Evgeny Schwartz's THE DRAGON to be Presented at Theater 86
Performances of The Dragon will run from November 13 - December 21, 2025, at Pushkin Hall.
Theater 86 will return to Pushkin Hall with The Dragon by Evgeny Schwartz, a blistering political fable disguised as a fairy tale. At once a comedy and a cautionary tale, the play reminds us that the dragons of tyranny and disinformation are hardly confined to the past.
Written in 1943 and first staged in 1944, the play was publicly framed as an allegory of Nazism. The dragon's traits echo fascist ideology, including open hostility toward minorities and the "cleansing" of the town's gypsy population. Yet for those who knew Schwartz-an artist connected to avant-garde circles devastated by Stalin's purges-it was clear the satire was also aimed much closer to home. Soviet authorities recognized the danger instantly and wasted no time in banning the work.
Set in a vaguely medieval town, The Dragon follows Lancelot, a wandering knight who discovers the townspeople have lived for centuries under the rule of a three-headed dragon. Each year the beast demands food and a maiden, and this time the victim is Elsa, daughter of Lancelot's genial hostess. To his surprise, both Elsa and her mother accept the bargain with good cheer, praising the dragon for his "kindness"-he protects them from other dragons, once boiled the town's water during a cholera scare, and even "cleansed" the town of its gypsies.
Directed by Aleksey Burago, this timely farce features an ensemble led by James Hallett, who appeared on Broadway in The Diary of Anne Frank alongside Natalie Portman, in the title role. He is joined by Hazen Cuyler, Michael Donaldson, Ariel Polanco, Sarah O'Donnell, Mark K. Simmons, Tom Schubert, and Di Zhu-a longtime ensemble with many years of collaboration.
"The Dragon is not only about the monsters who rule over us," says director Aleksey Burago. "It is about the dragon inside of us-our fears, our compromises, the ways we surrender our freedom. That is what makes the play so haunting, and so necessary today."
A comedy, a farce, and a fairy tale with teeth, The Dragon invites audiences to laugh even as it exposes how easily people can surrender their freedoms to authoritarian rule.
Theater 86 may be best known to New Yorkers for its recent sold-out run of The Master and Margarita, which was named a Critic's Recommendation by Vulture last summer. The company's productions have drawn consistent praise for their bold style. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Charles Isherwood noted of Burago's direction: "Mr. Burago's production eschews the kind of naturalistic acting that we are accustomed to seeing on American stages. The performances are ripe, antic and at times enjoyably over-the-top..."
Performances of The Dragon will run from November 13 - December 21, 2025, at Pushkin Hall. The show schedule is Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 7PM and Sundays at 3PM.
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