Photos – Prudence UptonCombining Chekov’s wonderful, comic monologue On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco with music from Bach, Berio and Tchaikovsky makes for a short and charming salon piece from the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord.
Teacher, cleaner and odd jobs man, Nioukhine has been told by his wife to deliver a scientific lecture on the harmful effects of tobacco but, having a brief moment away from his wife’s gaze, he can’t help but pour out his heart to the audience. Nioukhine strays from his topic almost at once to share stories about his pathetic existence as the put upon drudge of his shrewish wife and the unloved father to his daughters. Nioukhine’s life is utterly pitiful, but Michel Robin plays this Chekov monologue just as it should be, combining comedy with pathos. We laugh at every awful indignity and injustice that he has to bare.
As a performer Robin is hugely charismatic and physically nuanced. The way he uses his body is both clownish and sophisticated and perfectly suited to mining Chekov’s signature despair within farce. A lifetime’s work in the French comic theatre tradition is evident in every twitch of this octogenarian’s eyebrows, every flutter of his fingers and every shuffle across the stage.
The performance begins with Michel Robin fussing around the stage, turning off various metronomes. He is joined by three women, but before he commences his monologue, violinist Floriane Bonanni and pianist Emmanuelle Swiercz perform the superbly melodic Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in B minor for Violin and Piano.
The three musicians are on the stage throughout the performance. They might be his daughters or students at his wife’s music school and their reaction to Nioukhin’s lecture ranges between contempt and disinterest.
A great deal of thought has been put into choosing the music to enhance the themes of Chekov’s monologue. Just as surtitles are used to translate Robin’s French into English for the audience, the power of the production would have been all the richer if the lyrics to soprano Muriel Ferraro’s lovely piece, Tchaikovsky’s Romance, Op. 47 No. 1, had been projected as surtitles. It would have been so useful to know what Ferraro was singing about and how it contributed to the work as a whole.
If we had any doubt about the degree of Nioukhine’s angst, it is clearly reinforced by Berio’s furious and strident Sequenza Vlll for Violin. Performed half way through the monologue, the piece challenges both violinist Bonanni and the audience alike, oscillating around two main musical notes and for long periods functioning largely at a percussive level.
As it is no more than 15 or 20 minutes in length, On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco is seldom performed. It is one of Chekov’s very early, short farces. Productions of it in England have recently seen it paired with a contemporary companion piece Can Cause Death, written from Nioukhine’s wife’s perspective by Alison Carr, or one of Chekov’s one act plays such as The Bear. Esteemed French actor, Michel Robin had performed this monologue as a young man and was keen to revisit it. Together with violinist, Floriane Bonanni, he devised the idea of pairing the monologue with music.
Hybrid works like this can be problematic in that they need to appeal to two distinct audiences who require distinctly different things from performances. Music audiences will appreciate the innovative repertoire, form and high level of musicianship. Theatre audiences, on the other hand, might question whether the production achieved the unity of a successful theatre work.
I loved Michel Robin’s performance and would have liked the chance to see more from a performer who might not travel to Sydney again. Clearly director Denis Podalydès has the flair to bring out the very best in Robin, whose performance was enthralling. I would love to see them extend their work together with a second monologue or a short play. Two hours in the theatre watching Michel Robin, who has shown us only the smallest glimpse here of the wonderful work he can do, would be theatrical bliss.
Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord
On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco
Directed by Denis Podalydès
Venue: Drama Theatre | Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, East Circular Quay
Dates: 22 – 25 January 2015
Duration: 60mins
Tickets: $65 – $50
Bookings: 02 9250 7777 | http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au
Part of the 2015 Sydney Festival
