11. Madách International Theatre Meeting

The year is 1805. Fashionable society lady Anna Pavlovna Scherer hosts a large gathering of fashionable members of the St Petersburg aristocracy: among them are members of the family Rostov – Ilya Rostov, his wife Natalya, children Nikolai and Natasha and niece Sonya; Vasili Kuragin and his children Helene and Anatol; young  Andrei Bolkonski, who has been recently married, and others. The main topic of the evening is the upcoming war – French Emperor Napoleon is about to enter Russia, which is going to change the country for years to come. The other point of interest is the impending death and legacy of the fabulously wealthy Count Bezukhov, who eventually leaves his vast fortune to his illegitimate son Pierre. As Napoleon enters Russia, the lives of the characters are changed for ever: Andrei wishes to distinguish himself as a soldier, Pierre is swamped with marriage proposals and eventually marries Helene Kuragina, whom he does not love. When Andrei Bolkonski, now a widower, returns from battle wounded, he falls desperately in love with young Natasha Rostova. They become engaged, but Andrei's sister Marya and father Nikolai Bolkonski force them to delay the marriage by over a year due to their disapproval. In the meantime, Nikolai Rostov and Sonya try to rekindle their childish romance; Helene is bored with her husband and takes on lovers, while Pierre is trying to find the meaning of life in the country, wrecked by death, horrors of the war and the general disillusionment with life.