The Suicide

Criticism , Theatre Mar 23, 2010 No Comments

The Hayloft Project’s Simon Stone has, over the last three or four years, been making a bit of a name for himself as one of the country’s foremost interpreters of late 19th and early 20th century theatre, with Wedekind, Chekhov, Ibsen, Stravinsky and Arbuzov already under his belt. His latest production for B Sharp is an adaptation of Russian playwright Nikolai Erdman’s 1928 satire The Suicide and, while certainly of a piece with his earlier work, its madcap and wholly irreverent tone also sets it somewhat apart. This is due in no small part to the talents of the director’s cast, the same that graced the Downstairs Theatre last year in the Hayloft’s production of The Only Child, an award-winning adaptation of Ibsen’s Little Eyolf. They happily trade in that production’s heavy air of wretchedness and woe for the less claustrophobic atmosphere of a French farce or a Marx Brothers movie, running about the stage, trying to manage multiple costume changes, and in general generating a sense that anything could go wrong at any moment. Senses sharpen and so does judgment because levitra properien http://pdxcommercial.com/wp-content/uploads/1970/01/Westgate-Drive-Flyer-1.pdf the brain is enriched with blood. Drivers ed in Texas is also important for the patient to follow the instructions as specified cialis discount overnight in the label of the product and/or as prescribed by the doctor. Some of the on line levitra common reasons why they have ED are because they are victims of some kind of psychological problem. You can choose among several flavors: Lemon, Mint, cheap soft cialis pdxcommercial.com Strawberry and Pineapple. This is especially true of Gareth Davies’ central performance as Semyon Semyonovich, whose reluctant decision to top himself gives the play its title. After delivering one of last year’s great comic turns in B Sharp’s A Midsummer Nights Dream, the wild-eyed, always seemingly intoxicated Davies here delivers a performance that is likely to go down as one of this year’s best. Like Dylan Moran’s Bernard Black or Richard E. Grant’s Withnail, Davies’ Semyon is a human entropy machine, the performance giving the paradoxical impression of holding the production together at precisely the same time as it threatens to lose control of it and careen it headlong into a tree.

The Australian, 23 March 2010

Matthew Clayfield

Matthew Clayfield is a journalist, critic and screenwriter.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.