'Othello' a Wasted Chance
The Moscow Times Whatever their differences,
William Shakespeare and Edward Albee have one thing in common -- both are among
the most popular English-language playwrights in Russia. Albee, perhaps, has not
been produced here often of late, but his reputation remains as high as ever.
Shakespeare is so ingrained in Russian culture that sometimes you doubt his
English origins. "Othello" is generally
thought of as one of Shakespeare's greatest plays and certainly is produced
often. A new version, directed by filmmaker Alexander Zeldovich for Bokovfactory
and the Praktika Theater Group, is the fourth in recent years if we include a
rendition of Verdi's opera of it at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko
Musical Theater. By contrast, Vladimir Yachmenyov's production of Albee's "Tiny
Alice" at the Dzhigarkhanyan Theater is a less obvious choice. "Tiny Alice," written early
in Albee's career in 1964, is not a play that jumps to mind when you think of
this author. His most famous, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" "Zoo Story" and
"Three Tall Women," are the ones that have established his reputation.
One sees in performance why
"Tiny Alice" is usually considered one of Albee's minor works. Rather than
developing under its own power, it seems to have been written according to a
paint-by-number plan for absurdist plays. It is a fairly cold-nosed work that is
constructed like a mathematical equation. Alice is an enigmatic
figure, the richest woman in the world, who has decided to donate a fantastic
sum -- $100 million per year for 20 years -- to the Catholic Church. In
exchange, she doesn't want much, only the lifeblood and soul of a pious novice
named Julian. Helping her in her scheme are her attorney and butler, both lovers
of hers at one time or another. Also involved is a corrupt cardinal who is a
childhood friend of the equally crooked attorney. There is something in this
play of Friedrich Durrenmatt's "The Visit," in which a wealthy woman returns to
her hometown and buys from the weak and corrupt townspeople the execution of the
man who once seduced her and jilted her. But where Durrenmatt's play, written
eight years earlier than "Alice," is shaded with its author's moral outrage,
Albee's work appears to suggest that the human experience exists in a moral
vacuum where love has no redeeming value. Julian's fall -- Alice seduces him,
marries him and then stands by as he is murdered -- is portrayed as utterly
unavoidable; in fact, everyone, Julian included, is playing a rote role that has
been repeated forever and apparently will be played out again without end.
This production is graced by
some excellent performances. The first scene, introducing us to the shady
attorney (Vladimir Kapustin) and the slimy cardinal (Yury Anpilogov) as they
discuss the basic terms of Alice's donation, is especially strong. Kapustin and
Anpilogov bring out the wit and rhythm of Albee's dialogue in a way that
actually sets up more expectations than the play as a whole can withstand.
As Alice, Olga Kuzina is
deceptively harmless, even as she plays various roles before Julian, confusing
him and slowly seducing him along the way. For his part, Alexei Shevchenkov's
Julian is deceptively bland, trying his best to remain the virtuous soul he
wants to be, but always giving off a whiff of fear that he may fall back into
the godless years he spent in his early adulthood. The crowning moments of
Shevchenkov's performance come when he finally lets the artificial facade of
propriety fall away from his character. As the Hitler-like butler, Andrei
Merzlikin is duplicity incarnate. The production's contrasting
visual aspects are established by Yulia Aks' ornate costumes and Roman Snegur's
almost-nonexistent set. Reflecting the notion that all the people are merely
playing roles that eternally repeat themselves, the action takes place on a bare
stage whose depth is measured off by seven layers of curtains. The only major
prop is a scale model of the castle in which the events are taking place.
Albee's notion is that the same events we are witnessing on stage are
concurrently taking place inside the model which also is said to have a model
inside of it and on and on ad infinitum. Thus, if these events are repeated
forever over the course of time, they are also occurring simultaneously in an
infinite expanse of space. I found Albee's play to be
too calculated and formulaic to engage me for long. On the other hand, I was
often carried along by the nuances of the acting. This I cannot say about
"Othello," although its cast features four highly respected actors. An
abbreviated version -- narrowed to just Othello (Grigory Siyatvinda), Desdemona
(Yelena Morozova), Iago (Alexander Anurov) and his wife Emilia (Vera Voronkova)
-- it fails to communicate on almost all levels. Zeldovich, best known as the
director of the film "Moskva" and making his theatrical debut with this
production, succumbed to a sin common to filmmakers switching to theater: He
went more for effect than for substance and ended up with little of either.
Lighting designer Pavel
Danko and the designing team of Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Yevzovich and Yevgeny
Svyatsky did little to help. Almost the entire show, with the exception of the
murder scene, is performed in various "shades" of darkness. The unattractive and
often obtrusive set consists primarily of a huge, empty cube without walls that
is interminably slowly turned here and there by stagehands. Occasionally they
drape the cube or parts of the stage with cloth to create a screen on which
filmed images of Othello working out at a fitness center are projected.
This production had
attracted interest because it was finally bringing what seemed to be the right
actor to the right role. I won't claim to know why, but whenever Russian
directors stage "Othello," they resort to the silly practice of blackening a
white actor's face. It has long been obvious that if directors can't cast this
part colorblind, who else should play it but Siyatvinda, Moscow's only
African-Russian actor? More important, however,
Siyatvinda is one of the best actors to have emerged in Moscow in the last
decade. He is an actor of depth, power, intelligence and subtlety. He has blown
away the "color line" in the opposite direction with brilliant performances of
Macbeth and characters from Molire, so why not have him take on the most famous
classical role for an actor of color? Zeldovich is the director
who made the inevitable a reality, though he wasted the opportunity.
Essentially, he staged a show about Iago and the anatomy of treachery. In this
shortened version, most of the plot development and most of the internal
monologues belong to Iago. Almost all of the motivations for what happen
originate with him. Anurov plays Iago as he
would at Anatoly Vasilyev's School of Dramatic Art, where he is a member of that
troupe. He enunciates phrases with heavy, often unnatural intonations,
apparently seeking to impart a philosophical underpinning to his words, but more
commonly depriving his character of believability and sense. Siyatvinda valiantly seeks
for soft spots, nuances and quirks in his Othello. In another production, it is
clear that he might create a fascinating, multivalent character. But here,
usually buried in darkness and faced with Iago speaking like a truck trundling
over a bumpy road, there is little he can do. This "Othello" was a good
idea that went nowhere fast. "Tiny
Alice" (Kroshka Alisa) plays March 8, 9 and 21 at 7 p.m. at the Dzhigarkhanyan
Theater, 17 Lomonosovsky Prospekt. Metro Universitet. Tel. 930-7049, 930-4269.
Running time: 2 hours, 55 minutes.
By John Freedman
Published: February 21, 2003
"Othello," a production of Bokovfactory and the Praktika Theater Group, resumes
performances in March. For information, e-mail bokovfactory@rambler.ru or
practika@rambler.ru