Synopsis Sung at a funeral and a wedding today. The full gamut of the human experience from the ridiculous to the utterly pointless. A restless bunch of young radicals hang out, have sex, dance, drink, moan and philosophise at the home of a prosperous decorator. While Pyotr, a sometime student of law, falls for the lovely, loose-living lodger, his sister carps on about the tedium of life, lusts after Nil - who’s blind to her charms but in pursuit of the servant - and botches her own suicide. Life. People shout, fight, eat and go to bed. When they wake up? They start shouting again. In this house everything fades quickly. Tears, laughter. Everything. Dissipates. The last sounds ringing out over the lake. Then nothing. A banal hum. A household falls to pieces as the personal and political turmoil of pre-revolutionary Russia gathers pace. Gorky’s darkly comic first play of 1902, banned from public performance under the Czarist regime, is seen here in an exuberant new version by Andrew Upton.
Political playwright Maxim Gorky’s Philistines received a fresh update in a new version by Andrew Upton that opened on Tuesday (30 May 2007, previews from 23 May) at the National’s Lyttelton Theatre, where it continues in repertory.
Set in Russia in the early 20th century, the play takes a peek into the Bessemnenov family home, which is inhabited by a miserly father (Phil Davis), his miserable children (Ruth Wilson and Rory Kinnear), and an array of renting tenants who drink and dance as the revolution on the streets outside threatens to spill through the front door.
Unsurprisingly, critics were quick to compare Gorky - an “unparalleled observer of the time” – to his contemporary Anton Chekhov, whose plays are synonymous with Russian naturalism of the period. But the general consensus was that Philistines proves a “superb evening” if “over-leisurely”.
Daily Telegraph critic Charles Spencer also used the opportunity to take a stab at NT artistic director Nicholas Hytner over his recent comments that London critics were dead white males (See News, 14 May 2007). “It's good to see a dead white male such as Gorky revived with such panache at Nicholas Hytner's PC NT,” observed Spencer.
Malcolm Rock for Whatsonstage.com (five stars) – “Director Howard Davies turns Gorky’s 1902 play about weary world wanderers into a majestic life-affirming event thanks to Andrew Upton’s restless new translation that overlaps, doubles back then hangs; distracted, dawdling, indecisive, mirthful. Upton matches the play’s lavish philosophising with colloquial turns of phrase and outrageously funny throw-away lines that give Gorky’s perceptive account of an imploding early 20th-century bourgeois Russian family new life. Ruth Wilson gives a shattering performance as the almost spectral Tanya. Disintegrating as they devour misery, both the young and old in Philistines become ‘cunning villains and foolish heroes’ who take pleasure in pain while finding pleasure painful. What a guilty pleasure to have so enjoyed this pain.”
Michael Billington in the Guardian (five stars) – “Gorky, in Andrew Upton's sparklingly colloquial new translation, takes us deep inside the fractious Bessemnenov family. The danger is one makes the play sound grimmer than it is. In Howard Davies' beautifully naturalistic production, which is as good as anything in London, there is rich comedy in the portrait of this exploding family. Phil Davis' Vassily is the grotesque epitome of philistine small-mindedness. Rory Kinnear also brings out the self-indulgence within Pyotr's lassitude and despair. And Conleth Hill is acerbically funny as the house-philosopher. If there is tragedy, it lies within Ruth Wilson's Tanya who seems doomed to disappointment from the start. But the joy of a superb evening lies in the overdue rediscovery of a play that links the family to politics and that confirms Gorky was an unparalleled observer of his times."
Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard (three stars) – “Its plot sprawls to the point of flabbiness and Andrew Upton in his sometimes crudely over-modernised version has not pruned enough of the characters' vigorously thrusting loquaciousness. Yet even though this embittered, romantic comedy with its faint but distinct undertones of political discontent was premiered just a few years after Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Howard Davies' production reveals how far Gorky paints a different class of picture. Davies' over-leisurely production does not draw the class lines clearly. It does, though, offer a unique and rousing theatrical impression of Russian youth, on the verge of revolution, struggling to escape the bonds of repressive paternal power."
