more show stuff.

Production 6 (?) Marriage of Figaro. Viewed at MXAT. A French production subtitled with Russian. Meh. Most impressive thing about this show: the lead actress (character: Susan) seriously injured her ankle about halfway into the first act and continued the show like a champ. Other than that, it was pretty strange. Deer hanging upside down from the ceiling, old men dancing in skeleton costumes, a giant bear costume... Entertaining, to be sure, but a little odd. I’m all for progressive theatre, but this was just silly.

Production 7: Uncle Vanya. Viewed at the Vachtangova Theater. Mixed feelings. A fantastic set-the curtain opens and you think “Yes. This is what a stylized production is supposed to look like.” A crazy version of Vanya. Physical, physical, physical (are you seeing a trend in Russian theatre?). What might be termed “director’s theatre,” as opposed to “actor’s theatre.” Full of metaphor, symbolism, beautiful stage pictures, some tricks for the sake of tricks... but it worked, because of the character interpretations. An adorable, exciting Sonya. A sultry, sultry Yelena. And an extremely talented Uncle Vanya. Lots and lots of repetition, an added rape scene... difficult to describe... “unexpected.”

A person having a seizure a few rows ahead of me was also unexpected. I managed to help, which was good, but extremely unnerving. And I had a seizure the week before, so this seemed rather coincidental.

Production 8: The Idiot. Viewed at the Vachtangova. An adaptation of Dostoyeksvy’s novel about a man, Myshkin, and the obsession/love/fascination/angst/romance between him and Nastasya Filippovna. Of course, the story is about much (much much) more than that, but if I had to give you the shortest summary ever, that would be it. I liked it. I’m not qualified to judge it; I can comment on it, but the fact that the play was an adaptation of a book I’ve never read, performed in a language I don’t know (Lithuanian), directed in a metaphoric format... And it was a five hour show. So there’s that. Another director’s show, with metaphors and symbols and the like, but these devices were much better implemented in this show than in Vanya. I liked it. A major set piece was a set of double doors-tall, tall, heavy wooden doors, hanging freely from the ceiling with ropes. Half of the time they made sense. Half of the time they made no sense whatsoever. But one of the actors did vaulted himself on top of one of them at one point, and that justified the doors for me. (I exaggerate, but it was cool.) And there was a mirror, and I love mirrors. It showed up in the final scene of the play. It was attached to a rope from the ceiling, and Nastasya runs in circles with it around and around and around... Violent relationships-and when I say violent, I mean violently strong, not violently physical-a lot of dark/light relationships, and a pull... I don’t think I can describe it. The actress playing Nastasya was particularly riveting, as was the actor playing Rogozhin. And it could simply be that I enjoy analyzing dark characters more so than light, but they were impressive. Was seated in the balcony again, but moved down to the orchestra after the third intermission. Not something I’m used to, in a good way. (*The title is a play on words-two different things. Myshkin is seen as too generous and innocent by St Petersburg society. He also has epilepsy. Seizures were inexplicable at the time, so the epileptic went to sanatoriums, declared idiots.)

Production 9: Othello. Viewed at the Vachtangova. A four hour show, chronologically rearranged. Done by the same Lithuanian director as The Idiot. Was not quite as impressed by this as by The Idiot. And I think that might be due to the fact that I went into Othello expecting Othello. I went into The Idiot knowing nothing other than the title of Dostoyevsky’s novel. This Othello reminded me more of Prospero. All-knowing, constantly observant, harsh, controlling... and about fifty years old? Bald with a white beard. Iago was a young man seemingly incapable of doing anything malicious. He was not at all the manipulator that I expected to see. His character seemed to contradict what I understand Iago to be. But there’s also all of the things that were lost in translation... This Othello was spoken in Lithuanian, translated into Russian subtitles-Russian subtitles that were translated into Russian from English, somehow retaining verse form and iambic pentameter. But there were things that I didn’t need language for-all movement elements of this show were phenomenal. Much attention was paid to the location, Cyprus, and several scenes took place on the coastline. Characters ran forward and back, upstage and downstage, running into the waves and being chased out by them. Desdemona was beautiful, and all of her movements were absolutely gorgeous. A scene that stands out to me was one that it (obviously) not in the script. She and Othello had been sitting in chairs across from each other in the scene before. He leaves, and she moves her chair closer to his. Closer, closer, this way, that way, let’s knock it over, etc etc. She steps onto her white chair, and steps across onto his black chair. And back and forth, and back and forth. And then Emalia and Bianca come out and hide behind these chairs, pulling them away from each other so that Desdemona has to run the length of the stage to jump from one chair to the other... it was a wonderful picture.

Whew. Lots of shows.

Upcoming:

Wednesday: Class 10-530. White Guards.

Thursday: Class 10-530. King Lear.

Friday: Class 10-6. Masquerade.

Saturday: Class 10-530. Catch up on sleep...? What’s sleep, precious?

Sunday: Personal adventuring around Moscow. Hopefully the Armoury, because Katie and I have attempted to go twice and have failed twice. It will happen. I will see Faberge eggs.