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Uncensored
by Li Cornfeld
On Naked Soil reviewed April 12, 2008
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| Rebecca Schull plays Anna Akhmatova |
| Photo Credit:Jonathan Slaff |
| “I burn
a candle in the window till dawn,” wrote a young Anna Akhmatova in
1912, "there’s no one at all I miss.” At twenty-two, the woman who
would go on to become Russia’s cherished twentieth century poet had
published her first book. As the century progressed, and her early
acclaimed love poems gave way to musings on national terror, she would
come to miss a great deal.
Akhmatova led a life ripe with dramatic tensions that Rebecca Schull examines in her new play On Naked Soil: Imagining Anna Akhmatova,
an homage to the poet. Romantically linked to several prominent
national figures, Akhmatova found her love life deeply affected by
Russia’s tumultuous politics. Lenin executed her first husband, the
poet Nikolai Gumiliov, in 1921. Her third husband, art historian
Nikolai Punin, died in a labor camp. She also saw her son repeatedly
arrested and sent to the camps despite her tireless efforts to have him
released, and many of her close friends and members of her literary
circle were executed, imprisoned, or exiled, as their writing, like
hers, became censored material.
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| Rebecca Schull (L) plays Anna Akhmatova and Lenore Loveman (R) plays Nadezhda Mandelstam |
| Photo Credit:Jonathan Slaff |
| The greatest accomplishment of On Naked Soil
lies in its spot-on dramatic realization of the tone of Akhmatova’s
poetry itself. Political and personal hardships make for dynamic art,
yet Akhmatova’s short verses, with their simple syntax and strict
meter, resist indulgent melodrama. Her work is astonishing for what the
poet Joseph Brodsky called its “note of controlled terror” and it is
precisely that note which On Naked Soil strikes so remarkably.
The three-character play features Schull in the title role, as it moves
back and forth between the late 1930’s and the late 1960’s, and depicts
Akhmatova in dialogue with her friends Nadezhda Mendelstam (Lenore
Loveman) and Lydia Chukovskaya (Sue Cremin), a young writer who
chronicled their meetings. Early scenes between Anna and Lydia come off
a bit like convenient devices through which to relate the life story of
the great poet; she has only to respond to the questions of her
congenial protégé.
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| Rebecca Schull (R) plays Anna Akhmatova and Sue Cremin (L) plays Lydia Chukovskaya |
| Photo Credit:Jonathan Slaff |
| Later, these early
exchanges are mimicked when Lydia comes to the apartment to memorize
verse in secret as Anna relates bland stories of her childhood, lest
anyone listen and become suspicious. The tense scene articulates the
danger of merely writing down controversial words – and the power of
Akmatova’s poetry – with a whisper rather than a scream. What sets Anna
and Lydia’s exchanges apart from more formulaic writing about mentor
relationships in times of crisis is how they allow audiences to become
acquainted with Akhmatova: neither a proud prima donna nor humbled wise
woman. In response to Lydia’s longing for a way to cope with a missing
husband and endangered child, she tells her: “It’s very simple. I have
no advice for you.” They drink a lot of tea and talk about the past.
That’s in keeping with the spirit of Akhmatova’s poems, which favor
description over prescription, and under the direction of Susan
Einhorn, even exposition is fraught with a sense of imminent danger.
Given that, as a writer, Akhmatova rejected the symbolist
movement, it’s appropriate that a play about her life depicts her
through realism. Even when the characters speak in Akhmatova’s verse,
they do so as realistically drawn characters reciting beautifully
memorized poems, not characters using language as a form of
dislocation. That contrasts to Schull’s performative recordings of
Akmatova’s poetry that sometimes play over scene transitions; escape
from the grey world of the play comes through its use of mixed media.
Aaron Rhyne’s video projections include both photographic images of the
characters’ real-life counterparts as wells as surreal footage of their
memories. Portions of Akmatova’s texts are projected both over video
images and directly onto the enormous storm clouds that form the
backdrop of Ursula Belden’s scenic design.
At best, the projections and the play work in tandem to create a sense
of both historical import and artistic truth, as in a rare moment of
Anna alone onstage, collapsing into choked sobs. As she weeps, her
writing is projected against the back wall; her private hysteria never
overwhelms the steadfast nature of her writing. Rather than dramatize
the personal turmoil that fueled the restrained power of her poetry, On Naked Soil uses mixed media to examine the fundamental tensions between the writer’s life and work.
Distilling a famous poet’s personal history and her poems, along with
the course of 20th century Russian history, into a three character play
is no small undertaking, and at times On Naked Soil
is difficult to follow. Audiences would do well to look over the
helpful program notes, which include a chronology of the play’s events.
Yet, both newcomers to Akhmatova and longtime fans will likely come
away from the production inspired by its source material – and eager to
become more familiar with it.
 Click here to view the printer-friendly version of this review
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Theater for the New City
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Category: unknown
Written by: Rebecca Shull
Directed by: Susan Einhorn
Produced by: Not available
Opened: April 12, 2008
Closed: May 4, 2008
Running Time: 90 minutes
Theater: Theater for the New City
Address: 155 First Avenue
New York, NY 10009
Yahoo! Maps Directions
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Tickets: $15.00
Pay what you can on Sundays; TDF
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Creative Team
Written by: Rebecca Schull
Directed by: Susan Einhorn
Produced by: Theater for the New City
Light Designer: Victor En Yu Tan
Sound Designer: Megan Henninger
Scenic Designer: Ursula Belden
Costume Designer: Mimi Maxmen
Video Design: Aaron Rhyne
Props Mistress/ Artisan: Jessica Rosenlied
Assistant Lighting Design: Temisha Johnson
Assistant Scenic Design: Rachelle Beckerman
Dramaturg: Robert Blacker
Cast
Rebecca Schull as Anna Akhmatova
Lenore Loveman as Nedezhda Mandelstam
Sue Cremin as Lydia Chukovskaya
Crew
Production Stage Manager: Katherine Wallace
Technical Director: John Gedeon, Jr.
Technical Consultant: Daniel Denhart
Assistant Production Manager/ Board Operator: Elizabeth Ross Eggert
Assistant Stage Manager: Lisandra Payan
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