«Vagina monologues» in Moscow

"wwwvaginamonolog Vaginy," the Russian version of "The Vagina Monologues," by Eve Ensler opens tomorrow for a two-performance run at the Hermitage Theater in Moscow. The play, based on women's stories about the role of their vaginas in their lives and encompassing topics that range from childbirth to rape, is especially difficult to render in Russian: translators often lament that the language for sex is limited to clinical terms or expletives. Vasily Arkanov, the United States correspondent for NTV, a Russian television network, said he was inspired to translate the play after he wrote an article about it for the Russian version of Elle magazine. He told The Moscow Times that for the Russian title he ultimately chose to transliterate the English word "vagina" rather than use the standard Russian equivalent, which he concluded was too vulgar. Joel Lehtonen, the play's director, told The Moscow Times that he had had problems securing financing and finding actresses comfortable enough to speak their explicit lines.