An attempt to outplay life

The stage director has put on this adventure comedy (usually known as Monsieur Amilcar) by Yves Jamiaque at the Kyiv Drama and Comedy Theater on the Dnieper’s Left Bank. This premiere is now on the playbill thanks to support from art patron Serhii Lavreniuk. After an essential revision of the earlier single-show version, this production, with a new performer of the main role, Andrii Saminin, became an integral part of the theater’s repertoire. And it is no wonder because most of the roles are played by such popular actors as Lesia Samaieva, Volodymyr Horianskyi, Oksana Zhdanova, Oleksandr Piskunov, and Oleksandr Behma. Among the former single-show participants are also the well-known guest actors: the experienced Olena Khokhlatkina from the Ivan Franko Theater and the young film actress Olena Lavreniuk.

The protagonist Alexander Amilcar, a very rich, very lonely and rather a resourceful person, decides to carry out an original investment project. He intends to put up a handsome amount of money and thus reach a “simple human happiness” – a personal peace of mind in the company of a loving and faithful wife, a true and reliable friend, and a beautiful and wise daughter. Monsieur Amilcar signs contracts with the people he does not know. He invites an actress, a young prostitute, and a jobless man to play the “family circle members.” They are to display care, love, filial affection, and friendly support, i.e., an ideal family. And Amilcar himself will be in the role of the scriptwriter, the stage director, the main hero, and the only spectator of this home reality show.

But it turns out that living with the idea that everything can be sold and bought is an illusion. Is it possible to feel life if you do not trust feelings, do not risk coming across misunderstanding, pain, and betrayal? The production gives no unambiguous answers, but still the gripping plot of this comedy provokes the audience to think.