| . | 12/16/2009
Light in the Dark: Chekhov Shorts
By: Deirdre Donovan
The East meets the West in Theatre Han’s Light in the Dark: Chekhov Shorts. This double-bill at Theatre 54 puts Chekhov’s poignant “Swan Song” cheek by jowl with the roaringly funny “The Bear.” The acting is uneven, but the production’s Asian motifs and multi-cultural casting will make you see Chekhov with new eyes.
The program starts out with “Salpuri-chum,” a traditional Korean dance piece that historically was performed to appease the spirits of the dead and lead the spirits to heaven. As performed by Sue-Yeon Park, it is visually powerful. Holding a long white handkerchief (think of Isadora Duncan’s trademark scarves), Park danced with the up-and-down movement of Salpuri rhythm from the southwestern regions of Korea. Her heel was firmly grounded with her toes up to carry the distinctive movement through her entire body. Up and down, up and down, up and down. The dance summoned up feelings of grief and longing, and though a work in its own right, it ideally set the tone and atmosphere for the short play that followed.
Chekhov’s “Swan Song” is the first play in the program’s line-up. It tells the melancholy story of Svetlovidov (L. B. Williams), an alcoholic actor who finds himself a nobody at the end of his career. He’s 68 years old, been onstage for 45 years, and he’s well aware that “old Lady Death is just around the corner.” When his prompter Ivanich arrives, he pours out his heart to him, recounting the peaks and the valleys of his minor career. He even discloses a turning point in his acting life that he once was in love with a young woman who asked him to choose her over his career. He never answered her—and following that romantic episode his life went on the skids. In his old age he feels as neglected as Lear himself, a pariah in an unfeeling world. All in all, Swan Song is an extremely moving piece. It doesn’t have the scope of Chekhov’s full-length masterpieces, but this diminutive drama has real emotional oomph.
The next piece begins in a wink: “Pamina’s Aria” (from Act 2, Mozart’s The Magic Flute). This was expressively played by pianist Moon Young Yang, accompanied by 2 sopranos, Insuk Kim and Seung Hee Lee. In the short version of the plot, Pamina’s lover Tamino refuses to speak to her because he is going through the test of silence. When Tamino refuses to answer, Pamino believes he loves her no longer. You might enjoy this piece if you are an opera buff and familiar with the intrigues of The Magic Flute. But with no stage action to illustrate the goings on, this musical interlude seemed a bit flat and vague.
Chekhov’s “The Bear” is as good as it gets. It has its roots in an ancient Roman tale of the Widow of Ephesus. But as translated by Chekhov, it’s a ribald fable about a widow Popova (Alice Oh) whose grief for her dead husband melts when she is wooed by a stranger named Smirnoff (Mark Thomas). The short play has some weird twists and turns, and can hilariously show you how a misogynist like Smirnoff evolves into a woman-lover.
I’m not so sure that Frederick Waggoner, who directs the program, saw all the possibilities in The Bear. Whatever his intentions were for the production, he should have insisted that the actor playing Smirnoff be coarser and downright bear-ish. Thomas has mastered his character’s verbal language, but not the actual physicality of the role.
Coming to terms with life has always been a Chekhovian theme, and this program will make you reconsider life in the shadow of death. Although the acting is just so-so, Sue-Yeon Park’s dance solo at the outset of the program is stunning. And the 2 Chekhov plays are dazzling.
Theatre 54, 244 W. 54th Street, 12th Floor.
Tickets are $18, phone (212) 352-3101 or visit www.theatrehan.com
Through December 20th.
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