|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Theatre listings > Matryoshk. - Part of Arches Live! 2005. Playwright & Director - Mark Westbrook. Composer - Oliver Searle. Company - Nomad Company Website. Venue -The Arches ww w.thearches.co.uk 253 Argyll St Glasgow 0141 565 1023 Dates - 16 & 17 Sept 2005 at 7pm. Run Time - 1hours 15 mins no Interval. Reviewer - Tom Tabori. Subverting our understanding of character. Matryoshka takes its name from Russian nesting dolls that fit one within the other, separating to reveal a new, smaller one, until a last and undividable one is uncertainly reached. The play pursues the same idea but with truth; what is real becomes less and less clear, and more and more the idea that there is truth at all is undermined. The story is of a wake, the meal that should be closure for a family mourning Viktor Grigory, but whose heavy presence hangs over the uncomfortable proceedings. The doorbell rings, "did you forget to ask somebody?" asks Sergei. The play peels Viktor, the real life war hero, layer by layer, dismantling the icon and his plinth. When the characters intermittently move in front of the great veil that hangs between the audience and the meal, their conversation exposes a darker side to their relationships. So that as the meal scene is replayed and the vodka is drunk and different possibilities played out, new and twisted takes on this family are powerfully rendered. The actors do not do much with their characters, though their scope is admittedly limited by this writing. With truth only coming out at intervals, and then only as a uninsightful little squeak, the performers seem to know as little as their characters about the man they are trying to say goodbye to. Strong as Nomad's production is, what is not clear is whether this repetition reveals anything new, and whether subverting our understanding of the character brings us closer to them or just holds them at arms length. Exciting as this is as a style of storytelling, folding and unfolding before us, the dialogue this side of the drape often feels more like something we already knew, not a revelation at all, and no more real - just set to music echoing Russian techno. ©Tom Tabori 17 September 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is thelma@edinburghguide.com Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors or omissions. Theatre listings >
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|||