NETOCHKA NEZVANOVA. To 3 February.
London.
NETOCHKA NEZVANOVA – NAMELESS NOBODY
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
New End Theatre 27 New End NW3 1JD To 3 February 2008.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & Sun 3.30pm.
Runs 1hr No interval.
TICKETS: 0870 033 2733.
www.newendtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 19 January.
High moments stand out in intense performance.
Dostoyevsky did a good line in troubled, essentially sweet-souled young females. Sonya Marmeladov and the title character of Roberrt Bresson’s film Une Femme Douce are notable examples and Netochka Nezvanova could be added to them, especially given Ukrainian actor Vera Filatova’s performance (in English, aptly accented and utterly clear – the best of both worlds).
Filatova’s like a fragile jewel-box, neatly tied with silk. Only as her performance reaches its culmination does it become apparent that this delicate-looking object could explode in an emotional rainbow. Her step-father, a musician who went mad (in Dostoyevsky, who doesn’t one way or another?) was the main influence on the young Netochka. However vivid her memories of him, they have left her feeling dispossessed.
Filatova enters unassertively in a dark cloak, something of an urban Little Black Riding-Hood but with no family and only strangers to tell her story to. The intensity under the inky cloak soon mounts impressively. This is a story from early in Dostoyevsky’s career, one he never finished. But it has a sense of completeness in Filatova’s performance.
It is the intense, emotional high moments, such as the father’s jealousy or his crazed seeking for perfection that remain vivid. This seems true to the story Netochka tells. It is character rather than events which seem most significance. And the wandering girl’s memories of her father, who clearly haunts her life as she carries his violin with her, exist as a series of emotionally high-pitched moments.
Music, suitably, intensifies these. In particular, a fascinating phrase from 20th-century Russian composer Alfred Schnitke recurrently insinuates itself in the background. Similarly, the piece makes most impact in its high points rather than as a continuous story. It’s as if Netochka is both a nobody to the world through which she trudges in her dark, concealing clothes, with her brightly-burning, self-consuming spirit underneath.
It’s no surprise one of the limited credits should be for the show’s voice coach. Filatova’s delivery makes much of key moments, though this does call for concentration to keep track of the course of events she’s described. A unique piece, nonetheless.
Netochka: Vera Filatova.
Director: Alexander Markov.
Voice: Valentina Beletskaya.
2008-01-31 10:19:20