By T.A. Ramírez
Directed by Alan Jordan, “After Chekhov” is a delight of two short Brian Friel plays—one using a Chekhov short story and the other using two of Chekhov’s plays with their iconic characters as his inspiration.
“The Yalta Game” dramatizes the events of Chekhov’s short story, “The Lady with a Lapdog.” A man, Dimitri Gurov (Cristopher Berns), and a woman, Anna Sergeyevna (Ivette Pizarro), meet at a holiday resort in the Crimea. There they start an adulterous affair. Gurov’s chat-up line involves the Yalta Game: watching other tourists and making wild guesses about their lives. The tale continues as Gurov speculates on both real and imagined life: did the affair with Sergeyevna really happen? Were the sights they saw together real? He’s sure that the lady’s lapdog was imaginary—and of course, he’s right. Theatrical artifice feeds into both Friel’s and Chekhov’s questions about what is real in life and what lives only in our imagination.
“Afterplay” brings characters together from two Chekhov plays: Sonya Serebriakova (Clara Dunham) from “Uncle Vanya” and Andrey Prozorov (Rodrigo Demian) from “Three Sisters.” What happened to them after their original plays ended? Friel moves the clock forward 20 years to muse. Serebriakova continues to pine for Dr. Astrov who married the professor’s widow, Elena, but whose first love remains arboriculture. Prozorov, who has led a tough life since the end of “Three Sisters,” needs cheering up. His wife left him long ago, but she continues to haunt him. Regarded by some as the Irish Chekhov, Friel’s deft hand at gentle Chekhovian humor is on display throughout as we explore the heartache that has filled the lives of these two wonderful and unhappy people.
As the critics have found, you’ll find “After Chekhov” “marvelously inventive,” and a “startling tapestry of longings and resolutions.”
Caja Negra Performing Arts is a professional repertory company dedicated to presenting imaginative works of literature by distinguished playwrights. Caja Negra’s previous productions in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Ajijic include:
“House,” “Diary of a Madman,” “I Am my Own Wife,” “By the Waters of Babylon,” “An Act of God,” “3 Hotels,” Deconstructing O,” “Kiss of the Spiderwoman,” ”Building the Wall,” “The Tricky Part,” “Wiesenthal: The Nazi Hunter,” “Frankie & Johnnie,” The Maiden,” “Oh Jealousy,” and “My Brilliant Divorce.”
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Play
“After Chekhov”
Apr. 11, 3pm Preview Performance, 250 pesos
Apr. 13, Apr. 14, Apr. 15, 7pm
Apr. 18, Apr. 21, Apr. 22, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Relox 50-A
400 pesos
