Chekov's Heartache.

yes yes yes yes YES. Dear Reader(s) Get thee hence and see this FANTASTIC play. Factory theatre (Toronto, of course). til the 28th May, i think...
Theatre Smith Gilmour and their co-conspirators are Masters of story-telling. MASTERS, i tell you. and this next chapter in the Chekov cycle is Stupendously enjoyable. they do SO much with nothing. SO much. by nothing i mean the Barest of stages, the most minimal of props, and the most Optimum of talent. and for such lush stories, the script is so bare. not one moment of the audience's time is wasted. there's Nothing extraneous, not one uttered word misplaced, No words that don't further your knowledge of the story,or the characters inside it, or what's to happen... Yay Yay YAY. Four performers play, what, 8, 12, 16 characters? and Real characters, exaggerated in an aesthetic sense, but with Real relations with each other. and all with the mere change of a hat, tying of a scarf, spin off the stage. complete suspension of disbelief, with nary a crutch of theatre trickery or duplicity. MAGIC.
(sigh) i have a weakness for what i see to be these exotic reminiscences of the eastern european world of Bruno Schulz and Kafka. for me there's some edgy dark of torment at the mere mention of Moscow or Poland, and i Love it.

Yay! all hail the modern creative brainchilds of communist suffering!