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The Fourth Sister
By Janusz Glowacki
Translated by Eva Nagorski & Janusz Glowacki
Directed by Beata Pilch & Krishna LeFan
At Trap Door Theatre
1655 W. Cortland Ave
Chicago, IL
Call 773-384-0494, tickets $20
Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 8 PM
Running time is 2 hrs, 30 min with intermission
Through April 22, 2006
Polish playwright deftly satirized contemporary Moscow
Trap Door Theatre loves to mount obscure works including European plays with absurdist tendencies. Their latest production is the Midwest Premiere of Polish playwright Janusz Glowacki’s The Fourth Sister first mounted in 2000 in Warsaw, Poland and 2002 Off Broadway.
Glowacki’s surrealistic, dark comedy is an audacious poke at present day Russia, especially from the wacky sisters desperately trying to survive and find love and happiness in the gangster-ridden, drunken, americanized contemporary Moscow. With hints of Chekhov but fully farcical, bitingly satirical, The Fourth Sister is a manic, zany play that is complicated, tedious yet satisfying.
I liked the sheer energy and the over-the-top, in-your-face comedy that attacks the modernism and democracy of 21st Century Russia. This epic contains much, actually too much satire, too much physicality yet its manic pace and clever staging with a curious mixture of slapstick, farce and camp delivers a provocative treat. The laughs are there; the satire is delicious and the sly winks at Hollywood, Russia and the new world order are served right at us.
The three sisters, Wiera (Beata Pilch in a smart, measured performance), Tania (Nicole Wiesner in a terrific over-the-top feature), Katia (Carolyn Shoemaker as the manic lush), hunger for love, happiness and a visa to Brighton Beach. Their fates are wrecked by Wiera getting pregnant by a politician, by Tania selling her virginity for $600 and by Katia’s disastrous drinking and her affair with the Hollywood director shooting a film about whores in Moscow. The plot has more twists than a Bavarian pretzel with several exciting wacky scenes that keep us laughing and guessing what will happen next. There are gangsters shooting, drunks galore, sexual romps and a guy trying to finish singing and playing his accordion amongst this madness.
This show is wilder that a Brecht play, rich in wit and weird staging and unpredictability that somehow sustains the action. You’ll enjoy all the goofy bits, gags and business that Trap Door Theatre loves to do—the excesses work to drive home the biting knock on emerging Russia.
Beata Pilch, Nicole Wiesner, Carolyn Shoemaker and Holly Thomas anchor and carry the frantic absurdist farce. The ensemble’s sheer effort makes this show worth seeing. It is refreshing to see a contemporary Polish playwright get his work produced here. This is a frenzied, frantic show that will overwhelm you with its craziness. You’ll laugh and appreciate the work of this troupe. Trap Door Theatre’s ensemble has so much fun it becomes contagious.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre In Chicago podcast
March 8, 2006
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