(L?R) Elizabeth Fountain, Rob Leo Roy, Eddie Allen, and Celia Schaefer are holding David Anderson) in "Death of a Government Clerk," one of nine short stories adapted for the stage by Melania Levitsky. (Dan Region)
NEW YORK?Anton Chekhov, who wrote arguably four of the most magnificent plays known to us (The Seagull, The Three Sisters, Cherry Orchard, and Uncle Vanya), was also a notable short story writer. Melania Levitsky has adapted nine of those stories into Chekhovek, which she also directs, now playing at the ArcLight Theatre.
The various stories are staged fluidly, one flowing into the next, with five actors?Eddie Allen, David Anderson, Elizabeth Fountain, Rob Leo Roy, and Celia Schaefer?portraying the characters and alternately serving as narrator.
As is typical for Chekhov, the stories are suffused with humor and/or melancholy. Beginning with The Lady with the Dog, six scenes of that story are interspersed throughout the evening, although no discernible through-line is found in the presentation. In The Lady two lovers (played by Celia Schaefer and Eddie Allen) experience a bumpy road in their relationship; in fact, their future is viewed as ?a long, long road before them.?
A comic high point is Death of a Government Clerk, in which David Anderson plays an unfortunate low-level employee at the opera who happens to sneeze on a general, and then can?t get the general to accept his apology. In The Chorus Girl, Pasha (Elizabeth Fountain) tries to please an irate wife (Celia Schaefer), who claims Pasha has stolen her husband away. Suffused in guilt, Pasha gives away her most valued treasures, only to realize that she has been duped.
The Black Monk is oddly ambiguous. A mysterious figure, the monk (Rob Leo Roy) garbed in a long black cloak, slowly approaches a man (David Anderson) and pontificates about life, its virtues, its shortcomings, the nobility of the man he faces. Although the text points to a dead seriousness, the playing hints at humor. One comes to realize that the man is experiencing a descent into madness.
In The Huntsman, an arrogant man carrying a rifle and wearing a bright red vest encounters a peasant woman in the forest. Their initially innocuous conversation develops into something more: The two are actually husband and wife, and he has abandoned her for a livelier life in the city. He offhandedly hands her some money and departs. This story has particularly universal echoes that hold for modern life, at all socioeconomic levels.
Chekhovek
ArcLight Theatre
152 West 71 Street
Tickets: 866-811-4111 or www.chekhovek.com
Running time: 2 hours
Closes: March 4?
It?s always a pleasure to see the works of a great writer. However, overall, the presentation lacks the depth that a simple reading might impart. Perhaps fewer stories could have been utilized, with greater expansion into the richly human aspects of Chekhov?s thought. As it stands, the evening is entertaining but offers too light a touch.
Performances are skilled though not outstanding. However, Fountain?s playing of a 9-year-old boy in Vanka was particularly touching.
The half-dozen trunks used as scenic design by David L. Arsenault aids in fulfilling the fluidity of director Levitsky?s concept, while the simple period costumes by Erica E. Evans add to the effect.
The adaptation was taken from the translation from the Russian by Constance Garnett.
?
Diana Barth writes and publishes ?New Millennium,? an arts publication. For information: diabarth@juno.com
Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/arts-entertainment/theater-review-chekhovek-191432.html
nick diaz vs carlos condit hall of fame occupy dc my fair lady ufc 143 fight card the chronicle conversion disorder
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.