THIS is a sequel to the Moscow Stations piece, adapted from Victor
Erofeyev's novel and presented at this festival in strong monologue
versions, each representing separate theatre traditions, by Tom
Courteney and the splendid Theatre Kana of Szczecin in Poland, who here
invite us to take the train journey a little further.
The accessibility of Kana's follow-up is enhanced by Caryl Swift's
translation into English, and the theatre style is highly individual and
exciting, a carnivalesque materialisation of the phantoms of Erofeyev's
sometimes fervid imagination.
There are five characters, each springing dramatically from trunks and
chests like grotesques in a ghost train ride, and the set itself
suggests a long carriage travelling along the journey of life. The pace
is frantic, raucous and ribald, with some hilarious exchanges and
one-liners, but the overall shape of the adaptation sags somewhere
two-thirds in.
Nevertheless, the quality of Kana's acting, and the creation of a
highly individualistic theatre world through Zygmunt Duczynski's
directing, distiguish this as one of the quality Central European
productions of the final week of the festival.
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