On typology of characters in playwriting by Nadezhda Ptushkina

The article analyzes plays written by Nadezhda Ptushkina, one of the most popular playwrights in the 1990-2000 years. The main types of characters are reviewed. From four constant types - woman-wife, woman-lover, woman-mother and man (husband, son), the author emphasizes two - woman-wife and man- husband. Understanding these types of characters lead to the playwright's axiology; they personify the playwright's idea: central and deeply dramatic role in relation- ships is given to a woman, while a man often acts as peculiar catalyst allowing a woman to understand and find herself. Final scenes often show the situation of selfidentification, and Ptushkina's characters are able to self-identify themselves. The author analyzes "Tower of Pisa" by N. Ptushkina, where Wife and Husband's rela- tionships are in crisis, but their marriage is similar to the famous tower which is leaning but not falling down. The play's final is a clarification; entangled and com- plicated way to this clarification is the main action in the plays by Ptushkina and defines the typology of the characters.