Just as I entered the “black box”, one of the actresses walked pass firmly saying, “This is excruciating!” Caught off guard, I was pushed by the turbulence of other spectator behind me coming in to my seat. A dozen of people in smoky vintage cloth walked around the stage, some mumbling sentences, which only few words could be discerned in the action and others threw random notes with their instruments into the air. The whole situation felt strange and intimidating. Gradually, all actors on stage turned into character, and then characters turned into extravagantly posing doubles. The dynamism on stage made my curious sight jump from one place to another and almost required me the effort to keep track of what was going on. As if they were playing a game with me, as if I was chasing the all dressed rabbit in Alice and Wonderland, the characters on stage lured me into their play: suddenly, it started.

The role changes and the “off stage” actors’ presence on stage weren’t obvious at first. Once I understood, I felt the interpretation of a single character by two different actors and for most of the time being both present on stage did not loose the continuity of the story. Instead, it brought a wider spectrum to each of their personalities. However an unidentified heaviness carried the play all along. Heaviness and nudity. The front of the set is left opened and the structure supporting the house can be seem, blurring the line between the theater space and the world of play; The absence of wall between the rooms in the house takes away all privacy in the house; the costume change and act transitions happen openly, once again pulling the audience back to reality and reminding me everything happening is only fiction; The actors address the audience and the “passive” actors on stage during their monologues, breaking the boundaries of the play; the exposure of the characters’ emotions made what was depressing to the extent where it felt cruel. Through the sarcastic lines and in their conscience pain, the characters were mocking themselves. Looking past the chosen forms of interpretation, the strongest feeling of nudity, violation and vulnerability comes from the self-identification to the characters on stage and to their pain. Relating my personal life experience to Vanya’s and Sonya’s impossible love, Yelena’s boredom and the professor’s frustration of accomplishment, every time during the play I laughed was taint bitter, every time I felt bad for one of them on stage it seemed ironic.

Aurelia Fava