THE SUICIDE. To 18 October.
Mold.
THE SUICIDE
by Nikolai Erdman translated by Peter Tegel adapted by Barry Kyle.
Clwyd Theatr Cymru (Emlyn Williams Theatre) To 18 October 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 2.45pm.
Audio-described 16 Oct.
Captioned 11 Oct 2.45pm.
Post-show Talkback 9, 16 Oct.
Runs 2hr 45min One interval.
TICKETS: 0845 330 3565.
www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 2 October.
A new local habitation doesn’t help an old satire.
It’s brave, programming a play this size, with a title neither familiar nor immediately inviting, by a little-known writer. Its British heyday was the Royal Shakespeare Company UK premiere at Stratford-upon-Avon’s Other Place in 1979. It is also the root of Moira Buffini’s Dying For It, at the Almeida in 2007.
Apart form a run at London’s Cottesloe of Nikolai Erdman’s other satire The Mandate, that’s about it for his professional exposure over here. The Suicide’s topicality lay in its timing; in 1928 Stalinism was beginning without having become fully recognised as a reign of Terror. Within a few years the position was clearer and a planned 1932 production never reached the public stage.
When unemployed Simion decides to kill himself rather than continue the struggle to survive, a colourful parade of intellectual, artist, priest and others arrive to seek his endorsement of their programme as reason for his action. Satirising this gallery, even postman Egg, the ardent socialist who wants plays about postmen, is one thing, as is the pre-death feast and Simon’s postponement of his demise.
But putting a ‘phone call through to the Kremlin, even if the leader’s not actually name, is another. Director Barry Kyle relocates the action to late 1940s Welfare State Wales (hence the intriguing mix of character names). And putting a complaining call through to Clement Attlee, or even Nye Bevan (whose picture hangs, along with Lenin’s, on the walls of the Labour Club where Simion receives his send-off) doesn’t carry the same level of despair-driven threat.
In neither case would Simion stand any chance of actually getting through. But the transposition leaves The Suicide, for all its theatrical energy in Kyle’s strongly-played production, a lumbering dramatic piece.
All the Clwyd performances are fine. Richard Elis gives Simion a frank, puzzled openness that’s appealing amid the frenzy of self-interested characters around, while Louise Collins brings an energised patience to his wife. From Steven Eliott’s pontificating intellectual to John Cording’s fulsome priest or Dennis Herdman’s poker-backed, humourless postman, each character clicks home. But Kyle’s culture-mix adaptation ends up neither Welsh fish nor Soviet fowl.
Simion: Richard Elis.
Mary: Louise Collins.
Serafima: Sara Harris-Davies.
Alexander Peters: Wayne Cater.
Margarita: Victoria John.
Aristarch: Steven Elliott.
Reverend Elpidi: John Cording.
Cleopatra: Llinos Daniel.
Postman Egg: Dennis Herdman.
Pug: Brendan Charleson.
Victor: Michael Geary.
Raissa F: Charlotte Gray.
Oleg: Daniel Lloyd.
Steff: Michael Hutchings.
Deaf Mute: Dave Humphreys/William Roberts.
Director: Barry Kyle.
Designer: Mark Bailey.
Lighting: Arnim Friess.
Sound: Kevin Heyes.
Music: Ilona Sekacz.
2008-10-05 21:46:34