Warten auf Platonow (Waiting for Platonow)

Chekhov’s humour, Vladimir Nabokov wrote, is incomparable and can therefore only be described as typically Chekhovian:

«For him, things were comic and sad at the same time, but one could only see the sadness if one also saw the comedy, because both of them were connected with each other.»

His texts are permeated with the goodness of his heart and a «gently iridescent fog of words», all his words hovered in the same fading light, «a colour in between that of an old fence and a low hanging cloud.»

Chekhov’s texts, first and foremost his youthful fragment «Platonov», form the starting point for a new evening of musical theatre by resident director Thom Luz. He has borrowed the title from a Russian film version of «Platonov» from 1977 and assembles a society that attempts to discern the melody of the joys and horrors of the future from the songs of a long-forgotten time. The open question of whether these people actually possess any individual agency or are just single notes in a symphony by the great composer nature does not deter them from exploring their own personal harmonies and dissonances.

«The way Chekhov’s texts work can be compared to the instructions for the mechanical piano made by the firm Hupfeld in 1926: pass this long strip of paper through that wooden box and hear the ghosts sing – songs from the world of yesterday. Wherever there is a hole in the paper, a sound will later be heard. From now on, you no longer have to be able to play the piano yourself if you want to dream about your failed attempts at love. This technology will soon be as outmoded as you are. Buy it today on credit! We guarantee: the piano will keep on playing until it is repossessed. If you get bored, start again from the beginning. The key to happiness lies in the unchanging repetition of all your mistakes.» Thom Luz