AUCTION

Dmitry Krymov’s production is for those who, like most Russian theatergoers, know Chekhov’s plays almost by heart. The very title of the production refers to the auction of the cherry orchard, and the characters speak the lines from Chekhov’s plays. His text is divided into little segments, which are then combined into one mad collage. Here Tuzenbach argues with Uncle Vanya, Nina Zarechnaya debates with Ranevskaya, and so on. They take puppets from somewhere – three long-legged sisters, a seagull with large wings. The characters build their house out of sand, knowing well that it will be taken away from them and pulled down. Auction, performed in a half-empty hall, has a sense of loss about it, of waiting in a draughty place where all the furniture is already gone and only the luggage and some litter are left on the floor.