Tragicomedy with Tsjechov in Frascati

Feb 21, 2013 | by Frederike | Art, Event

About the author

As a twenty-five year old writer, hummusaddict, night decorator, Master student, secret girlfriend of James Franco and lover of thick books, I totally agree with the saying that wolves don't lose sleep over the opinion of sheep.

Anton Tsjechov? Who? Even though I like to read I just can’t shine up his Russian snowy stories, where the combination of happy and end seems rare. Most of his tales contain a lot of sad looking farmers and the weather’s bad, especially for the harvest. You might think a play based on his work is the worst idea on a February weekday, but theatre group Oostpool proved me wrong. They’ve mixed up tragedy and comedy, which I promise is also amusing when you’re not into Northern literary heavyweights.

Laughable drama

Life clearly wasn’t easy in the 19th century streets of the writer’s birthplace. In my imagination men were constantly tearing crops out of the ground and the women busy feeding their eleven children (at least). The performance indeed kicks off with a discussion about the ownership of a tiny piece of land and an almost failed proposal. But the fast-moving script and unpronounceable names create some nice action role play together, which makes my visions a little less dark. Especially the monologue of Bram Coopmans, who plays a frustrated husband, translates problems into jokes.

So besides learning a bit more about this grimy history director Erik Whien succeeded in not making you want to drink a half bottle of vodka after leaving the theatre. And because I wonder how many people still actually read the Tolstoj’s, Dostojevski’s and Tsjechov’s these days, why not let actors on stage tell their stories.