The theatrical adaptation of Dmitry Glukhovsky’s novel « Text », directed by Maksim Didenko, marked the beginning of a long-lasting creative partnership and friendship between the two artists. Based on Glukhovsky’s own screenplay, the production embraced a cyberpunk aesthetic. The director emphasized live-streaming from mobile phone cameras, engaging with the novel’s central themes of digital identity theft and technological dependency. The lead roles were performed by Ilya Malanin and Kristina Asmus.

Premiering at the Ermolova Theatre in Moscow, the play ran successfully until 2022, when Dmitry Glukhovsky was placed on a federal wanted list for his anti-war statements and the Ermolova Theatre came under the patronage of Russia’s Investigative Committee. Following these events, the production was removed from the repertoire.

When German forces occupied the Polish city of Łódź, the leaders of the Jewish community proposed a desperate bargain: they would supply the Reich with everything they could produce, working for meager rations, demonstrating extraordinary productivity, and pledging not to resist or attempt escape — if the German authorities agreed to spare their lives. The offer was accepted. The ghetto was sealed off and transformed into a so-called “City of Skilled Labor.” But it soon became clear that the elderly, the sick, and children were seen as obstacles to productivity. And the task of “optimizing” output was delegated to the ghetto’s inhabitants themselves. Josef Kaufman, an officer in the Jewish ghetto police, is forced to confront an unbearable moral dilemma.

Staged in English in London, « The White Factory » received glowing reviews from the British press and was awarded three Offies — the UK’s leading prize for independent theatre — including the award for Best Production.