Authoritarian Playbook at Red Orchid

Dianne Nora’s Six Men Dressed like Joseph Stalin receiving its Chicago premiere at A Red Orchid Theatre this month is at once an entertaining and an absolutely chilling story. 

Like many world leaders, Stalin employed body doubles, men who risked their lives to protect their leader.  In the case of authoritarians, the job of playing the country’s leader may not have been voluntary. Though the actors disclaim otherwise, this play is grounded in two historical figures who were most likely to have been part of the top secret operation of pretending to be one of the most complex and difficult leaders in recent history. 

John Judd plays the grounded and complex Alexsei Dikiy,code name Koba, an important theater artist of the early Soviet era. He fell decidedly out of favor and was sent to the Gulag, but was later released and went on to play Stalin in films.  For the purposes of this drama his current job is to train “recruits” to play the part of Joseph Stalin.  This play begins when Felix Dadaev, code named Soso, played by the no holds barred Esteban Andres Cruz, arrives at the Kremlin and is told everyone believes he is dead, dying in battle, so now this itinerant actor gets the job offer of a lifetime–he can take on the top secret gig of playing Stalin. He literally will not be allowed to refuse this “offer”.

The men’s code names are actually nicknames of Stalin, and everything about their existence is hemmed in by the regime. Neither of them is where they want to be, and as their mentor/student relationship develops, we see a true friendship evolving that is rich and funny and real. These actors touch us with their relationship. However, loyalty to a cause always demands its adherents to betray those they love to prove commitment and this story has shocking treachery. Being disloyal in Stalin’s USSR is a death sentence. 

There is a bit of muddiness with the conclusion of the play: as audience, we dread what seems like a foregone conclusion: one of these characters will not survive this relationship. There is a dream/hallucination sequence and the play loops back on its beginning implying someone has left the gladiatorial arena, but in real life both people survive. 

The bottom line is that no one can afford to be true to another human when the absolute power of a leader determines life or death and circumscribes one’s choices.  There are links to our own time and place, when we are led by someone who demands absolute loyalty but throws allies under the bus at every turn. Loyalty is never rewarded for long and figurative stabbing in the back is a regular occurence here, while literal stabbing, poisoning and torture were a feature of the Stalin era. Though this play is clearly set in the past, nothing has changed in our present. (see Aleksey Navalny).

Director Dado has brought out the innate humanity inherent in the friendship these men forge even in this difficult constricted situation and that connection brings home the impossibleness of what they are attempting.  And we are right on top of it: we cannot fail to see and feel, we cannot hide from it. 

Grant Sabin’s set design is maximalist Russian basement, and sound designer Angela Joy Baldasare has a wicked sense of humor. This production has so much to see. 

Six Men Dressed Like Joseph Stalin is a show ripe with ideas to contemplate, and it's wonderful if only to watch these two men world build for us in a deep way. It is playing Thursdays through Sundays, as well as Monday June 9th through June 22, 2025 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells Street in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. For tickets and information go to https://aredorchidtheatre.org/shows/six-men-dressed-like-joseph-stalin/

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