Everybody knows that a house is not a home. But what happens when a man gets it into his head that a house he has seen is just the place where he wants to relocate his family's home hearth? That is precisely what we learn in a show called "The House" at the Contemporary Play School.
This is an all-around unusual project. Instead of director, Iosif Raikhelgauz is listed in the program as the "author of the production." The well-known playwright Yevgeny Grishkovets is not alone but is listed as having written the text "with the participation of Anna Matison." The action takes place not on a stage but amid audience members whose seats are chaotically strewn throughout the theater hall, many of them facing opposite directions. Everyone in the hall sees at least three of the four oversized television monitors showing live feeds of the actors.
The lead role of Igor, the man looking to buy a new house, is played by Alexander Gordon, the popular television talk-show host.
Gordon is superb in this strange, amusing and entertaining show. As he wanders among the spectators, encountering various people in his life — his wife (Anzhelika Volchkova), his daughter (Yulia Skirina) and several friends — Gordon easily exploits the persona he has developed in his hit TV shows "Gordon," "Gordon Quixote," "Closed Showing" and others. Slightly cynical but not without charm, intellectual but not aloof, he has a way of inspiring trust, understanding and respect.
The story, as is common in a Grishkovets play, is extremely simple. Igor found a house for sale, and he wants to buy it and move his family into it. Tired of living in an apartment, he wants the freedom and dignity that would come with owning his own home. The problem is that, despite his decent earnings as a medical doctor, he doesn't have enough to swing the deal. So he goes to friends and asks for a loan. That is when the proverbial waste material hits the fan.
Igor's friends Misha (Maksim Yevseyev), Savyolov (Vladimir Shulga) and nameless others have reasons not to lend him the money. Misha bought a house himself, and he bitterly regrets it. The work, the expenses, the hassles have driven him crazy. Savyolov is something of a philosopher or, at least, he has a complex philosophy worked out as to why friends should never allow money to intrude on their relationship. "Don't you feel like you ruined our friendship just by bringing this topic up?" he asks Igor.
Igor's mother and father-in-law (Yelena Sanaeva and Albert Filozov) are willing to give him the little money they have saved for their funerals, but that only infuriates the proud, prospective homeowner more. All he wants is to settle into a home that suits him, but it seems that the entire world is ready to throw obstacles in his path.
The trump comes in the form of another of his nameless friends, a wealthy businessman (Ivan Mamonov) who is tailed everywhere by a thug-like bodyguard. This wheeler-dealer is the first who is not only ready to lend Igor the small sum, but he actually offers to pay out a larger amount to buy him a bigger and better place. Why? Because this guy has his eye on the same house Igor wants, and he is not about to lose it.
Mamonov is excellent as the friendly bully, a man whose generosity is a not-so-subtle form of psychological violence.
Grishkovets and Matison created a story about a doomed search for happiness that is recognizable down to the last detail: the phrases friends catch either other with, the complaints daughters have, the loving charity a wife will exhibit to support even her husband's wildest dream.
That said, this play works because of what Raikhelgauz and his cast did with it. I can't imagine this text being spoken in a traditional setting — on stage with a fourth wall separating the actors from the audience. On the other hand, with the actors moving around among the spectators, Igor's personal anguish becomes our own.
Less understandable is the odd cinematic ending tacked on by Raikhelgauz. This isn't the place to reveal what it entails, but I will say this: Everything that happens in Act 2 was already suggested and expressed by the end of Act 1.
Still, when a show is done this well, you don't pick at details.
"The House" (Dom) plays Thurs., Fri. and Sat. at 7 p.m. at the Contemporary Play School, located at 29/14 Ulitsa Neglinnaya. Metro Trubnaya. Tel. 694-0756, 694-3087, 694-6834. Neglinka29.ru. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.
This is an all-around unusual project. Instead of director, Iosif Raikhelgauz is listed in the program as the "author of the production." The well-known playwright Yevgeny Grishkovets is not alone but is listed as having written the text "with the participation of Anna Matison." The action takes place not on a stage but amid audience members whose seats are chaotically strewn throughout the theater hall, many of them facing opposite directions. Everyone in the hall sees at least three of the four oversized television monitors showing live feeds of the actors.
The lead role of Igor, the man looking to buy a new house, is played by Alexander Gordon, the popular television talk-show host.
Gordon is superb in this strange, amusing and entertaining show. As he wanders among the spectators, encountering various people in his life — his wife (Anzhelika Volchkova), his daughter (Yulia Skirina) and several friends — Gordon easily exploits the persona he has developed in his hit TV shows "Gordon," "Gordon Quixote," "Closed Showing" and others. Slightly cynical but not without charm, intellectual but not aloof, he has a way of inspiring trust, understanding and respect.
The story, as is common in a Grishkovets play, is extremely simple. Igor found a house for sale, and he wants to buy it and move his family into it. Tired of living in an apartment, he wants the freedom and dignity that would come with owning his own home. The problem is that, despite his decent earnings as a medical doctor, he doesn't have enough to swing the deal. So he goes to friends and asks for a loan. That is when the proverbial waste material hits the fan.
Igor's friends Misha (Maksim Yevseyev), Savyolov (Vladimir Shulga) and nameless others have reasons not to lend him the money. Misha bought a house himself, and he bitterly regrets it. The work, the expenses, the hassles have driven him crazy. Savyolov is something of a philosopher or, at least, he has a complex philosophy worked out as to why friends should never allow money to intrude on their relationship. "Don't you feel like you ruined our friendship just by bringing this topic up?" he asks Igor.
Igor's mother and father-in-law (Yelena Sanaeva and Albert Filozov) are willing to give him the little money they have saved for their funerals, but that only infuriates the proud, prospective homeowner more. All he wants is to settle into a home that suits him, but it seems that the entire world is ready to throw obstacles in his path.
The trump comes in the form of another of his nameless friends, a wealthy businessman (Ivan Mamonov) who is tailed everywhere by a thug-like bodyguard. This wheeler-dealer is the first who is not only ready to lend Igor the small sum, but he actually offers to pay out a larger amount to buy him a bigger and better place. Why? Because this guy has his eye on the same house Igor wants, and he is not about to lose it.
Mamonov is excellent as the friendly bully, a man whose generosity is a not-so-subtle form of psychological violence.
Grishkovets and Matison created a story about a doomed search for happiness that is recognizable down to the last detail: the phrases friends catch either other with, the complaints daughters have, the loving charity a wife will exhibit to support even her husband's wildest dream.
That said, this play works because of what Raikhelgauz and his cast did with it. I can't imagine this text being spoken in a traditional setting — on stage with a fourth wall separating the actors from the audience. On the other hand, with the actors moving around among the spectators, Igor's personal anguish becomes our own.
Less understandable is the odd cinematic ending tacked on by Raikhelgauz. This isn't the place to reveal what it entails, but I will say this: Everything that happens in Act 2 was already suggested and expressed by the end of Act 1.
Still, when a show is done this well, you don't pick at details.
"The House" (Dom) plays Thurs., Fri. and Sat. at 7 p.m. at the Contemporary Play School, located at 29/14 Ulitsa Neglinnaya. Metro Trubnaya. Tel. 694-0756, 694-3087, 694-6834. Neglinka29.ru. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.
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