 |
Bulgakov and
Stalin on stage Two new
plays explore the relationship between art and tyranny Apr 14th
2012 | from the print edition EVEN without
the constraints of censorship, Stalin’s reign lends itself to
surrealism. How
else to convey its mad caprices, the incomprehensible scale of his
cruelty and
the spiralling paranoia? Two new London productions that,
coincidentally,
involve Stalin and the novelist Mikhail Bulgakov, make apt use of
surreal
fantasia. Catch either, or ideally both, if you can. The new
version of “The Master and Margarita” by Complicite, a British company
justly
renowned for its daring theatre, is set to tour Europe after a short,
triumphant run at the Barbican. The unwieldy zaniness of Bulgakov’s
great
novel—whose action involves the devil and his retinue visiting Stalin’s
Moscow,
the blighted affair of the eponymous characters, and the master’s novel
about
Pontius Pilate and Jesus—somehow hasn’t deterred stage adaptations. In
this
one, Simon McBurney, Complicite’s director, doubles down: rather than
trying to
simplify, he mashes up the stories, echoing and embellishing them in
multimedia. There are projections, sound loops, puppetry and nudity: a
painfully emaciated Christ; a flying, nude Margarita. The result
is a dark carnival of theatrical effects, which is demanding, sometimes
overwhelming, only occasionally misfiring. Like readers of the book,
some
members of the audience may yearn for more of the comic demons, in
particular
the giant, lecherous cat. But the overall impact highlights the novel’s
underlying themes: the hypocrisy of many but compassion of some; the
way craven
people get the callous rulers they deserve, yet now and then rise to a
nobility
that deserves better. “Collaborators”,
a coruscating new play at the National Theatre, imagines a relationship
between
Stalin and Bulgakov himself. Directed by Sir Nicholas Hytner and
written by John
Hodge, previously best known as the screenwriter for “Shallow Grave”
and
“Trainspotting”, the production will soon transfer to the National’s
main
Olivier stage after opening at the smaller Cottesloe. Bulgakov (Alex
Jennings)
is coerced to write a play about the dictator’s early years to
celebrate his
60th birthday. In return, along with his life and his wife’s, he is
promised
the un-banning of his subversive drama about Molière—grotesque, masked
scenes
from which intrude on the main story, as do comically appalling
passages from
the Stalin tribute. That, in the
event, is written by Stalin, who summons Bulgakov to secret meetings.
The
actual Bulgakov did write a never-performed play about Stalin’s youth;
Stalin
telephoned and took an interest in him, though there is no record that
they
met. Simon Russell Beale (pictured above) is a chillingly hilarious
Stalin;
substituting a West Country burr for the original Georgian accent, he
is
cunning and charming, manipulative, menacing and intellectually
insecure. While
Stalin hammers out the script, Bulgakov, struggling with his
compromises and
conscience, is obliged do his collaborator’s paperwork, which slides
from
steel-factory targets, to grain allocations, to death quotas. Both
productions explore the relationship between tyranny and creativity:
the
artistic kind, but also the humbler urge to create private love and
lives in
crushing times. “The Master and Margarita” proclaims that “manuscripts
don’t
burn”. “Collaborators” is less sure of art’s resilience: “the monster
always
wins”, Stalin insists. “Collaborators” hints at the structural
similarities
between writing and governing. Both are lonely work, requiring the
imposition
of an arbitrary order on unseen, notional individuals—only, in the case
of the
tyrant, the people are real. “The Master
and Margarita” will tour the Vienna Festival and the Holland Festival,
Amsterdam, in June and the Festival d’Avignon in July. “Collaborators”
opens at
the Olivier Theatre, London, on April 30th |