The Black Monk Yo

On Jan 15th, we went to see The Black Monk. This production was about a man named Andrei Vasilyich Kovrin who needs a break and so goes to visit his former tutor, Pesotsky, and Pesotsky's daughter, Tanya, who own a country orchard. Kovrin is thought to be a genius and the life of the party to his former guardians, but these perspectives start changing when he begins to see and have long conversations with a hallucination of a black monk. On the other hand, Kovrin has never felt more inspired and alive since the monk starts visiting him and telling him how special he is. After Kovrin and Tanya get married and Tanya and her dad begin to question Kovrin's sanity, he is given medicine to make the monk disappear. Kovrin becomes irritable and dry and his life begins to crumble underneath him. By the end, Tanya has felt him, the orchard has been given to renters, and Kovrin dies in the arms of the monk who was the only one who could break him out of his mediocre mindset and isolated world.

The acting in this production was phenomenal. First, the Black Monk had amazing strength and energy for a man of his age; swinging around the set like it was a jungle gym. Tanya was very effective at pulling on heart strings by her crying on demand. Pesotsky brought much of the humor into the play. Kovrin gave an amazing performance holding everyone until the last moment. Although the acting was done very realistically at parts, all throughout the play, it was certain that the director wanted to remind people that they were watching a play. This was accomplished by the actors narrating for themselves by talking in the third person about what they were doing or going to do. Also, many of the actions and movements about the stage were obviously acted as choreographed. These aspects made the play more of a story that the actors were telling the audience.

One thing that I had never seen before and thought was really sweet was that the stage was built onto the balcony. This made a cool effect because the stage looked like it was hanging off a cliff. This had its disadvantages and perks. Unfortunately, the poor planning for this set up made it so some people were unable to see any of the stage if they were sitting on the extreme sides. Also the stage was open on all sides and had to be small with no backstage, but it was very close and personal with the audience. This set up also allowed the actors to use the bigger stage in the back for the black monk. I thought that this was a great way to show the hallucinations of the monk. Kovrin would see the monk far away on the large stage with no conversation only yelling and waving and then, like a mirage, the monk would disappear into the blackness of the stage. The black monk would also appear on the close stage when he was having conversations and other interactions with Kovrin. It really showed how the black monk was imaginary and elusive, but also a real and tangible person to Kovrin.

I liked how this play questioned who really is sane or insane. Those who thought the idea of Kovrin seeing hallucinations was crazy wanted to help by making him more sane, but by doing so they killed his inspiration and a big part of his life. I really really enjoyed this play--actors, set, and stage--and would highly recommend it.