THE novi Russki, Russia’s new rich renowned for luxury cars and grand villas in the south of France, have a new pastime. They pay thousands of pounds for a taste of life as a beggar, a prostitute or a traffic warden. Bored with their gilded lifestyles, wealthy bankers and businessmen are seeking new thrills through elaborate pranks organised by a company that allows them to be poor and filthy. In one entertainment clients pay £3,500 to play at being homeless. They are disguised by costume and make-up artists who dress them in rags and smear them with rotten turnip. Players...