Accurate diagnostics The whole life and work of Yuri Polyakov is devotion (with two “n”) to himself. Playwright Polyakov (I know first-hand - two of his plays are successfully performed at the Satire Theater) with every fiber of his talent, like an experienced diagnostician, feels pain points of society, powerfully and recognizably explores the characters, placing them sometimes in paradoxical, but always acutely today's situations. After reading the play “Like the Gods” one becomes bitter, ashamed and funny. What else does a satirist need? Alexander Shirvindt