MAKSIM SUKHANOV
in the performance CREMULATOR

On 1 February 2026, the Savoy Theatre in Helsinki will host the premiere of “Cremulator”.

“Cremulator” is an independent theatre project created in Berlin by Russian theatre makers who, before the war, worked on major stages across Russia. Now reunited in Berlin, they refuse to simply disappear into a new cultural landscape — instead, they continue to make work, confronting history and memory through theatre.

The world premiere took place in February 2024 in Berlin.

The central figure of the play is Pyotr Nesterenko, a White Guard officer who, after the October Revolution, travels the full route of Russian emigration — from Constantinople to Belgrade, Paris, and beyond.
In Paris, he makes a deal with the Soviets and returns to his homeland, where a new and significant post awaits him: director of the first Moscow crematorium.

It is important to note that in the early years of Soviet power, the Bolsheviks were almost obsessed with this “progressive” and “revolutionary” method of disposing of human remains — and Nesterenko truly held one of the most crucial positions of the time. Yet this work had two sides: an official, daylight face, and a hidden, nocturnal one.

For nearly twenty years, Nesterenko cremated the bodies of ordinary people and members of the Soviet elite (including that of Mayakovsky) — and, at night, the bodies of secretly executed “enemies of the people.”

This is a story about fabrication, about choosing and constructing one’s truth — and about its burning, distortion, erasure. A story of emigration and war, of death, love, and faith.

The production is directed by Maxim Didenko, winner of numerous awards including the Golden Mask, the National Theatre Prize, the Sergey Kuryokhin Award, the GQ Award, Best Artistic Breakthrough 2014, and others. His international works include The Last Word (Berlin, 2022), White Factory (London, 2023), Salome (Tel Aviv, 2024).
In February 2024, White Factory received three Offies 2023 awards in London, including the main prize — Best Independent Production of the Year.

Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes
Age restriction: 16+
The performance is in Russian, with English surtitles.

More information: cremulator.net