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Chekhov in Hell

Soho Theatre, Inner London
From: Wednesday, 20th April 2011
To: Saturday, 14 May 2011

Our Review:

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Synopsis

"I don�t know who he is but he�s old, he�s got to know stuff... he�s got to be like wise and stuff yeah?" Anton Chekhov, masterful playwright and mirror to Russian society, awakening from one hundred years of sleep, is thrust rudely into twenty first century Britain. Reality shows, fashionistas, Z-list celebrities, illegal immigrants, chuggers and wags. Pole dancing, YouTube, Twitter and 5-a-day. Chekhov in Hell takes you on a whirlwind tour of modern day Britain.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 27 April 2011

Dan Rebellato’s Chekhov in Hell, produced by the Drum Theatre, Plymouth, asks a strange question: what would happen if Chekhov came alive in a world of computers, reality television, talent contests and fashionable asininity in food and clothes?

The answer is, not much. And I suspect Rebellato agrees, which is why the frantic succession of two dozen short scenes veers towards a thriller structure in which Chekhov’s identity is confused with that of a Russian gangster trafficking in Eastern European prostitutes.

The playwright comes out of his coma and is introduced to his gormless, foul-mouthed niece, but it’s not at all clear how or why he’s leapt from the German spa to contemporary Britain. Simon Scardifield has Chekhov’s white suit, trim beard and pince-nez, but he’s understandably confused and wants to know “what happened”.

Eventually the Ukrainian prostitute fills him in with a news digest of tw...

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