Romance is in the air at the Wallis, both literally and figuratively.
Kneehigh, the British company known for its imaginative and crowd-pleasing
productions of such works as The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips
and Rapunzel, has revived its 1992 version of THE FLYING LOVERS
OF VITEBSK and brought it to the United States. In its stop at the Wallis
Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills, Marc Antolin and Daisy Maywood take
on the roles of Marc and Bella Chagall, one of the most loving couples
in history. Backed by two musicians, James Gow and Ian Ross, Antolin and
Maywood are magical in their roles, singing, dancing and acting with seemingly
effortless ease and flair. The creators of VITEBSK, playwright Daniel
Jamieson and director Emma Rice, were the original Marc and Bella; now
some 25 years later they have recast and remounted the play with all the
respect and affection they can muster. As Rice said in a program note,
we have also tried to dig more deeply into the politics of the Chagalls
lives: personal and political. Chagall, a great artist, often painted
himself and Bella flying together, as if (as Jamieson noted) their
shared joy had such force it defied the laws of gravity itself. In his
painting Birthday, they appear surprised by their flight,
rising toward the ceiling like two astonished bubbles of ecstasy.
Working on Sophia Clists clever set---a tilted platform criss-crossed
with wooden spires and dangling ropesAntolin and Maywood often take
flight when expressing their love for each other. They also, as if in
a version of Fiddler on the Roof, burst into song, sometimes
in English, other times in Russian or Yiddish. Antolin, costumed to faintly
resemble Buster Keaton, has many clown-like moments. Maywood , a gamin
with an expressive face and manner that calls to mind Imogene Coca, favored
innocence over humor but also managed to capture the deep pools of humanity
and strength in Bella, a wife and mother who fought ferociously to keep
her family together in the face of oppression and war. VITEBSKY swiftly
and deftly delves into the relationship between the Chagalls: growing
up together in the pre-WW I Russian city of Vitebsk, falling in love there,
wedding in the face of opposition from her bourgeois family (marry
an artist, are you crazy?), sitting out the war in St. Petersburg,
getting caught up in the communist revolution, being hailed and then pilloried
by the fickle arts commissars of the Stalinist regime, fleeing to Paris
only to have to uproot themselves again when Hitler over-ran France, and
eventually making their way to the USA. Through it all their love for
each other was the dominant factor in their lives. Jamieson and Rice depict
that love with large, colorful strokes that give a slightly cartoon-like
quality to the story, but thats balanced by the darkness and reality
of death. Thus, sentimental and romantic as it is, THE FLYING LOVERS OF
VITEBSK still manages to touch one in a deep, meaningful way.
Cast: Marc Antolin, James Gow, Daisy Maywood, Ian Ross
Technical: Scenic & Costume Designer, Sophia Clist; Lighting Designer,
Malcolm Rippeth; Composer & Music Director, Ian Ross; Sound Designer,
Simon Baker; Asst Director, Keziah Serreau; Choreographers, Emma
Rice and Etta Murfitt; Production Manager, Aled William Thomas; Company
Stage Manager, Steph Curtis
Date Reviewed: February 25, 2018
|