Benedict Nightingale in The Times (three stars) – “Philistines is Chekhovian in its quirky detail, but Gorkyesque in its sharp-eyed portrait of a small-town family that’s passive, self-pitying and/or hostile in the face of the changes that, this being 1901, are stirring outside. No wonder the authorities banned it. But no wonder Chekhov admired what was, in fact, Gorky’s first play. ‘Sure to be gripping from the first act,’ he declared, and Howard Davies’ splendidly observant, atmospheric revival proves him right. Right, even though Philistines sprawls and the dialogue criss-crosses Bunny Christie’s set in ultra-naturalistic fashion. Right, even though Gorky’s socialist exasperation sometimes seems repetitive.”
Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph - “As Chekhov perceptively observed: ‘Gorky is the first in Russia and the world at large to have expressed contempt and loathing for the petty bourgeoisie, and he has done it at the precise moment when Russia is ready for protest.’ Howard Davies' excellently acted ensemble production is constantly responsive to the piece's cruel and mordant humour. What makes Gorky a lesser dramatist than Chekhov is that he sits in judgment on his characters, dividing them into the good and the bad, while Chekhov always allows the audience to draw its own conclusions. Andrew Upton's new version is vivid, if excessively littered with such modern turns of phrase as ‘Have a good one’ and ‘What's with the dark?"’, while Davies' direction captures the piece's shifting moods with aplomb. Phil Davis turns in a brilliant comic turn as the vile father, his grating voice and whining self-pity owing an equal debt to old-man Steptoe and Alf Garnett.”
Some slouch fatigued on windowsills watching others take pleasure in birdsong and mushroom-picking, but every character in Maxim Gorky’s Philistines wants desperately to live.
Director Howard Davies turns Gorky’s 1902 play about weary world wanderers into a majestic life-affirming event thanks to Andrew Upton’s restless new translation that overlaps, doubles back then hangs; distracted, dawdling, indecisive, mirthful. Upton matches the play’s lavish philosophising with colloquial turns of phrase and outrageously funny throw-away lines that give Gorky’s perceptive account of an imploding early 20th-century bourgeois Russian family new life.
Ruth Wilson gives a shattering performance as the almost spectral Tanya who haunts the shadows of Bunny Christie’s moody, brown-tiled, right-angled set. With her diffident brother Pyotr (Rory Kinnear) – who has been suspended from university for political activism – Tanya lingers as love evades her and the non-world she inhabits decays with help from her disparaging, iron-fisted father Vassily Bessemenov (Phil Davis).
Davis makes a duly tyrannical patriarch whose authority over his family and the resentful tenants populating his sub-divided house is floundering at the dawn of the revolution. Threatened by the learning he senses but eludes him, he resorts to bigotry that castrates his son and alienates his wife while unwittingly grooming his suicidal daughter into the heir of his undoing.
For this doomed family even the furniture is source of silent ridicule: from the cupboard’s refusal to “do something” to the pewter samovar whose mere weight even at distance becomes a mountain upon shoulders.
Technicolour tenants Perchikin (Duncan Bell) and Elena (Justine Mitchell) assert themselves in the Bessemenov household bringing much-needed levity and lust with their stories of chasing bullfinches and hating people’s problems.
Disintegrating as they devour misery, both the young and old in Philistines become “cunning villains and foolish heroes” who take pleasure in pain while finding pleasure painful. What a guilty pleasure to have so enjoyed this pain.
