I had a passing familiarity with this piece having seen Mussorgsky’s opera based on the same events at the Royal Opera House a couple years ago, but I couldn’t remember very much about it, apart from it being very long and intense. Apparently Pushkin’s verse drama has never had a professional English language production, so it’s not the kind of thing that one gets many opportunities to see and after their production of Three Sisters last year, one of the most emotionally devastating pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen, I’d be quite happy to travel to the ends of the world to see Cheek By Jowl’s Russian productions. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare the two pieces as few plays are as good as Three Sisters, but there’s a reason why that’s done so often- it’s just so universally good! It’s a revenge tragedy with a number of parallels with Macbeth, featuring a ruler who murders his way to the throne, but some odd directorial choices made this a rather uneven experience.
At two hours and fifteen minutes, it really could have used as interval as I found myself zoning out periodically during the scenes of historical detail (and I’m a person who likes history) and convoluted political intrigue that is never really resolved. I found the juxtaposition between the ancient and the modern clothing rather off-putting as it seemed like a rather awkward attempt to emphasise the “contemporary” aspects of the piece. I found it jarred the atmosphere as I would have preferred to have remained in imperial Russia throughout.
The most engaging scene is the one that takes place besides and partially in a fountain, which provides a refreshing break from the scenes of political intrigue, following the impostor Grigory Otrepyev’s courtship of the beautiful Marina Mnishiek (wonderfully played with haughty elegance by Irina Grineva, following her heartbreaking Masha), in which she is initially appalled by his deceit, but ultimately decides it makes it all the more exciting.
It’s always fun to see obscure pieces and to hear the Russian language (my A-level Russian is a pretty rusty, but I could understand a fair amount) spoken so beautifully. I do hope that Cheek By Jowl do another Russian production next year, and choose a strong piece as Three Sisters showed just how absolutely stunning they can be. It wasn’t the most enthusiastic curtain call I’ve ever witnessed, but the actors certainly milked the bows for all they were worth.
(This review refers to a performance that took place on May 8th 2008 )
