Tag Archives: Mike Carter

Chekhov in Moscow

★★★★

The Space

Chekhov in Moscow

Chekhov in Moscow

The Space

Reviewed – 28th August 2019

★★★★

 

“the success of this play really lies with the performances”

 

Chekhov in Moscow at The Space Arts Centre on the Isle of Dogs will delight Chekhov fans. The script is packed with memorable lines and is performed by talented actors. If the set and lighting are a bit makeshift, it does not matter. This lively script, written by Mike Carter, and with some help from Chekhov himself, takes the audience to Moscow in the year 1896 or thereabouts, where the playwright is still smarting from the disastrous reception of The Seagull, even
though he is a successful and celebrated short story writer.

Enter actress Olga Knipper (whom Chekhov will marry in 1901) and director Konstantin Stanislavski, who together save him from despair and turn his playwriting life around. But instead of focusing on Chekhov’s rise to fame with the Moscow Art Theatre, which Stanislavski founded, Carter chooses instead to focus on the short plays that Chekhov wrote. His “vaudevilles” as the playwright described them dismissively. Chekhov in Moscow begins with Knipper and Stanislavski waiting impatiently for some new pages that Chekhov has promised them. The playwright soon appears, or rather, tries to sneak as unobtrusively as possible into the rehearsal room because, of course — and every playwright will be familiar with this moment — he has not written them. When confronted with his failure to produce the playwriting goods, Chekhov quips “New pages? Just put people in a room and start them arguing.” And we are off. The next fifty five minutes consist of Olga, Konstantin, and Chekhov’s favourite actor, Alexander Artyom, trying to get Chekhov back to work. They hit on the idea of presenting some extracts from Chekhov’s shorts The Bear and A Tragedian In Spite Of Himself. But while the playwright writhes with embarrassment, or covers his head with his hands at the revival of these early works in 1896, audiences in 2019 will find plenty to laugh at in these charming pieces.

The strengths of this production of Chekhov in Moscow are not just in the writing, but in the acting. There is some fine directing by Elizabeth Quinn as well. But the success of this play really lies with the performances of Louise Devlin, playing Knipper, Edward Tidy as Stanislavski, Anthony Cozens as Chekhov, and John Rayment taking on the Falstaffian role of Chekhov’s friend Alexander Artyom. If there is one performance that deserves to be singled out from this talented quartet, it would be that of Louise Devlin, who brings both versatility and intensity to the role of Knipper (and female and male roles in the vaudevilles). Her acting is persuasive, and by the end of Chekhov in Moscow she has, as Knipper, persuaded the character of Chekhov himself. “You make me feel magnificent” she tells him. Inspirational words for any playwright to hear.

So if you have ever thought that Chekhov is not the playwright for you, try Chekhov in Moscow as an entertaining introduction to the playwright and his milieu. You will even enjoy the easy bus ride from Canary Wharf to The Space Arts Centre, where you can enjoy a drink in the charming cafe before the beginning of the show.

 

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Greg Baldock

 


 

Chekhov in Moscow

The Space until 1st September

 

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
FFS! Feminist Fable Series | ★★★★ | March 2019
The Conductor | ★★★★ | March 2019
We Know Now Snowmen Exist | ★★★ | March 2019
Post Mortem | ★★★★ | April 2019
The Wasp | ★★★★ | April 2019
Delicacy | ★★★½ | May 2019
Me & My Doll | ★★ | May 2019
Mycorrhiza | ★★★ | May 2019
Holy Land | ★★★ | June 2019
Parenthood | ★★★½ | July 2019

 

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How Eva Von Schnippisch Won WWII
★★★★

VAULT Festival

How Eva Von Schnippisch Won WWII

How Eva Von Schnippisch Won WWII

The Vaults

Reviewed – 7th March 2019

★★★★

 

“an irrepressible seductress with a majestic survival instinct and unstoppable line of filthy wit”

 

Who doesn’t like an hour of vintage hedonism and moral decay after work? Reliving the Weimer republic of 1920s Germany at the VAULT festival is Eva Von Schnippisch, one of a number of Variety Show personas created by comedian and events producer, Stephanie Ware. The show is the confected musical backstory of Eva, a character that has already worked the UK’s club and ‘luxury event’ circuit for six years as a hireable ‘Madame of Ceremonies’. Billed as setting history straight, the evening commences with a stage set with a dressing screen festooned with feather boas and period millinery on one side, Sally Bowles’ chair and accoutrements on the other, with Eva (or is it Stephanie at this point?) clad in silk dressing gown, warming up the crowd as they arrive.

As she slips out of the gown and into character, Eva tells of her hair-raising rise from blow jobs in Berlin to threesomes with the big H (the child-friendly matinee version of the show must either be very different or very short). In between, she is enrolled by British Intelligence, parachuted into occupied France, captured by the Russians, before receiving her ultimate mission to infiltrate the social scene at Berchtesgaden. Throughout her various assassinations and assignations, Eva pines for a purer life in a Bavarian log cabin, giving a welcome glimpse into Eva’s softer side, but most of the time she is an irrepressible seductress with a majestic survival instinct and unstoppable line of filthy wit.

Stephanie Ware’s script sizzles like a frankfurter and Oliver Collier’s music matches her numerous on-stage skills adroitly. She can narrate while she gyrates, crack gags under interrogation, mix manic costume changes with Germanic ad libs while still retaining enough breath to sing like Brunhilde. As a persona, Eva’s true back story as an imperious handler of late-night crowds leaves her bereft of depth and complexity. The blurb for Eva’s compere services says that she can be fine-tuned between secret agent and Cabaret act as desired, but then, not being too particular is Eva’s style. Her forte is pleasing crowds, and the crowd joined in the audience participation whenever they were asked, or, more accurately, commanded.

 

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Photography by Stuart Hendry

 

Vault Festival 2019

How Eva Von Schnippisch Won WWII

Part of VAULT Festival 2019

 

 

 

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