Мастер и Маргарита

Writer Alexandra Berlina and composer Dmitry Chuvelev are working on The Devil and Margarita: A Play with Fire, a rock musical based on the story of The Master and Margarita.

Dmitry Chuvelev (°1975) was sent to music school at a young age and plays several instruments, including guitar, piano and saxophone. He studied at the Faculty of Cybernetics and Computer Engineering of the Moscow State University, but dropped out to pursue music full-time as a bass player in the popular Russian band Несчастный случай [Neschastny sluchay] or Cruel Accident; he also composes music for television and radio commercials in his home studio.

Alexandra Berlina (°1984) was born in Moscow, but moved to Düsseldorf, Germany in 1997. She graduated cum laude in comparative literature and translation in London and Düsseldorf. Her doctoral thesis on poetry translation, Brodsky Translating Brodsky, was published in 2015 by the renowned Bloomsbury publishing house. She teaches English literature at the University of Essen and has received numerous awards for her translations into Russian, English and German. In 2020, she translated The Master and Margarita into German.

Chuvelev wrote the music and Berlina wrote the libretto for the story in which the devil and his entourage – the clownish cat Behemoth, the self-absorbed demon Azazello and the deadly beautiful Hella – arrive in Moscow in 1938. They wreak havoc, enjoy themselves, and, at Margarita’s behest, save a writer (the master) from the loony bin.

The duo is looking for an English-language theatre in Europe that might be interested in staging the show. If you have any useful tips for this, or if you would like more information about the contents of the script, you can contact them by clicking on the link below.

Click here to contact the authors

   Дмитрий Чувелев и Александра Берлина — Песня о бале