Anton Chekhov
Gate, Dublin, 1990
The Irish Times, 14th
May 1990, Gerry Colgan
Something very special happened at the Gate Theatre last night. The stage was a large room with most of the furniture swathed in dust covers, and a quantity of luggage stacked on the floor. A bearded man sat quietly in the background, obviously waiting to embark on a journey; perhaps a final one.
He was Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, a man for whom
medicine was his wife and literature his mistress. It is often said that talent
is the best disguise in the world, and that behind genius often rages much that
is egotistical and ugly – but here the man matched the image one takes
instinctively from his plays and stories. He was humorous and melancholy,
painfully sensitive and yet philosophical, with a view of life that today, and
forever, enriches our world.
As he spoke to us, we had the clearest view of the
gentle spirit that pervades his immortal plays. He could say half-seriously
that his ideal life would be to be altogether idle and love a fat girl, but in
his real world could feel the pain in the flogging of a Siberian prisoner or in
the cruel death of a wood pigeon. He saw happiness as a supernatural emotion,
not man’s natural condition, and all around him, in people and nature, a beauty
barely apprehended before it took permanent flight. All of this, and much more,
he bequeathed to us.
For this insight and experience, we are indebted to
Michael Pennington, now playing the army commander in the Gate’s magical
version of ‘Three Sisters’ quite brilliantly, and here showing a wonderful
talent for recreation of its author. He put together the script, a pot-pourri
of conversation, anecdote, stories and correspondence, with balance and
inspiration, and paints his portrait truly. As an actor, he is again superb,
achieving from the start that shift of identity that carries the audience with
it into a world beyond the theatre in which they sit.
It is a pity that only one performance of this
remarkable work has been offered, no doubt for unavoidable reasons. For those
of us fortunate enough to see it, it was an experience to savour, a substantial
bonus to the Gate’s main offering.
Evening Press,
Dublin, 26th July 1990
On one of the warmest nights of the year, Michael Pennington, as Anton Chekhov, attracted a very large attendance to the airless Gate Theatre for last night’s opening of his one-man show about Russia’s famous playwright in whose ‘Three Sisters’ he appeared recently in the same theatre.
Inspired by a journey across Siberia, similar to
one undertaken by Chekhov himself about 100 years ago. Pennington’s portrayal
is more about Chekhov the sensitive human being than about Chekhov the sardonic
observer of his fellow countrymen.
This Chekhov is a gay, light-hearted man who
enjoyed life, although suffering badly from tuberculosis, a man who is full of
love and compassion. Indeed, his character is greatly at odds with the apparent
sadness and pessimism of his famous plays.
And revealingly, Pennington also brings out the
serious social thinking and criticism that is not overt in these plays. The
visit to the penal colony of Sakhalin Island is masterfully done and Pennington
chillingly exposes Chekhov’s shock at the inhumanity of the system and its conditions.
Some people may be disappointed that there is
little of the writer and his writings which he himself tended to be somewhat
dismissive and deprecatory. But the show brings out the man behind the writings
and his great love and understanding of his fellow man – especially at his
weakest.
It is a lovingly sensitive performance and is well
worth a visit to witness a master craftsman portraying a master storyteller.
And remember it finishes on Saturday.