At his Theater Na Pokrovke, Sergei Artsibashev has semi-revived a production he originally staged in France with a mixed cast of French and Russian actors. The play is "A Cabal of Hypocrites," Mikhail Bulgakov's investigation of the personal and political problems that plagued the great actor and playwright Moli?re. I call it a "semi-revival" because, with Artsibashev himself now playing Moli?re, this production only barely resembles the original.
As with all Artsibashev does, the show is strongest in its most intimate moments. These come primarily in Moli?re's scenes with his former lover Madeleine (Yelena Starodub) and his new flame Armande (Natalya Grebyonkina). The conflict is that Armande is actually the daughter of Moli?re and Madeleine, although Madeleine has never told him that. When she learns that Armande is pregnant by Moli?re, she resolves to keep her secret.
This news, however, reaches the ears of Moli?re's enemies whose goal is to ruin the patronage that the priggish, but impulsive King Louis XIV (Yevgeny Buldakov) offers the unruly actor. The mastermind of the plot to destroy Moli?re is the Archbishop of Paris (Gennady Chulkov), a flinty, dangerous man cloaked in protestations of piety.
Written in the 1930s, this play is usually seen, justifiably, as Bulgakov's commentary on the plight of the Soviet artist. The notion of the battle between the artist and the state still looms large in Artsibashev's version. But its real heart is to be found in the intricate webs of emotions that bind men and women. Artsibashev is best when exhibiting Moli?re's tender, apologetic sides, and he is matched by strong, complex performances by Grebyonkina and Starodub. Also noteworthy is the understated Valery Nenashev as La Grange, an actor who has Moli?re's best interests at heart.
I thought Artsibashev showed an uncharacteristic lack of discipline in some scenes where Moli?re lets his temper overcome him. But, if this occasionally ran counter to the show's delicate sense of balance, it did not dispel it.
- John Freedman
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