Theatre pieces 1991-2000

In the '90s, The Master and Margarita got an international breakthrough in the performing arts. This was partly due to directors from Eastern Bloc countries such as Oskaras Koršunovas from Vilnius (Lithuania) and Valery Belyakovich from Moscou (Russie) showing their performances over the borders, and partly since western dramatists began to make stage adaptations from the novel.

Jean-Claude van Itallie, who was of Belgian origin and emigrated as a child with his parents to the United States in 1940 to eventually become an American citizen, started working on his theatrical adaptation already in the early '80s, but only became well known when it was staged in 1993 both in New York and Paris. The van Itallie adaptation would become a reference point for future adapters.

While the performances of The Master and Margarita were extended in Moscou season after season - where director Valery Belyakovich started a long lasting series in 1993 in the Theatre South West -, the piece was brought to stage in Montreal (Canada) London (Royaume Uni), Adelaide (Australia), Brussels (Belgium) and many other places. Especially in France it was often staged in different versions. It was only a foretaste of an explosion which would follow in the next millennium.