He was a very titular councelor...

I don't know if the title of this blog is correct, but on Monday we took perhaps one of the most stressful metro trips ever in order to make it to this play, based on Gogol's short story "Diary of a Madman." I read this story last summer, but I had forgotten just how strange it is: Basically, the title speaks for itself. It's a fictional diary of a man who is slowly driven to insanity, eventually believing himself to be the King of Spain, and beginning his entries with dates like "The 15th of Martober," or "The 85th of January, which came after February" (if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it). Before seeing the show, I was really excited to see how they would turn such a story into a theatrical production.

We made it to the theater in time, albeit a little short of breath, and filed into the tiny theater. This one man show was so impressive; The actor was astounding. He was incredibly expressive, and even though i couldn't understand all of the Russian, I could tell what was happening just by his actions, his movement, facial expression, and way of speaking. The set was pretty meager, but this guy was like a Native American in the sense that he did not let one part of it go to waste. It was amazing how he used what he had on stage: His bed became his desk, became his cell, and he moved set pieces constantly to give the audience a new perspective. The lighting also functioned as a "Set change" tool --- The light would focus on one set piece, such as the double doors beneath the staircase, and we were given the impression that he was outside someone's house, rather that a few feet from his own bedroom. It seemed so much like there were multiple sets, that it was amazing to think that all he really had was one outfit, a staircase, a bed, a chair, and a doorway.

The feel of the play, in contrast to the short story, was heavy and dark. The story seems comical, sometimes to the point of laughing out loud at the thoughts of this crazy guy! But when seen on stage, sometimes it was terrifying. I feel like the actor did such an amazing job of portraying the helplessness of a man trapped in his own mind. This was an incredibly intriguing production.

On a side note: Throughout the play, the actor used hats to represent the different people he encountered from day to day, and would use them to reenact conversations or present potential situations. At the end of the play, he piled all of the hats on his head, one on top the other. Coincidentally, the cover art on my copy of this story is a of a man with hats piled up on his head! This isn't part of the story though --- maybe it's something lost in translation, maybe the cover art is well-known in Russia, or maybe it's just a really crazy coincidence. If anyone knows, tell me! I'll be keeping an eye out for any clues...

Sarah