From the playbill:
«Theatrical Company 814», Nikolay Gogol, "The Gamblers". Produced by Oleg Menshikov, directed by Galina Dubovskaya. Starring: Oleg Menshikov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Alexandr Usov, Alexandr Sirin, Alexey Gorbunov, Nikita Tatarenkov.

On Thursday the public at the Mossovet theatre was quite self-satisfied: all of them received invitations to Menshikov's first night. Moreover, the play is performed at the stage "Under roof" which counts a little more than a hundred seats. The entrance ticket, by the way, looked rather advantageously - as a bank promissory note for $10,000. And where to find this mysterious BREDbank which is to pay the required sum to "Ms. Lvova", seems to be a rhetorical question.
Another nice thing is the booklet performed as the deck of cards. As queens, kings and jakes there are the characters' photos. With the notes on the back. Lenkom's actor Alexandr Sirin, for example, wrote a joke:
"I have a problem - my son can't play cards at all".
"So, that's fine!"
"Yes, but he does".
And the card's back with Menshikov's portrait was absolutely clean. Well, guys, watch the performance. There will be jokes, funny stories and specks at the back - everything's for you. And actually it proved to be so.
...There was a man standing on stage, ringing the bell and greeting the entering guests:
"Good evening! Don't worry, you are not late, it's just the second bell".
Then the man went to the entrance with a tray and treated a viewer to vodka and a pickle. The viewer tossed off. The rest of the public enviously swallowed - the word "pickle" sounded too tasty.
The new and very funny Oleg Menshikov's performance is played as heartily as a real swinger follows cold vodka with a crispy pickle. On the whole, everything seems so easy, the ingredients are very simple and anyone can perform this act of crisping, but on the top of all you must know how to enjoy it.
And Menshikov does. He's not confused at all with the fact that directing actually is a serious occupation, and demonstrates lightness and tricks a-la skit. "The Gamblers" in general remind about careless school years when people are not so bothered with eternal problems as with making themselves happy and brightening their lives. "Voila!" - and in the bushes (literally) there appears a folk band setting off every scene with music. Another "voila" - and somewhere hens started clucking and a dog barked. "Voila" again - the characters sat at the bank and stroke up a Ukrainian song. And then they sang a romance - "No, it's not you I passionately love". Actually, without any reason - they just felt like it, and the air is fresh in the invented time and space.
It is a mystery, a miracle, a fantasy - how this fresh air was created. Further the actors were proposed just to breathe full strength, and they were happy to do it. And none of them seems to create something special - everything is so natural, without painful hesitations, again, whether to spit into Eternity right now or rather wait a bit. And there's no place for discourses about actors' skills in the manner "yes, N was quite good today" - there's no time for such trifles. The energy of the performance is so catching, created by real gamblers excitedly playing "The Gamblers".

The plot:

What "The Gamblers" are about after all?
"The Gamblers" is the play about magnificent improvisation in just one moment invented by a great contriver named Uteshitelny, and then excitedly played for the hero - sharper Ikharev. He has won 80,000 recently and comes to the small town to make more profit, and here other sharpers meet him. They offer the colleague to unite and together beat a silly boy. As the result - a most beautiful combination "cheats cheating cheat", to which no contemporary games can be compared.

The parts:

Sharper Ikharev - Alexandr Usov
"The brain" of the rival gamblers, Uteshitelny - Oleg Menshikov
False housefather and happy owner of the mortgage for 200,000 - Viktor Sukhorukov
False local official - Zamukhryshkin - Rotkiv Vokurohkus (read the name conversely, what will you see? That's right. It's a joke. The first role is performed by Sukhorukov in whiskers and the second - in a fanny wig, imitating Ukrainian hair-cut. All this looks very entertaining).

P. S. Moscow critics usually take Menshikov's productions rather oddly. "Woe From Wit" was met nearly with anger, "Kitchen" - with caution. What awaits "The Gamblers" is still unclear. But for specialists in drama study Menshikov seems to be an 11-year boy from the play. This boy knew how to sharp in cards excellently and insensibly. He was named a "phenomenon", a "miracle", and his skill was admitted, but still everybody was puzzled: why on earth he is so crafty at the age of 11?