In America, the works of Dostoevsky might be considered a major challenge. But in Russia, his books are as common among students as “The Great Gatsby,” “The Sun Also Rises” or “The Grapes of Wrath” are in the United States. “We all read it,” said Alexander Koruchekov, one member of a company of Russian actors from Moscow who will be performing “The Boys,” a stage adaptation of part of Dostoevsky’s monumental “The Brothers Karamazov.”
Koruchekov plays the show’s main character, Alyosha (or Alexei) Karamazov, the youngest brother. He spoke, via Skype, with several other members of the Theatre Art Studio about the show they worked on for about a year before first performing it.

During the third year of their theater school studies “the main topic of research was Dostoevsky,” said actor Andrey Shibarshin, who plays Kolya Krasotkin, who gets in trouble for countering traditional Russian beliefs. “We studied acting and directing using Dostoevsky’s work,” he said. The artistic director decided to take a part of the Karamazov Brothers that is connected with young people to teach student directors and to teach actors how to do research when they work on new material.

In “The Boys,” the youngest Karamazov brother befriends a group of school boys in an effort to get them to stop bullying a dying classmate. Russian actors and theater companies are famous for the long amount of time they are given to prepare performances. It is not uncommon for actors to spend several years on a role before taking it to the stage. But the Theatre Art Studio’s approach is different even for Russia.

“It’s a new way at looking at theater in general and for Europe and America especially, it will be very different,” said actress Miriam Sekhon. “It’s the way that we play Dostoevsky, which is new and different, even for Russia.” Koruchekov said the theater’s approach to every piece is different. “We are the theater of ideas and I would say that it’s a rare phenomenon because our theater doesn’t intend to amuse or to entertain, but to engage our audience into a conversation, discussion, dialogue, maybe mutual work on what’s going on.”

The play, which runs roughly two hours, will be performed in Russian with English surtitles flashed on a screen above the stage. The actors said it can help if audiences prepare in advance, but it’s not essential. “It won’t do them any harm if they read the Karamazov brothers,” Koruchekov said. But time is wasting. “There’s not much time left and it’s a lot to get through,” Sekhon said of the lengthy book. “It’s a great story and it’s great if you know something about Russia about that time in history. But even if you haven’t read it, it should still work.”