"The Marinated Aristocrat," a Ukrainian-British fantasy, staged in Kyiv (10/03/04)

"The Marinated Aristocrat," a Ukrainian-British fantasy, staged in Kyiv

by Jaryna Turko

While visiting Kyiv in May, I attended the premiere performance of a new play by the Ukrainian American playwright Irena Kowal. The play, "The Marinated Aristocrat," is her second; it played in Kyiv through the end of June. The first, "Pagan Saints" ("Lev i Levytsia" in Ukrainian) staged in 2001, dealt with the turbulent marriage of Lev Tolstoy and his wife, Sonia, and was based rather faithfully on their separate diaries.

"The Marinated Aristocrat" is a more original and ambitious play which deals with a clash of cultures - Anglo-Saxon and Slavic - as well as contemporary issues in Ukraine: unemployment, working abroad, stress on family life and the role of women in a changing society. It is grounded in the author's observations and experiences after living for the past 10 years in Kyiv and, previously for a number of years, in England.

The plot's action centers on an unemployed actor, Borys, who is about to play Mazepa (a heretofore taboo subject in Ukraine). Borys's wife throws him out to find a "real" job which would "bring in some money." He applies for a permit to work abroad and ends up in London working as a caregiver to an eccentric old British couple. The collision of these two worlds forms the main conflict of the play.

In a few well-crafted and hilarious scenes Ms. Kowal contrasts the two cultures. The old couple, for all their strangeness, lead a life that is basically quite ordered: they want their newspaper folded a certain way and their different cereals at specified times. Borys, who is nostalgic for Ukraine, introduces them to borsch and horilka, which he distills himself. The two sides clash in several riotously funny and absurd situations.

Soon it becomes obvious that the old couple, already on the edge of dementia, live in a world of their own. At first, their possibly fanciful, possibly real memories of hosting nobility, participating in grand events or awaiting their daughter for lunch, merely confuse Borys. However, when the imaginary or perhaps long dead daughter Clarissa doesn't materialize and the old couple force Borys to take her place, the actor naturally takes to the role. The games begin in earnest, but the roles of master and servant remain clear.

Borys gets a chance to "direct." He devises play-acting games for the old couple, supporting and encouraging their hidden and unfulfilled desires. The real and the imaginary begin to blend, and the first act culminates with the old woman, whose passions have been aroused, awaiting her lover while the old man courts her dressed up as Borys's hero Mazepa. They dance together in a euphoric moment until reality hits home.

In the second act, the "games" escalate, get harsher and more grotesque on both sides, and finally run out of control. The roles between servant and master reverse, and Borys becomes the master, staging his own fantasies. They peak in an elaborate scene of visiting "nobility."

The audience is entertained by a succession of virtual visitors: Princess Olha, Doroshenko and Sahaydachnyi, a pop diva, the brothers Klitschko and others. The old couple eventually realize what has happened and fight back to regain control of their world. The play ends with unexpected results, both hilarious and shocking, and viewers are presented with "the marinated aristocrat" as the latest fad of modern art.

In a parallel scene, dramatized primarily through letters, Borys's wife tells her own story of "a new woman" in Ukraine. Selling lingerie on the street, she develops her own business as the money from Borys comes in, and eventually becomes the owner of a factory which sells "Ukrainian bras for Ukrainian breasts."

Ms. Kowal makes the letter scenes between Borys and his wife among the most lyrical and poignant in the play. They reflect not only the changing reality in Ukraine, the terrible choices people make, their desperate longing and helplessness, but ultimately a disintegrating marriage. All is not acting or farce or absurdity. There is an underlying reality that speaks to the audience directly, without the obvious appearance of artifice, in an anguished and immediately recognizable way.

Stanislav Moiseev's staging was masterful and inspired. He combined the comic and the absurd with dance and musical revue, which brought the text alive and energized the play.

The choice of music was particularly well-adapted to the characters who inhabit separate worlds. In the opening scene the audience hears "Winchester Cathedral" as the British couple (30 years younger) play croquet. In another, the sentimental, catchy American pop song "Only You ..." sung in several versions including Ukrainian, becomes Borys's signature tune.

Choreography and music intensify what the characters communicate. The smooth, ballet-like movements of the croquet-playing young Brits change to the broken puppet-like gestures of old age or, where fantasy requires, the fighting of the Klitschko brothers.

During the letter scenes Mr. Moiseev brings the wife onstage (unseen by Borys) in various incarnations of his pet names for her - dancing, singing, snuggling, or reading and commenting on the letters.

The set design was minimal, but clever and innovative and well-suited to the demands of the action. Complementing the stage sets were colorful and bright costumes. For example, in the scene in which Borys's wife hawks her wares on a street she carries a large beach umbrella from which various articles of underwear dangle.

Mr. Moiseev's additions to the script express perfectly the mood of this play by mixing Hohol-like "hilarity through tears" with the entertainment of a cabaret. It is creative, funny and highly entertaining theater.

The performances of the actors were admirable and in some cases (Oleksii Vertynskyi, Viktoria Avdeyenko) very good; however, the production was marred by poor diction and resonance, especially by the female actors. In scenes with dancing or running the speech was fast and furious, and the dialogue literally got lost in the shuffle. Better diction by the actors would enhance the play considerably and hopefully this can be improved in future performances.

Having read the full text (parts of which were cut from this production) I think that restoring a few key sentences here and there would help make a smoother transition between scenes. This "connective dialogue" would also reduce the sense of fragmentation in what is already a very fast-paced, dynamic performance.

This said, "The Marinated Aristocrat" is an exciting and refreshing work. Ms. Kowal gives an interesting portrayal of a clash of cultures. She also paints a moving picture of life in contemporary Ukraine as it continues to evolve during a difficult period. There are many layers to explore, from the problems of old age, to the struggles in a new economy, to the stress on marriage which separation brings, to the specific historical baggage Ukraine still needs to sort out.

The picture Ms. Kowal paints is funny and sad, hilarious and absurd, subtle and complicated, just like life itself. She has made an excellent beginning, and it would be regrettable if she didn't continue to entertain us with her sharp satire and irreverent creative imagination.

Ms. Kowal's two plays, "Pagan Saints" and "The Marinated Aristocrat," are due to be published this fall in a bilingual edition. Both plays are to be performed in Kyiv during the fall-winter season of 2004.

Jaryna Turko Bodrock is former head of the Slavic department at Harvard College Library; previously she was Slavic bibliographer in that department.

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