Stirling Players. Stirling Theatre. 12 Oct 2014
Written by John Hodge and directed by Megan Dansie, Collaborators is based on real characters and events (with a healthy dose of dramatic licence) and finds famous Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, a heavily censored Russian playwright who is considered an enemy of the Soviet authorities, commissioned to write a play about Stalin's life for the celebration of the ruler's 60th birthday. In a show of force, Bulgakov is told that if he doesn’t complete the play his career will be destroyed by the closing of his latest work, Moliere, and his family is at risk of assassination. Bulgakov is morally opposed to Stalin's oppressive regime and has made his politics felt, however oddly he somewhat owes his career to the soviet leader who is apparently one of his biggest fans, and after all what choice does he have? So he decides to write the play; but does he?
This play is wonderfully constructed. Hodge presents a darkly comic interpretation of a horrible time in history and then further blurs the lines between reality and dream worlds. The show makes for great debate after leaving the theatre – both about the happenings on stage and the intention of the playwright underpinning it all. Perhaps Hodge didn’t have an overarching message to deliver; maybe it was a simple, time worn, comment on society (human conflict, freedom speech, revolution, etc). Either way director Megan Dansie leaves it hanging up in the air – a risk if the players are not all on the same page – but a risk that has, in this instance, paid off.
So many of the questions I had when I left the theatre remain, but I feel OK about that because it intrigues me. Is Stalin real or a hallucination personified by the guilt Bulgakov feels about writing the play? Does Stalin really write the play on Bulgakov’s behalf in that dank basement of the Kremlin, or is it all in Bulgakov’s head? Is Bulgakov really ordering the NKVD to carry out Stalin’s requests or merely making connections in his mind to recent local events? Are Bulgakov’s improved living conditions a reward for being Stalin’s new friend or just a coincidence? Is Bulgakov deluded by his terminal illness or is that his ‘method’ for writing a story he despises? The play presents a lot of reasons why you might believe one thing or another at any one time. Most interesting perhaps is that it never clears it up.
Gary George plays Mikhail Bulgakov with wonderful light and shade. His torment is gradually revealed as the play within a play unravels. George’s Bulgakov is wonderfully challenged by the complexities of governance and his utter disbelief at how a simple order can tear a country apart is evident. George gives Bulgakov a gut wrenching sense of self-loathing towards the end and you cannot help but feel empathy towards the man. His continuous energy onstage was unrivalled.
Peter Davies plays Joseph Stalin like something out of a comedy sketch show and it works wonderfully. Davies’ characterisation makes the penultimate twist all the more perverse and transformed Stalin from an every man, misunderstood and irresponsible to a paranoid psychopath.
Steve Marvanek in the role of Valdimir, a secret policeman, is equally menacing and tormented. Vladimir has a small story of his own bubbling away in the background and Marvanek really makes something of that adding an extra dimension to the piece. He also successfully avoids the easy comedy (a secret policeman with artistic tendencies!) and gives Vladimir more human qualities that ultimately transition well into his suspected defection and eventual ending. Vladimir’s internal torment is evident.
Sharon Malujilo as Yelena Bulgakov (Mikhail’s wife), Alex Antonio as Grigory, a censored novelist and friend to Bulgakov, David Lockwood as the Doctor and Samuel Rogers and Joshua Coldwell as the actors presenting the play within a play were all standout supports.
Rogers and Coldwell offer up some fantastic elements of comedy which (although only occasionally stealing the focus) lighten the mood and point up the comedy of the piece. Antonio had some of the most poignant lines in the play. His troubles are clear and his suicide very evocative. Malujilo makes her Yelena not only a critic of her lover’s work but also a measure of his delusion, transforming her performance as his deterioration takes hold; like holding up a mirror.
The set, designed by Malcolm Horton, fits the stage well but offers some very odd entrance and exit points which do confuse the action in the first half. Once the energy of the play builds late in the first half these frustrations became less of a problem. The repeated use of doors and set pieces to represent different locations does take a while to get used to, but Dansie has made use of this confusion to give the piece a strong and punchy pace that keeps the action very tight and intense.
This is a very enjoyable production of a most intriguing play. There are only 3 performances left, so I encourage you to check it out.
Paul Rodda
When: 3 to 18 Oct
Where: Stirling Community Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
