The play takes place in Manhattan, New York, in a penthouse of the famous American writer of Polish-German origin, Ulya Richte. She, although reserved and low profile person, is being interviewed by a Polish journalist Krzysztof Zielinsky.
Having been nominated for a Nobel Prize, Ulya gives this interview, aware of its huge impact on her career. That is why, her two other guests, Ulya’s literary agent Steve Rakoon and daughter Natalie Blumenstein, who is also her lawyer, do their best to keep the conversation going in the right direction, according to the prearranged plan. However, at some point, all their agreements with the journalist break when Ulya starts her own game, answering Krzysztof's tricky questions the way she wants, touching upon the topics crucially important to her personally. She speaks of the search for the main truth, freedom in art, and self-acceptance.
The performance had two different premieres at different venues: the first was immersive and the second one musical.
The immersive premiere took place in an expensive hotel room, where the audience could see in detail the carefully recreated interior of Ulya Richte's home. From the start, the spectators could become participants in the very interview that the Polish journalist came to take.
The musical premiere was held in a more classical theatrical space, where the interior of Ulya's penthouse was also recreated in detail, with an important alteration: this time the soundtrack for the play was performed live by its author, composer Alexei Kestner.
One of the key highlights of the big premiere of Disquiet was a newborn ecosystem around it — a series of follow-up events, lectures, concerts, and meetings, among which were:
- Alexey Kestner's master class for music school students on music creation for cinematography;
- a concert by Alexei Kestner, where in addition to the exclusive execution of some soundtrack compositions, he played his works;
- online meeting with Ivan Vyrypaev;
- online reading of Nikolai Gostiukhin's new play The Process.
Interesting Facts: - all viewers of the immersive premiere received special key cards that turned them not only into guests of Ulya Richte's penthouse but also gave them bonuses or preferential benefits from the performance partners;
- one of the partners of the performance, the Nolan Wine & Kitchen restaurant, created a signature cocktail "Disquiet", which is still available for order;
- Aleksey Kestner flew to Perm for the second premiere specifically for the live performance of the music he wrote;
- the official soundtrack is available on Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify;
- during the first premiere, guests heading to Ulya Richte's penthouse were met by a disgruntled neighbor of the writer, who read the latest issue of The New York Times and showed the confused guests the right way to the penthouse;
- according to the idea of the play director Nikolai Gostiukhin, each premiere of the play was to be unique. A third premiere was also planned, and it should become a cinematic conclusion to the story of Disquiet.