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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

Click here to see our most recent reviews

Parenthood

The Space

Reviewed – 23rd July 2019

★★★½

“just about every one of the songs was catchy, cleverly composed and brilliantly witty”

Nothing makes you feel more inadequate than parenthood. You have a successful day, go to bed feeling good about yourself and wake up to a child telling you that they’ve just stuck a marble in their ear. So going to see a musical revue all about parenthood, would either leave me in hysterical laughter at other people’s misfortunes, or bring back that nervous twitch.

This brand new original show has music, text and lyrics all written by Kent based couple Emily and Pete Moody, Emily also directs. The show comprises of about twenty five scenes delivered in either sketch form or musical number. The subject matter starts with pregnancy, moves rapidly to delivery and runs through notable landmarks up to when the children leave home for university.

The small stage at The Space was decorated with about a dozen large building block cubes, coloured sheets and a cot. The sheets were imaginatively used and the cubes provided good height when seating was required. Sound was well timed and all musical numbers were delivered to a backing track. Costumes were nicely thought out with bright primary colours and occasional bursts into fancy dress.

On this opening night, there were a few technical issues with feedback from a speaker and a few of the actors microphones seemed to stop working. This meant that they lost projection and the sound levels had balancing issues, I hope these are easily resolved. Scene changes I found to be a little clunky, with the stage going to sometimes prolonged blackout whilst blocks were moved and cast members changed, I feel it would be worth investigating if this could be done another way to add a bit more continuity to the piece.

A lot of this play is very funny and yet interestingly, I found that some of the spoken sketches fell a little flat, although the scene with parents reading a school report whilst a teacher translated what he really meant, was utterly hilarious. However, this show really comes alive with the musical numbers. Each of the nine strong ensemble had an excellent voice and just about every one of the songs was catchy, cleverly composed and brilliantly witty. Personal highlights were the school playground number, well observed, insightful and a lovely touch from the lone dad. An amusing song from a sleep deprived mother, a high-kicking pair of grandparents and a beautifully poignant song from a mum expressing her thoughts to her late mother, a lovely change of pace and delivered incredibly naturally.

I feel that Fluffy Top Productions are on to something here, it needs a bit of tightening up and a little re-writing, but it went down very well with the audience and has a lot of highlights.

I finally feel that a big shout-out needs to go out to all the cast for putting such energy into their performances on a quite frankly, absurdly hot summer evening.

The Space

Reviewed – 28th August 2019

★★★★

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

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Greg Baldock

Chekhov in Moscow

The Space until 1st September

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

The Space

Reviewed – 23rd July 2019

★★★½

“just about every one of the songs was catchy, cleverly composed and brilliantly witty”

I feel that Fluffy Top Productions are on to something here, it needs a bit of tightening up and a little re-writing, but it went down very well with the audience and has a lot of highlights.

I finally feel that a big shout-out needs to go out to all the cast for putting such energy into their performances on a quite frankly, absurdly hot summer evening.

Reviewed by Chris White

Parenthood

The Space until 27th July

Previously reviewed at this venue: