The play “Stories from a Suitcase” based on Sergei Dovlatov

“Stray Dog” in Israel: Leonid Taranov in the play “Stories from a Suitcase,” based on Sergei Dovlatov

In October, Leonid Taranov, an actor from the famous St. Petersburg art cellar “Stray Dog,” will come to Israel with the one-man show “Stories from a Suitcase,” based on the works of Sergei Dovlatov.

“Stray Dog” is one of St. Petersburg’s best-known theatrical and literary venues. It is a place with a unique history and atmosphere, where theater exists literally at arm’s length from the audience. For many years, it has staged literary performances based on the works of Dovlatov, Zoshchenko, Filatov, and other authors.

One of “Stray Dog’s” performances, “Stories from a Suitcase,” starring Leonid Taranov, will be presented in Israel for the first time this autumn.

This is the Dovlatov we know and love: funny, precise, slightly absurd, and instantly recognizable. His characters are officials, editors, black-marketeers, laborers, soldiers, and criminals. They are people from the recent past, whose familiar personalities and situations are still easy to recognize decades later.

And all of them appear onstage thanks to a single actor.

Leonid Taranov is a master of the one-man show and transformation. In an hour and a half, he manages to portray an entire gallery of Dovlatov’s characters, switching instantly from one image to another. But the central character remains Dovlatov himself: an observer and participant in this slightly absurd world, describing it with his trademark humor.

“Stories from a Suitcase” has been performed for many years at St. Petersburg’s “Stray Dog.” In October, Leonid Taranov will bring the play to Israel for the first time.

Onstage: Leonid Taranov
Adaptation and direction: Honored Artist Dzhenni Katysheva
Music: Natalia Mitrofanova