The rain came pouring down on the thousands in the crowd at the Solidarity movement’s protest rally at Chistoprudny Boulevard. “I hope that after this protest, the phrase ‘it’s raining like cats and United Russia’ will become part of the language. United Russia, no doubt, has gone to the dogs,” said critically acclaimed writer and journalist Dmitry Bykov.

Narcissus and Christopher is a play about “a different person”, as they are called here. “Special people” also act in the production: they are diagnosed with “autism”, “Down syndrome”, mental illnesses and mental retardation. The studio they work in integrates both actors with and without these diagnoses...