OLD WORLD LANDOWNERS
CENTER OF PLAYWRIGHTS AND DIRECTORS {Near Metro Begovya}
Starring Yevgeni Serobabin, Yevgeniya Mikheeva and Irina Shterk
Directed by Tatiana Tarasova
By Stephen Wilson
"I thought it was a great performance. It was faithful to the original short story
by Gogol. I would even go and watch it again with my older daughter Anna.
I particularly liked the performance of the woman who played Pulcheria
Ivanovna who would come up to the audience and say : 'You will come and
and stay the night..won't you? The coachman is sleeping anyway ' " stated
Oksana Chebotareva who attended a play 'Old World Landowners', an adapted
play from Gogol's short story. Her 17 year old daughter Natasha, who also
watched the play and often burst out with laughter, said "It was super ".
I usually don't attend the theater in Moscow as it is often just too expensive.
In Scotland, I am a regular goer because it is comparably dirt cheap.
However, I managed to obtain a free ticket from a student who had
second thoughts due to an impending exam. It was like a gift from heaven!
Gogol's short story is about a kind, hospitable and naive husband and wife
who adore each other and entertain each other and guests with jokes, stories
and advice. While this is going on their bailiff and servants are pilfering their
goods. For instance, the bailiff is cutting down old Oak trees and selling them
off for timber to nearby merchants. Unfortunately when Pulcheria Ivanovna
announces her death and dies, her husband Afanasy Ivanovich can't get
over it. For five years he inconsolably grieves, neglecting his estate.
Although the play is tragic it also conveys a lot of humor. It is easy to forget
that although Gogol's plays are full of sadness, he also made many people
laugh. Gogol once wrote that when he visited the printers "As soon as I
opened the door and the printers noticed me they began to laugh and turned
away from me I was somewhat taken aback and asked for an explanation.
They explained: "The items that you sent are very amusing and they have
greatly amused the typesetters." Gogol wrote in a colloquial, clear and
arresting way that every person could understand him. He evoked a lot
of humor from his readers.
The performance succeeds in capturing this humor via a stirring performance.
The touchingly intimate affection between Afanasy Ivanovich, {played by
Yevgeni Serobabin}, and Pulcheria Ivanovna {played by Yevgenia Mikheeva}
is reflected in how they respectfully address each other by their full names
and how his wife always treats him to his favorite dishes as well as their playing
all kinds of tricks on each other. The couple is always happy to lavishly
entertain guests and insists they stay the night. The couple amuse each
other by playing pranks on each other . Afanasy says he is going to join the
army or teases her with the words. "What would you do if this house burnt
down? " and "Did I offend you? Why are you not offended? You should
be offended". The couple get offended when they fail to offend each other.
The actors interact with the audience by asking them such questions "You
will stay the night at our place, won't you? " The actors go up to members of
the audience and offer them a cup of tea and refreshments. The couple pass
things to each other absurdly to demonstrate their love. The good thing
about this play is you are not sure who is watching who. The actors often
use binoculars to gaze at members of the audience. The cast are attempting
to make their audience feel at home by offering hospitality in the spirit of
Gogol's nice couple.
But right from the beginning of the play, in the first act, the housekeeper
silently emerges to haunt the play. She shoots a menacing stare at some
of the audience and continues to haunt the household by cooking dishes
in the background. She secretly watches the couple from the Other World.
She is the personification of death {played by Irina Shterk} The way she
sprinkles some salt over a cooking pot resembles how a priest pours
out Holy water at an Orthodox funeral. One of the poignant lines in the play
is when Pulcheria declares: "It isn't it a pity we never had any children?"
This is followed by a tortured silence conveyed with ashen gray faces.
When the family's cat vanishes, Pulcheria interprets this as an omen of
her imminent death. Five years after she dies, she calls the name of her
husband who follows her to the grave. The coffin is represented by an old
door placed flat down on the floor. In the end, Pulcheria leads her dead
husband to this door and opens it for him. The couple are reunited.
It is a common belief in many cultures that if someone calls your name
and can't be seen, it means death is calling you. In his short story Gogol
wrote: 'I am sure that you have at some time heard a voice calling your
name, this, country folk say, is the soul, weary of waiting, summoning a
person: this is inevitably followed by his death. I must admit I have
always been terrified of this mysterious call'.
It is often remarked that Gogol could only portray grotesque and roguish
characters and thus he failed to write a sequel to his novel Dead Souls
which would depict how Chichikov, the rogue con artist could be reformed.
It was beyond his imagination to invent genuinely good characters. But if this
was so, how do you explain the characters of the couple in Old World
Landowners? Surely this short story proves that Gogol was in deed up to
the job, but died tragically and never completed the sequel!
The play Old World Landowners is a delight to watch. The next performance
is on the 7th of June. If you want to watch it I would book a ticket before
it is too late!
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