‘Being face to face you could not see the face! The whole is seen, but only from a distance.’ These lines by Sergey Esenin, an early twentieth-century Russian poet, sprung to mind once the lights dimmed up in the end of Donkey Heart performance.

Written by Moses Raine and staged by Nina Raine in May 2014 for the first time, the play moves from the Old Red Lion Theatre, London, to Trafalgar Studios 2, bringing the audience into a story about three generations of an ordinary Moscow family, living in one apartment. Sharing the same space, they also share each other’s problems, trying to solve them, arguing and spying on each other. Being caught up in this endless cycle of assistance, they forget to live their own life. The arrival of Tom (by Alex Large), a British friend of Sasha (by Lisa Diveney), a teenager daughter in the family, brings a fresh perspective into their existence, but is quickly cast aside in order to continue the search for the ‘truth’.

Courtesy of Trafalgar Studios

The cast brilliantly performs dialogue and actions familiar to any native Russian person. The vividly written pact dialogue makes the audience laugh, but at the same time reflects upon the ironic and often gloomy nature of the story. The visual interpretation of the play completes the actual text. James Turner has turned the intimate space of Trafalgar Studios 2 into an unmistakably Russian apartment, while Holly Rose Henshaw has subtly selected costumes that create clear images of different characters. However, some aspects seem exaggerated, for instance, the KGB and a sense of fear.

For people, who are less familiar with Russian daily life, this show will help to unravel the mysterious country and its people. For others the performance makes it possible to look at familiar situations from afar, like at the Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, recalled by Ivan (by Paul Wyett) in the play, and to see that frequently we concentrate on tiny details when we should look at the bigger picture. Worth a visit.

The play is on stage until 31 January 2015 Tickets are £15 – £35

For more details on the play and tickets please click here. 

This review was originally published on Russian Art and Culture.