The opening-night of the performance for the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Truth Is Good But Happiness Is Better" took place on the 18th of April, 2003. In the theater it goes under the title "The Transparent Apples" (director - A.Ya. Soloviev, production-designer - Yu.Yu. Ryabova).

One can't imagine theater in Russia without A.N. Ostrovsky, his body of work consists of more than 40 plays, which are as actual among spectators and interesting to directors as more than century ago. Plays by Ostrovsky written at one time with novels by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky were a new age in dramaturgy, the foundation of his works was accordant to the realistic prose - great attention to the personality and it's development under the influence of the inner and outer circumstances.

"Truth Is Good But Happiness Is Better" is one of the late plays by Ostrovsky, it was written in 1877. The scene is the house of a rich merchant - Mrs. Barabosheva and her son. The plot is based on the traditional for this dramatist daily issues: there is Barabosheva's granddaughter, and she is just in the right age for marriage so they need to find a good husband for her, the one all the neighbors would envy; there also are a household to keep, a trade business to run, a cunning thievish clerk, and - furthermore - someone is stealing tasty, transparent apples. But under that routine bright and original characters, with great passions are hidden. You'll find there naive love of a young girl, forgotten but still alive love of the accomplished woman, almost absurdly strict and honest heart of a young man and tricky and flattering hearts of old servants. All this polyphony of the feelings and ideas is united in one image by the kind laugh of Ostrovsky, who while laughing at his characters, still gives them the happy ending.  

In Soviet theater it was conventional to bring to the front the social conflict while analyzing the play but nowadays there is another point of view on Ostrovsky's characters. Another understanding of their personality goes far from social origin and the influence of the circumstances to the search for the inner, true to everyone meaning. In merchants and clerks people overwhelmed by passions, miserable and lonely people in search for love and understanding could be seen. That's why the play goes under the first title "The Transparent Apples", according to the director's vision this title is more precise for the content of the performance, is a symbolic title that gives many interpretations to play's meaning. Unconventional realization of the play helped the director to bring to the foreground not social problems, but human passions. The performance is about the main matters of the human life - about love and fidelity.
Actors:

Barbashev	Rotachkov Alexey Gennadievich Karabanov Alexey Nikolayevich
Mavra Tarasovna-his mother	Stroganova Valentina Alexandrovna Klyukina (Kochneva) Lubov Nikolayevna
Poliksena -- Barbashev's daughter	Voloshina Zhanna Vasilievna Samokhina Victoria Anatolievna
Feliciata - Poliksena's nanny	Lykova Tamara Konstantinovna Shanina Victoriya Victorovna
Mukhoyarov	Kuzin Artem Evgenievich
Groznov	Solovyev Alexander Yakovlevich
Gleb Merculych	Konev Vladimir Ivanovich
Zybkina	Polozova Marina Ivanovna
Platon-her son	Divlyatshin Ruslan Sergeevich Chernyshev Alexey Nickolaevich
The Peasant	Egorov Vladimir Vladimirovich