CHEKHOV FOUR FARCES - ADC THEATRE
When is a farce not a farce? For those of us brought up on Brian Rix, Feydeau and Noises Off, a true farce means mistaken identities, absurd coincidences, ridiculous lies and a set full of doors in and out of which characters hide or appear with hilarious results. Not so the Chekhovian farce. At least not via the translation of them by Richard Brown as performed by BAWDS at the ADC Theatre. Chekhov himself dismissed these early works as money-spinning vaudeville pieces, samovar boilers, crowd pleasers; they were penned before his celebrated great plays such as Uncle Vanya and The Seagull.
Written in the late 1880s and early 90s the four ‘farces’ on offer were: The Proposal, The Anniversary, The Bear and Swansong. The company populated this quartet of comedies with a really impressive cast of talented actors and a bevy of balletic scene changers inspired by the soaring underscore of ‘Swan Lake’. Their twirls and ballet moves as they brought on and off sofas, tables and desks, won well deserved approval from the audience.
To Chekhov, these short works were filled with exaggerated characters who would have perfectly fitted the silent movie world which had not yet dawned. The young man Lomov in The Proposal is one such character: a would-be suitor to the down-to-earth Natasha, he is the antithesis of the manly hero – a bag of nerves, shaking like a jelly and overwhelmed by an effete hypochondria manifesting as heart palpitations, painful limbs and a tendency to swoon. Geraint Rhys was in excellent form as the spineless suitor and though his attacks of the vapours came a little too often for audience comfort, the fault was in the writing not his. Lindsay McCaig did a sterling job as the half-deaf lady of the manor, mother of the aforesaid Natasha. Lots of mishearing jokes here – maybe a bit dated now? Anna Georgia-Smith made the perfect foil to Lomov – she the feisty stronger party to the proposal; an offer that goes comically wrong as the couple soon start to bicker over disputed land or the health of their respective dogs. All good fun if a tad too long.
The second play, The Anniversary, was perhaps the weakest of the four – again in the writing and conception. A very daft affair around the anniversary of a bank dominated by a self-important manager, a put-upon clerk, an angry wife and mad woman. The cast did their best to raise up this ageing horse but it failed to ride.
Next up was The Bear, the most compelling of the four, indeed a piece adapted by William Walton into a short opera. Alex Machell was rivetting as the bullying loud-mouth Smirnov (yes also a vodka guzzler) who has come to Madam Popova to demand money he is owed from her recently deceased husband. He refuses to leave until paid, she resorts to threatening him with a duel unless he goes. There was real chemistry here between the two and more than a glimpse of the much deeper and more satisfying of the Chekhov to come. Machell dominated the stage with his bear-like persona and appeals to the audience; Zoe Bond as the lady was equally impressive as mourning widow who finds new life with this ursine character. A very satisfying experience.
The last play was very far from any kind of comedy - a wistful tale of age, decline, memory and regret. Here too was the more authentic voice of the Russian master. Tso characters: The Actor and The Prompt find themselves alone in an empty theatre. There had been a party the night before and the revellers had left the Actor in a drunken sleep. James Dowson had no easy task as an amateur thesp: he played the great has-been, the once (but no longer) celebrated star of the stage. In his memories, prompted yes by the Prompt, he has to quote from Hamlet, Lear, Julius Caeser and make them sound like the once-great actor he once was. Dowson achieved this with convincing elan, perfectly capturing the sad decline of a man whose limelight has dimmed. Alex Priestly supported him well but basically it is his show. As the playlet came to an end, the lights dimmed and the audience was left contemplating the nature of the passing of life: not the usual material for farce.
