'Twist & Chekhov', the revival
The Teatro del Mar hosts the revival of nine stories by Anton Chekhov as if they were one.
PalmWhoever thinks that the unforgettable memory of the first performance, in 1995, of Twist & Chekhov would diminish or eliminate any of the possibilities of enjoying the revival is wrong. The only thing that has been lost along the way is its amazing breadth. After forty years of Iguana Teatre and thirty of this production, the only thing that could surprise us about the group would be a theatrical fritter, but, as the bullfighter said: "What cannot be cannot be, and furthermore, it is impossible." There is no doubt that Twist & Chekhov It was the great theatrical revolution in our history. It was a breath of fresh air in the world of theater, not only in the way it approached interpretation, but also in the choice, conception, and structure of the work. When the usual thing would have been to recreate The Seagull, Uncle Vanya either The cherry orchard, that the author was quoted upwards, Pere Fullana pulled out of the basket an unlikely and wonderful miscellany made up of nine Anton Chekhov stories as if they were one. A small fade to black scatters the stage with the different stories, infused with Beckett-esque traits, which unfold at a pace as brisk as it is light. We were left speechless. There was a good reason.
The revival, as it is—because it's neither a revision, nor a rereading, nor a new version—had a certain danger, which was nonetheless a challenge: that of nostalgia. A challenge that Iguana Teatre has met with flying colors and, moreover, has done so without too many changes. Almost none of them were even minimally perceptible, even with the same scenery and identical costumes. This Twist & Chekhov, which is also the case, stars Carles Molinet, who repeats his role, as if no time had passed, accompanied by Catalina Florit and Xavier Frau, who have taken over with identical results. It wasn't, and isn't, easy to put oneself in the shoes of twenty-seven characters, nine for each of the protagonists, with as much fluidity as effectiveness. They go from one to the other with a simple, minuscule change in wardrobe. Now glasses, now a hat, now a jacket, to go from one story to another in an almost indistinguishable way. In fact, it's not very clear that they aren't the same characters, which they aren't, but at the very least, they all have some minuscule one, unless it joins them in a very subliminal way with the previous one.
On the other hand, implausibly, the staging hasn't lost its contemporaneity either. Thirty years on, the playwrights penned by Carme Planells and Pere Fullana still possess each and every one of the virtues that have helped the group never fall down a step throughout its existence. It's been forty years, which isn't a short time and hasn't been a bed of roses, always on the warbler. Celebrating the birthday with the revival of Twist & Chekhov, in addition to being a success, is a gift, doubly so for those of us who saw it in its day and immensely so for those who will be able to do so now for the first time.
