Alright, so first off let me say that I LOVE the Gogol Center. All of the shows that we have seen there have been incredibly dynamic, well-designed, well-acted and beautifully put together. I loved Midsummer, each of the four acts were powerful and left me reeling. And while I didn’t really understand what was being said in The Misanthrope, I understood what the play was trying to do.
My favorite piece that I have seen, both at the Gogol and overall, was Mitya’s Love. The set had a bunch of pegs sticking out of the wall spaced out in no specific configuration. They also had on the wall a light switch, a record player with the dial of a phone, a large magnet strip, and a bell similar to an old school fire alarm. Hanging just above the wall was a teacup and the talk piece of a telephone. And, hidden on top of the wall, were train tracks, and a toy train that passed by in darkness to signify Mitya leaving the city. The actors never touched the ground, the entire play they moved from peg to peg on the wall.
The actor who played Mitya stayed the same character the entire time, but the actor who played Katya also played every other character in the show, including the men. Both actors were magnificent and very funny. Some of the funniest moments were when Mitya and Katya attempted to have sex, maneuvering around the pegs, and when the actor who played Katya shoved her skirt down her pants to become a man and Mitya poured an entire bottle of Vodka down her throat. It was one of the first times that the Russian audience laughed as loudly as we did!
One of the most powerful moments in the show was when the actor who played Katya dropped the convention that was set up and stepped onto the floor. It was almost jolting, and the audience visibly leaned forward in their seats. Then Katya began removing the pegs one by one, making Mitya's world smaller and smaller, until he couldn’t move. And, once she did that, she left the stage, and we were left alone with just Mitya for the first time since the beginning of the play. It was heartbreaking, and I really felt for the character in this moment. The first thing we saw onstage was Mitya enacting his final moments. After Katya leaves, he begins to go through those moments once more, only this time they have much more emotional weight.
I loved this production. It was clever, funny, and moving, and a very clean show. I couldn’t imagine any way to make it better. It didn’t have me reeling and questioning things like Midsummer or Butusov’s Three Sisters, and it didn’t have powerful images like the Misanthrope, but it was my favorite all the same.
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