Creating entertainment from a play about terminal boredom must be a major challenge for a director. Howard Davies partially succeeds thanks to some exceptional performances from a very strong ensemble. However, Andrew Upton's ugly modernisation is a huge negative (Justine Mitchell's final flourish is appallingly anachronistic). Upton's crass version gives us a house presided over by Alf Garnett and Carol from Big Brother with two stroppy teenage children, even though they are both meant to be in their 20s and Ruth Wilson and Rory Kinnear are even older than that. The cast deserve great credit for providing such a strong drama and occasional bursts of humour despite these handicaps and I should reserve special mention for Susannah Fielding who I thought was horribly out of her depth in The Rose Tattoo but here provides some welcome optimism amidst the Russian gloom. - David Baxter
16 Aug 07
Of the seven shows i saw on this trip to London Philistines at the National and The Pain and the Itch at the Royal Court were without a doubt the finest two scripts and productions. Ruth Wilson was easily the best performance given by an actress and Phil Davis gave a spot on perfect performance. But this was a true ensemble cast and the direction and the design were near to perfection. Bravo - Robert
30 Jul 07
While I entirely understand some of the negative reactions below, I'm happy to say I don't share them as I enjoyed Philistines, and liked how it reflected the turbulence beneath the surface in Russia at the time - the owners and the thinkers paying no attention to the ferment among the doers. All the performances are a treat, especially Ruth Wilson who has the tricky role of portraying an annoying character who must also gain some sympathy from the audience. For me, she managed it beautifully, but it's one of those things that will divide - if you think she didn't pull it off, the house of cards collapses. It feels like the breadth and depth of the vast Lyttleton stage is fully employed and made good use of a space I don't normally like. But yes - I agree with the reviewer below about those uncomfortable seats at the front, but my wallet always wins out over my back. - Sycamore Flint
26 Jul 07
A master class in ensemble acting. Andrew Upton's version of Gorky's original is punchy without being anachronistically modern. The set works superbly on the awkward Lyttleton stage (unlike the recent 'Therese Raquin). The whole cast was extraordinarily fine, with Phil Davis as the bullying but ultimately terrified father and Conleth Hill as Teterev outstanding. One small quibble, which I assume stems from a bit of over-enthusiastic directing from the otherwise exemplary Howard Davies: the habit of the characters talking over each other becomes a little irritating, especially when the Lyttleton acoustics are not the best, anyway. Anyone who is worried that this play might have no relevance to a modern audience shouldn't be - go and see it. And, no, it's NOT watered down Chekhov. - SC
25 Jul 07
An astonishing revelation of a production. Impeccably cast in every role, directed with a brilliant eye for detail--and the play (at least in Andrew Upton's adaptation, which I gather improves on Gorky's original) seems a masterpiece, not at all the political clunker I was fearing. It's in the same league as Chekhov. I (and the other 26 in my group) genuinely loved it. Unmissable! - Charles
29 Jun 07
I had to leave at the interval. Apart from a sore bum from sitting in those bloody awfull cheap seats at the front I wasn't getting anything from this production. Although, unlike my companion that evening, I enjoyed Phil Davies as the stereotypical blustering father. But, do we really care about these characters? I certainly didn't. One of those occaisions one wants to shout out - Get a Life! Did Gorky help to hastened the revolution by exposing the effete petit bourgeoisie? I would have had the lot shot in the first act if I were him! It was only the errant rain, which decided to run inside the room, which kept me occupied for most of the first act. Do I feel a bit of a phillistine for writing this? Yes, but maybe that's the point? - rds
29 Jun 07
In this production, Phillistines scrubs up surprisingly fresh and almost contemporary in feel. Bunny Christie has given us another of her highly original and effective designs. The ensemble is faultless - great to see Phil Davies back playing the ultimate Grumpy Old Man, Rory Kinnear and Ruth Wilson give finely detailed characterisations and there are great cameos from Conleith Hill and Duncan Bell. Howard Davies is one of a few directors who know how to make an ensemble so thrilling - the second act is particularly fine in this regard. Another great night at the RNT. - Gareth James
20 Jun 07
Loved it, gripping, well staged, written and very well acted. Thoroughly recommend it. - peggs
12 Jun 07
Brilliant production - beautifully detailed direction and performances. Great design too. All in all a gripping, moving evening. - j
10 Jun 07
This must rate as the longest evening in London theatre. As expected from the National, it's been very well cast, the translation is quite contemporary and people run on at a pace to try and enliven the proceedings. But nothing can disguise the fact that this is a self-indulgent play of people competing to see who is the most miserable and pointless, which made me ache for the revolution.
- DR
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