The visual magician of Helsinki 98 Theatre, Pavel Semchenko — who fled from Russia to Helsinki in March 2022 — presents his new work The Personal Score of Dr. J. Faust, Written After His Death, premiering on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 19:00.

The piece is based on a German chapbook published in 1587, which became an immediate bestseller and spread widely across Europe.

Faust — a burnt-out alchemist, a seeker of metaphysical truth whom no one ever placed on a pedestal — stumbles, trying to grasp the infinite. But Mephistopheles is not the lord of darkness here, but rather a bored dealer in a back-alley casino of the universe, rolling dice for his own amusement.

This is not the noble quest of Enlightenment textbooks, but something closer to a late-night punk gig: noise, flickering screens, bodies vibrating under strobe lights, shouting into the void.

In the early 1990s, Pavel Semchenko and Maksim Isaev (the playwright) founded the non-verbal theatre group AKHE in St. Petersburg. Their work spanned performance art, contemporary theatre, opera, and dada, touring internationally and earning numerous awards and recognition within the art world. One of Europe’s most prominent contemporary theatre directors, Lukasz Twarkowski, moved from Warsaw to St. Petersburg between 2001–2004 to study modern theatrical expression with AKHE.

Today, Pavel Semchenko lives in Helsinki, while Maksim Isaev has fled Russia and now resides in France. A few times a year, they meet across Europe to create new AKHE performances at international festivals.

On stage:
Anastasia Trizna
Pavel Semchenko
Samuli Kivelä

"Here could have rested Johann Faust, an unworthy mortal who, for the sake of empty glory, abandoned the world of men."

Supported by:
Project grants from the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture for mitigating the impacts of international crises in the arts and culture sector, and the City of Helsinki.