The Imagine Group proposed the idea of a multiverse containing locations and characters from The Seagull, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard. Playwright Yegor Zaytsev and Andrey Karaban, a director at the Brusnikin Theatre, developed this concept into a story based on the correspondence between Anton Pavlovich and his wife, Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova. Through their letters, the audience was immersed in the couple's warm relationship and reminiscences of the great plays.
My task was to create a visual universe for Chekhov and Knipper-Chekhova — one that would gradually evolve and fill with new locations. It needed to be soft and subtle so as not to distract from the actors and the text. During the main action, the backdrop remained largely static, with only subtle movement in elements like flowers, water, or clouds. We reserved active motion for key narrative accents and scene transitions.
Working together, we succeeded in creating a contemporary narrative language that conveys the enduring ideas in Anton Pavlovich's works — ideas that remain just as relevant today.