BORIS GOCUNOV. To 17 May.
London.
BORIS GODUNOV
by Alexander Pushkin.
Barbican Theatre 13-17 May 2008.
7.15pm Mat Sat 2.30pm.
Runs 2hr No interval.
TICKETS: 0845 120 7511.
www.barbican.org.uk/bite (booking fee by ‘phone and (reduced) online.
Review: Timothy Ramsden 10 May at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry.
Dark and deeply impressive.
It’s the time of year when Cheek by Jowl arrives in England, around a Barbican residency, where Troilus and Cressida follows this revival of Declan Donnellan’s production of Alexander Pushkin’s Boris Godunov. Both are given in their original language, for Boris (the 1825 play which served as source for Mussorgsky’s opera) comes from Cheek by Jowl’s Russian company.
Pushkin modelled the play on Shakespeare, rather than the formally constrained French classical playwrights popular with Russian authors. In the week the production visited Warwick Arts Centre, this seems natural, for the same week saw the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Henry VI trilogy and Richard III opening in London. Pushkin’s history is another account of rival claims to rule, power struggles and murder of a child claimant, following the death of Ivan the Terrible. Without his powerful personality the title of Tsar has little meaning. Boris Godunov has power without a title, leaving the question of succession.
Donnellan begins with pristine formality, Orthodox priests chanting on a dark stage, a traverse strip raised between two banks of audience. Initially, the only disruption to the chant is the tapping rhythm of Pushkin’s typewriter from the side. But soon this ordered world bursts into the disorder of intrigue. As in Henry IV (if with very different mood) the action opens out to a tavern. There’s a search for a fugitive, a love scene played across, then, inevitably, in a pool – though even this mixes physical and political desire.
Nick Ormerod’s design characteristically seems bare and neutral but focuses and finds space for the action’s changing moods, including the common people on auditorium floor-level hanging round the great figures’ feet. The main characters can seem isolated, none more than Alexander Feklistov’s Boris. Donnellan fluidly mixes ancient and modern, the timeless cathedral suggested at the opening with the border bar and its hostesses, raided by police searching for a political runaway.
And what starts with remote grandeur ends in challenging inclusivity, as the lighting makes clear the choice of heir involves the whole populace. It’s a quiet, sudden end to an impressive story full of busy complexity.
Gavrila Pushkin/Pushkin’s Nephew/Shcheklalov: Alexey Dadonov.
Boris Godunov: Alexander Feklistov.
Marina Mnishek: Irina Grineva.
Prince Vorotynsky/Russian Prisoner: Ilia Ilin.
Father Varlaam/Karela: Nikolay Khmelev.
Tavern Owner: Olga Khokholva.
Poet: Leonid Krasovitsky.
Grigori Otrepyev: Evgeny Mironov/Andrey Kuzichev.
Prince Vasily Shuisky: Sergey Lanbamin/Avangard Leontiev.
Father Misail/Nikolka: Alexander Lenkov.
Feodor/Russian Boy: Nikita Lukinsarovitch.
Sobansky/Bailiff: Evgeny Plekhanov.
Semyon Godunov/Prince Kurbsky: Dmitry Shcherbina.
Patriarch/Yuri Mnishek: Oleg Vavilov.
Pimen/Pushkin: Igor Yasulovich.
Tsarevna Xenia: Elena Zakharova.
Father Superior/Chief Bailiff/Catholic Priest/Basmanov: Mikhail Zhigalov.
Director: Declan Donnellan.
Designer: Nick Ormerod.
Lighting: Judith Ggreenwood.
Music Director: Maxim Gutkin.
Choreographer: Irina Filippova.
Assistant directors: Evgeny Pisarev, Anna Kolesnikova.
2008-05-11 13:41:15