Passion plays expose the heart of Russia

By EMILY WATT

Russian passions, it seems, run deep. Whether it be the pretty girls, the weather, the borscht ... there's something in that vast land mass which creates an incredible strength of feeling.

And the nation's writers - Chekhov, Tolstoy, Pushkin and Dostoyevsky - have devoted thousands of pages to chronicling these emotions and charting the human heart.

A new programme at the SiLo Theatre, To Russia With Love, will explore some of this Russian passion in two short works by emerging directors in a directors' mentoring project to develop young talent.

The project is SiLo Theatre's third annual Classic Adaptations initiative, which offers young directors a chance to stage a professional work with established actors and under the guidance of experienced directors.

It follows last year's Restless Ecstasy, a programme of three American adaptations, and the 2001 project, Shakespeare's Shorts.

This year, directors Vanessa Rhodes and Colin Mitchell have each created a 40-minute work based on a Russian classic - Nabokov's Lolita, and a new work, Where Are You My Only One? Both explore the vagaries of the human heart.

Mitchell has adapted Nabokov's dark tale of love and obsession between Humbert Humbert and the nymphet Dolores Haze into a short theatre piece.

With the original 300-page novel and two films going before, Lolita is well-trodden ground, but Mitchell says the work will offer new insights.

"I think there's a lot in the original novel which people haven't really been able to explore, particularly in the movies. It's a controversial story and there's some really dark stuff which has been left out."

He says the story is well suited to the immediacy of theatre where the relationship can be viewed developing "in a crucible". It is this relationship, played by Jon Brazier (Scarfies) and Anna Hutchison (Shortland Street), that makes the play compelling.

"I think it really is the connection between the two characters, but also it's Humbert's obsession.

"Here is this man who's doing these terrible things but can express himself so beautifully in such flowery imagery that you can to some extent get swept up in it while all the time your mind's screaming: 'No, no, no, it's just so wrong'."

Where Are You My Only One?, written and directed by Vanessa Rhodes, is based on real-life correspondence and interviews, and is an original tale of a Waikato dairy farmer seeking love with a Russian mail-order bride.

Rhodes says television documentaries about mail-order brides inspired the idea. "There was something about the men that struck me - something to do with their bravery and ineptitude - but also their seeking love.

"And then these often quite beautiful and intelligent women - what sort of situation are they trying to escape from?"

The play has been developed through workshopping with the actors David Aston (The Matrix), Nicola Murphy (Magik and Rose, Foreskin's Lament), and Kate Bartlett (The Young Baron) and Rhodes says having professional actors has been inspiring.

"I think it would be hard to do it with student actors and to have that experience there is really a great opportunity for me. The actors bring so much to rehearsal that it becomes very much collaborative."

The result, she says, is essentially a love story. "It's about two people having the courage to find love. And it's two worlds colliding."

Rhodes has been mentored by Anna Marbrook, who has helped with script development and trouble shooting. "Also, just a cup of tea and a yarn is really nice. And because she's so experienced, it's been really valuable for me."

Mitchell, mentored by John Verryt, agrees.

"One of the key things a director brings is that objective pair of eyes. The director is the first audience member and can guide the performance.

"Having a mentor like this is like having an extra pair of eyes. He is even further removed from the process and can see the bigger picture without having been so invested in the piece."

He says it is a process that allows them to learn on the job. "I guess it's the same as most things - it's better to learn by doing, than by hearing what other people think you should be doing."

So, what can we expect from these young directors?

"There's the obvious freshness and the addition of enthusiasm - it's not the 800th piece we've worked on back to back. It hasn't turned into a job yet for us, it is still a passion," says Mitchell.

* What: To Russia With Love

Where and when: SiLo Theatre, November 6-29