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Right up front, you need to know that "Rothschild's Fiddle"
adapted and directed by Kama Ginkas from the story by Anton Chekhov,
might not be for you. If you're the type of theatergoer who starts
to fidget when the action is deliberately slow, when pregnant pauses
punctuate performances and when words are selected fastidiously, you
may find yourself anxious to leave the 100-minute, no-intermission
production at Yale's University Theater. There is a flip side, however.
If you long for stimulating theater, adore Chekhov, appreciate simplicity
and symbolism, enjoy the search for the meaning of life and want to
be provoked, you must not miss this brilliant and eloquent production.
Being
especially fond of Chekhov and this story about Yakov Ivanov, the
70-year old coffin maker who measured life in waste and loss, I actually
stepped into the theater thinking, "Please, don't let them ruin
this for me." For me, the heart-wrenching story of a man's wasted
life and his final metamor-phosis was close to untouchable.
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I began to relax when I saw the intensely stark, dramatically exact
Yale set with its various sizes of unfinished wooden coffins standing
tall against a black backdrop. My worries were put to rest as Chekhov's
characters, one by one, stepped onto the stage and came to life.
Marfa,
the unhappy, unloved and unappreciated wife who looks like a "hungry
.bird," wedges herself between two of Yakov's coffins. It's a
tight little space in her husband's rigid balance sheet of a life.
Performed by the ever-so-quiet Arina Nesterova, Marfa is pain personified.
Valerii Barinov as Yakov (Bronza) is almost too good to be true, but
happily he is quite real. He whispers and you lean closer; he glares
and you flinch; he bellows and you quake. As for Rothschild, the Jew,
Igor
Yasulovich is simply a marvel. He seems to have stepped right out
of Chekhov's imagination. Even Alexei Dubrovsky, who plays a doctor's
assistant, delivers a memorable performance as a cold-hearted man.
Of course
much of the credit goes to director Ginkas. His adaptation
and direction are so poignantly powerful, so stunningly pure and simple
that I can't help but think that he had a direct line to Chekhov.
Like Chekhov's works, this type of theater has the power to change
people's lives.
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The play is performed in Russian with English super titles, but so
strong are the direction and the performances that you don't need
to look for a literal verbal translation. The story spills onto the
stage so tellingly that even if it were spoken in Martian, you would
know how devastated Yakov is when he realizes how uncaring and useless
a life he has led. When he realizes that it could have been different,
then he learns the true meaning of loss. Don't despair, there is a
bright ray of hope in the final scene.
This
is a masterpiece. It only plays through Jan. 31. Tickets for "Rothschild's
Fiddle" range from $25-45. Box office: (203) 432-1234.
Joanne Greco Rochman is an active member in The
American Theatre Critics Association, and a founding member of The
Connecticut Critics Circle. She welcomes comments. E-mail: Jrochman@earlMink.net.
Igor Yasulovich, left, as Rothschild, Valerii Barinov as Yakov
and Arlna Nesterova, right, as Marfa give masterpiece performances
In Chekhov's 'Rothschild's Fiddle; on stage at Yale University Theatre
through the end of this month.
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