Stratford Beacon Herald, June 04, 2005
Playwright, director do ‘masterly job’ of distilling The Brothers Karamazov
By: Donal O'Connor
Kudos to the Stratford Festival, to playwright Jason Sherman, to director Richard Rose and the polished cast who are presenting the world premier of The Brothers Karamazov.
It’s always an ambitious and risky business to attempt the staging of a lengthy and complex novel. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s late 19th century novel dealing with patricide and with notions of morality, God and immortality is both those things and it’s our good fortune that Mr. Sherman has done a masterly job of distilling Dostoevsky’s rambling novel for the stage.
The show that opened Friday afternoon at the Tom Patterson Theatre retains the rich emotional and philosophical appeal of the book; the staging under Mr. Rose’s direction is superb and the director seems to have pulled together the perfect cast for transporting us into the bizarre private world of Fyodor Karamazov and his four very different sons.
A procession led by dark robed, bearded monks amid sombre chanting lifts the veil into the Karamazov household where buffoonery and drunkenness, Christian faith, atheism, obsessions over women and money, jealousy and guilt all have a place. And murder.
The story is narrated from beyond the grave by Smerdyakov (Ron Kennell), Fyodor Karamazov’s bastard son whom the clowning, alcoholic patriarch keeps as a cook. The action unfolds in vignettes with scenes moving back and forth in time and sometimes with more than one episode unfolding simultaneously. Players who aren’t involved in a particular exchange merge into a sort of community of onlookers downstage, re-emerging as required to animate their stories.
Straight-backed chairs and rectangular tables are cleverly moved about, up-ended or differently angled to suggest varying locales and it all works wondrously well. And complementing the stagecraft is acting that’s without exception totally convincing.
This is an engaging bit of drama that touches heart and soul.
Mr. Kennel nails the Smerdyakov role with a contemptuous sneer (directed mainly at his loathsome father), presenting a vengeful man who is far smarter than he is given credit for. Scott Wentworth is the clowning, blasphemous Fyodor Karamazov, ever ready to provoke his sons to anger by mocking whatever they happen to believe in or cherish.
Alyosha, Karamazov’s youngest son, is played by Peter van Gestel with a wonderful vulnerability and sensitivity, providing an accurate take on the Dostoevsky character who believes that “life is sweet when we do good.”
Ivan, the intellectual brother who dismisses the existence of God and who cannot bring himself to accept the existence of evil in a God-given world, is nicely handled by Shane Carty. Ivan’s psychological unraveling as he grapples with feelings of guilt is a tremendously effective theatrical moment, one of many throughout the course of the play.
The most volatile of the brothers, Dmitry the ex-soldier, is in equally firm hands with Jonathan Goad as the character obsesses about honour, money and his confused love for two women — and as he deliriously tries to fend off a charge of patricide.
Add polished performances by Michelle Gioroux as Dmitry’s fiance Katerina, Dana Green as the free-spirited, flirtatious Grushenka (who incites jealousy between Dmitry and his father), and Maggie Blake as Lise, the young admirer of Alyosha, and what you have is an amazing theatrical experience.
The depth of acting excellence certainly extends as well to Dixie Seatle as Mrs. Hohlakov and to Don Carrier as the investigator Kirillovitch. Indeed, there’s really not a weak link to be found anywhere in this production that comes with a costume palate of shades of brown from designer Charlotte Dean and lighting by Graeme Thomson.
Partly a slowly unfolding murder mystery, largely a study in family dynamics, and very much an investigation into personal morality and responsibility, The Brothers Karamazov is also about the necessity of love and faith.
If you like Dostoevsky you’ll love this Stratford Festival-commissioned adaptation of the author’s best known work. If you’re not familiar with the Russian writer this is surely a great introduction.