"IMPROVANOV: ANTON CHEKHOV UNSCRIPTED," The Free Associates at Royal George Theatre (Upstairs Studio)
BY LUCIA MAURO
Although The Free Associates have a long history of spontaneously spoofing classic writers – from the Bard to the Brontes – they are very brave to trudge across the gray Russian dramatic landscape. In "Improvanov: Anton Chekhov Unscripted," created and directed by Adrienne Smith, six ensemble members forge an abbreviated full-length Chekhovian play based solely on suggestions from the audience. The challenge, of course, is finding the humor in the playwright’s languid pauses without relying on melodramatic expressions of longing.
The artists also cannot forget that, contrary to wrongly belabored and somber productions of Chekhov over the past century, the author of "Uncle Vanya" and "The Seagull" was a humorist at heart. His works, despite their length and operatically dissatisfied characters, contain an abundance of subtly woven wit and satire. So The Free Associates had to consciously balance the dreary misperceptions audiences most likely have of Chekhov’s work with the Russian playwright’s own casually sardonic pot shots and a cutting contemporary humor.
Director Smith obviously reconciled all of these complex factors when crafting this intelligent improvised parody. "Improvanov" – running in the Royal George’s upstairs studio space – stops short of droning into eyelid-heavy oblivion at the same time it invigorates the smothering sense of ennui and lazy disillusion at the heart of Chekhov’s plays.
On opening night, the viewers/co-writers were asked to provide a Russian-sounding surname for this 19th century landed family in the country’s rural outskirts (Bolshevik); a relationship (brother-sister); their names (Mikhail and Natasha); their step-brother with a non-Slavic name (Frank), who is suffering from (unrequited love); what Natasha dreams of (washing her own hair); an "ism" that Mikhail practices (stoicism); the occupation of one of their guests (a plumber); a doom that hangs over the household (dry rot); and a title ("The Frozen Pond.")
Fortunately, the audience maintained a watery motif, allowing the performers to build a convincing arc to their story about a family, whose estate is crumbling due to badly installed plumbing and a mysterious frozen pond outside. The improvised version also introduces a guitar-strumming pacifist soldier, who is pursued by the strong-willed plumber Svetlana, and challenged to a duel by the lovesick Frank.
It takes a few scenes for Felicity Hesed’s Svetlana to find the proper Chehovian rhythms and transcend merely exaggerated facial expressions. But once she fits into that gloomy-witty groove, Hesed delivers some quietly clever lines. For instance, after Frank is shot in the leg and hobbles around on a cane in the midst of dry rot eating away at his home, Hesed quips, "It’s good the estate is so small because you cannot walk very far."
The rest of the cast seems to have been born clutching samovars. They often ingeniously pair contemplation with the driest of humor They are totally committed to their roles and, therefore, do not get snared in smirking self-importance. Wendi Weber – an actress of great skill and understated resolve – as Natasha sets the scene with an air of hollow longing and the lament that "Mother washed my hair." Her mother has been dead for one year – her demise somehow caused by the new plumbing.
David Lawrence, as the dilettante Frank, masters the frail superiority of a man who speaks six languages but can’t do anything else. His monologue about their maid’s obsession with soap and his belief in its uselessness comes very close to emerging from Chekhov’s own hand. Lawrence also has a talent for stinging insults aimed at the soldier ("You simply hang places, like an ugly fog.")
The stoic Mikhail, played with a barrel-chested sobriety by the on-target Cody Lyman, anchors this touching and absurd chamber drama. Liz Cloud, one of The Free Associate’s eternally clever veterans, delivers an unselfconscious star turn as the ancient and slightly daft housekeeper. And Jay Gish as the musician-soldier brilliantly rounds out the cast with his icy braggadocio.
Their reflective humor underscores their characters’ hilarious oblivion. Lyman’s Mikhail shares a telling memory – in bitingly efficient terms -- with Natasha: "You were six; I was 14. I was already old." Cloud hands Lyman his warm milk, while he’s still juggling his vodka and a pipe – at one point Cloud nonchalantly notes that "the balcony has fallen off the back bedroom," while everyone stares into a distant horizon. The performers were so on that, even when Hesed was unable to light one of the candles, Weber – without a flick of her sullen eyes – explains, "That one is for show – it’s never lit."
The elongated good-byes in the end show the cast’s genius at pulling truths – as ludicrous as they may be – out of thin air. Concludes Mikhail, "As long as the pond remains frozen, we will go on."
The Free Associates just may be the most astute interpreters of Chekhov. This is a smart and well-paced production that doesn’t take the tragedy-laced playwright too seriously even as it honors his penchant for heavy damask and self-absorbed aristocrats.•
The Free Associates’ staging of "Improvanov: Anton Chekhov Unscripted" runs Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. through December 1 at Royal George Theatre (upstairs studio), 1641 N. Halsted. Tickets: $20. Call 312-988-9000 or log onto www.thefreeassociates.com.
