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Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Review

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

July 6 2009

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Company B Belvoir and Arts Radar at Downstairs Belvoir; July 2-26; www.belvoir.com.au

NOBODY does ennui like the Russians and when it comes to over-wrought ennui, they are beyond compare. The drama that lurks just beneath the surface of a life of crushing, systemic boredom is something that would later preoccupy Chekhov, but in 1865 Nikolai Leskov was already there. This play, and Shostakovich’s opera of 1934, are based on Leskov’s novella Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District, a sprightly title that knowingly encapsulates the small pomposities at the heart of bureaucratic czarist Russia.

Mtsensk is a dot on the provincial map, far from the relative sophistication of Moscow or St Petersburg, and using it as his setting enabled Leskov to draw on the ossified societal structure ofpeasant/serf –land owners/middle class that typify Russia’s historicmalaise. Where Chekhov would concentrate on middle class inertia, however, Leskov (and playwright Robert Couch) focus on inter-class and sexual politics, to great effect.

The anti-heroine of the title, Katerina (Alice Parkinson) – is the young second wife of grain merchant Zinovy (Jason Langley). They live in the family house with his father Boris (Don Reid), a mean old bastard whose ambition is to see an heir born. After five years his double-edged antagonism towards Katerina is a mix of frustrations – at the lack of a grandson and his own sexually ambivalent feelings towards his daughter-in-law. That the chilly and impotent


Zinovy had previously been married without producing a son doesn’t stop Boris blaming Katerina, of course. Consequently, the atmosphere in the unloving house is grim and unkind towards the young woman.

Adding to her unhappiness is the classic curse of the merchant class: Katerina has nothing to do and is permitted to do nothing anyway. The housekeeper-maid Aksinya (Amy Kersey) runs the house, dresses and undresses her mistress and observes sardonically, although not cruelly, from the margins. (Hers is a gorgeous, witty and well observed performance, by the way.) When a new labourer turns up it’s obvious from the minute he whips off his shirt to display an especially gorgeous bod, that Sergei (Conrad Coleby) is going to be trouble. There will be tears before bedtime, without a doubt.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Enervating, systemic boredom may eventually send a person stark raving mad and reckless – and it’s beautifully realised in Lady Macbeth. Nowadays we would instantly recognise what ails Katerina: she is profoundly depressed by her life. And when that’s underpinned by an unforgiving, moralistic and ruthlessly corrupt regime – such as Russia has endured for centuries – you begin to see that anything can and probably will happen, and none of it good. Equating Katerina with Shakespeare’s infamous Lady M is rather misleading however, because when she kills it is because of passionate ambition followed by thwarted ambition; whereas Katerina’s initial foray into homicide is because of helplessness and smouldering resentment. The result for Katerina – and Sergei – is the same nevertheless and much of the second half is taken up with a bleak picture of imperial Russian prison policies.

As they and other hapless crims are marched across country towards a gulag, you’re thinking that nothing could get worse, but lo and behold it does. Katerina’s final response to her plight – loss of love, humiliation and despair – is oddly more operatic and logical in the play than it is in the opera. Is she a femme fatale or was her predicament simply fatal for a femme? To the outraged peasantry and bourgeoisie alike she deserves her fate. The social status quo had to be maintained; she threatened it and that could not be permitted. It is the stuff of great and tragic drama.

This production, directed by Joseph Couch, designed by Esther Couch and lit by Verity Hampson, is minimal, effective and – when it’s run in – will be even more gripping than it was on its somewhat scrappy official opening night. There are few laughs but much to enjoy and be intrigued by; not least the thought that in Russia at least, the more things change the more they stay the same and that goes for uppity women too.

 

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