The Kreutzer Sonata

The Kreutzer Sonata

13 November, 2009
by: Naima Khan

There’s a literary crowd filling out the Gate Theatre tonight. Not one member of the audience would look out of place giving a lecture on Russian literature and I’m beginning to think I should invest in some tweed.

Lit by a few hanging lanterns, the space is appropriately dark and small for the recreation of a tale about a tortured chap in cramped train car, and the adaptation stays true to this minimalist approach to Tolstoy’s short story. I was once told, or once read, or once heard –basically I had a clever thought and knew for shizz that it wasn’t my own- that not much comes from comparing different media. It’s like saying ‘Which do you prefer, this painting or this song?’ They’re too different, they bring different things to the table, there’s no point comparing them. So I try not to think about the story and appreciate the play for what it is, all the while praying it’s not going to be a monologue.

It is a monologue. One lucky actor has all the lines. Two points about this though. For one, the lines are freakin’ awesome. The story has been strikingly adapted by Nancy Harris but she has adapted it for a monologue. In doing this she has stripped away some great opportunities for comedy like the reactions of other characters to the protagonist’s irrational ramblings or the joy of overhearing other peoples conversations. For another, the lucky thespian who gets all these well-crafted lines is Hilton McRae who recently portrayed a truly creepy child molester on death row in the Channel 4 pseudo documentary ‘The Execution of Gary Glitter’. McRae was impressively disturbing in the drama and here he absolutely nailed the bilious thoughts of a man obsessed. Confirming his perfect comic timing were the snickers of the audience at his timeless insights on men, women and marriage. 

He could be even better if his portrayal of the unassuming train bound killer was a bit more murderous. He makes Pozdynyshev perfectly believable as an amiable but essentially sinister, over-sharing stranger; polite and well-spoken with just the right amount of crazy to keep you amused and slightly frightened, but is this wallower really capable of knifing his wife? His senseless fury over the way she cracks her egg at the beginning of the play is more of a prequel to butchery than the way he storms in on her affair.

The production itself is excellent. Flickers of candlelight illuminate the figures of his childhood friends and his young wife behind a scrim. We see them playing music together and falling in love. This delicate depiction of Pozdynyshev's memories and assumptions raises the level of intrigue. Overlooking the sensation of being trapped in his train car and not giving him the chance to react to his own claustrophobia, the stage was spacious and empty. You might have forgotten a train was involved at all if it hadn't been for the atmospheric sound of wheels on track. The fusing of actors and musicians is flawless and the soundtrack inspires Pozdynyshev's train of thought which races and slows with the  tempo.

In reality, you'd get off at the next stop and change carriages but in Gate Theatre's production an hour and a half flies by and you only feel like leaving once and that's when the elder gentlemen says 'nipple'.

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Naima Khan