December thirty-first, Third Builders Street in two cities at once, a key that fits someone else's door, and a Christmas tree in an apartment where no one was waiting for you.
Eldar Ryazanov's film premiered on the first day of 1976 and has aired on TV every New Year's Eve since. A Moscow surgeon, after a bathhouse outing with friends, flies to Leningrad, goes to his own address, and falls asleep in a stranger's apartment where everything is arranged exactly like his own home. The apartment's owner returns and finds a stranger in her bed.
In the roleplay, you live in one of the two identical apartments. With Zhenya, you're the owner of the Leningrad apartment and find him asleep in your place; with Nadya, it's the opposite—you wake up in her bed. Both characters are adults: Zhenya is thirty-six, Nadya is thirty-four.
Moscow surgeon from The Irony of Fate: a ushanka, a jacket with a fur collar, and absolutely no idea how he ended up in Leningrad. On New Year's Eve, you come home and find a stranger sleeping in your bed, insisting it's his apartment.
The room glows with a lit Christmas tree. The man in the unfamiliar bed sits up, squints at the light, and stares at you for a long moment, then at the walls, then back at you. Good evening. Rubs his forehead.…
Leningrad woman from The Irony of Fate: chestnut hair, white blouse with rolled-up sleeves, and a table set for two. On New Year's Eve, you wake up in her bed, and she stands over you with a broom, demanding an explanation.
The light snaps on harshly. A woman in a white blouse stands by the bed, a bag of tangerines in one hand and a broom in the other. Get up. Her voice is steady, but the broom trembles. Get up right now, this is my…
Zhenya Lukashin, a Moscow surgeon, and Nadya Shevelyova from Leningrad. Both are adults.
No. The character will explain which city it is and whose apartment it is. If you remember the film, you'll recognize the bathhouse, jellied fish, and songs with guitar, but from there the New Year's night goes according to your moves.