Theatre review: The White Guard
I tend not to go to previews but purely by coincidence there's been a bunch of them recently, so time for the disclaimer again, this production hasn't officially opened to critics yet. Actually it being a preview I wondered if I'd bump into Ian again (unlike me he does tend to go early in the run) and lo and behold there he and Andy were after the performance. I'm seeing Andy tomorrow as well so it's definitely an ever-smaller theatrical world.
A pattern seems to be emerging at the National Theatre where the Spring season sees a (non-Chekhov) Russian play at the Lyttelton. This year's offering is Bulgakov's The White Guard, a play that had the dubious (and incredibly odd, considering the subject matter) honour of being a great favourite of Stalin's. For a short period after the Revolution, Ukraine was an autonomous state - ish. A puppet government led by The Hetman¹ (Anthony Calf) ruled, backed by Germany. When the Germans left he fled with them, and the country was subject to a series of military coups until finally the Bolsheviks took control. Bulgakov traces these events through the eyes of a small group of people: The Turbin siblings (Richard Henders, Daniel Flynn and Justine Mitchell) and the various friends who seem to gravitate towards their home in Kiev. The White Guard is the Tsarist force whose local chapter Alexei (Flynn) leads and many of the rest are members of, and although the middle of the play takes us closer to the action, most of the events are viewed from the perspective of the family caught up in the middle of them.
The subject matter might not suggest it but Howard Davies' production has a lot of humour, often quite broad humour at that. The point seems to be that what ultimately matters when the world's falling apart around you is to snatch what moments you can with your loved ones. The cast is strong and Bunny Christie's sets rather lavish, and one scene change is actually executed in a way that adds to the mood of that particular moment. As previews go it was pretty slick, over-running only slightly and with the occasional tripped-over line. Perhaps most interesting to me was a moment that muses on the very nature of patriotism: At the end the Bolsheviks have (for now at least) won the day, but the White Guard have been fighting for Russia all this time. If most of Russia is currently supporting the Bolsheviks, then is switching to their side not the partiotic thing to do?
The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov in a version by Andrew Upton is booking until the 15th of June at the National Theatre's Lyttelton.
¹just The Hetman, not Her. No? The Hetman and Her? Please yourselves.
A pattern seems to be emerging at the National Theatre where the Spring season sees a (non-Chekhov) Russian play at the Lyttelton. This year's offering is Bulgakov's The White Guard, a play that had the dubious (and incredibly odd, considering the subject matter) honour of being a great favourite of Stalin's. For a short period after the Revolution, Ukraine was an autonomous state - ish. A puppet government led by The Hetman¹ (Anthony Calf) ruled, backed by Germany. When the Germans left he fled with them, and the country was subject to a series of military coups until finally the Bolsheviks took control. Bulgakov traces these events through the eyes of a small group of people: The Turbin siblings (Richard Henders, Daniel Flynn and Justine Mitchell) and the various friends who seem to gravitate towards their home in Kiev. The White Guard is the Tsarist force whose local chapter Alexei (Flynn) leads and many of the rest are members of, and although the middle of the play takes us closer to the action, most of the events are viewed from the perspective of the family caught up in the middle of them.
The subject matter might not suggest it but Howard Davies' production has a lot of humour, often quite broad humour at that. The point seems to be that what ultimately matters when the world's falling apart around you is to snatch what moments you can with your loved ones. The cast is strong and Bunny Christie's sets rather lavish, and one scene change is actually executed in a way that adds to the mood of that particular moment. As previews go it was pretty slick, over-running only slightly and with the occasional tripped-over line. Perhaps most interesting to me was a moment that muses on the very nature of patriotism: At the end the Bolsheviks have (for now at least) won the day, but the White Guard have been fighting for Russia all this time. If most of Russia is currently supporting the Bolsheviks, then is switching to their side not the partiotic thing to do?
The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov in a version by Andrew Upton is booking until the 15th of June at the National Theatre's Lyttelton.
¹just The Hetman, not Her. No? The Hetman and Her? Please yourselves.