„The Gambler” is one specific tense intrigue. The roulette is in the focus of the action, not only being a casino game, but game in which you play with your life; it is a lifestyle: people that differ in wealth and social position gather round the roulette table, facing the fate, challenging and risking their life. The atmosphere of the game is one of rapid and swift overturns of the fortune, moments of rise an fall, bearing comical but also tragic consequences for the lives of the characters. The dramatic language in „The Gambler” can be seen in its expression, energy and particularity of its conveyance. The action is ready to be ceased at any time; the characters endure a constant crisis facing new life catastrophe. In an atmosphere of cutting collision, vagueness of the thoughts of the heroes as a result of a powerful reflective action during which the actors try to penetrate in someone else’s consciousness, to discover someone else’s secret and influence someone else’s lives – a system of actions is created, often leading to unexpected results.

„The Gambler” entangles the motives of time, the personal destiny of Dostoyevsky, the destiny of Russia; Russia and the West: searching for „Russian form” that should tame the Russian havoc, to ennoble it, but also to disclose the all-embracing passion for the game in its complete meaning.

Olivera Pavlovikj, dramaturge