’s festival focuses on the theme of family and childhood, as 2022 marks the 170th anniversary of the publication of the story “Childhood”, as the first book published by the great Russian writer Lev Tolstoy (1828-1910).
Ten theater groups from Kazan, Petersburg, Novorossiysk and other large Russian cities participated in the theater festival.

The festival opened with the presentation of the State Academic Theater “Vakhtangov”, the play “War and Peace”, inspired by Tolstoy’s famous novel. The program included the creations of the Tula Academic Drama Theater, which presented the play “Where’s Tolstoy?” Directed by Olga Kuzmina, and the play “In Search of the Blue Bird”. The program also included plays for children for the first time.

It is noteworthy that “Tolstoy” is the international theater festival that has been held in the open air at the historic “Tolstoy” family estate, since 2016. Every year, the festival presents performances of traditional and experimental forms based on Tolstoy’s texts and life for the general public. The festival was organized at the initiative of the governor of the Tula region and with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture and the state company “Rostec”. In 2021, the festival was held for the first time under the auspices of the Russian Committee of UNESCO.