Moira Buffini's Dying for It, gives this Soviet farce a Frank Capra twist at AHensemble. | ✍️ Emily_221B
It’s a Wonderful Life. Admittedly, these are strange bedfellows to mention in the same sentence, but both stories feature a suicidal protagonist—one up against an avaricious capitalist in sleepy Bedford Falls; the other living in an urban slum under an oppressive regime—whose brush with death leads to a renewed sense of the beauty of ordinary life.
Buffini’s leading man, 27-year-old Semyon , ekes out an existence in a cramped apartment with his wife, Masha . Chronically unemployed, Semyon is depressed about the constant struggle to find work and feels unmanned by depending on his wife’s income. It doesn’t help that his acerbic mother-in-law, Serafima , lives next door, always ready with a biting criticism.
An enterprising neighbor, Alexander , spreads the word about his pending suicide and sells tickets to townspeople who want an audience with Semyon. A disillusioned member of the intelligentsia hopes to make him a martyr to protest the regime. An embittered priest wants to use his death to scare the godless masses back into his church. A flamboyant flirt swoons at the thought of him dying of love for her.
From the first scene on, the cast’s performances are over-the-top caricatures, and the ridiculousness only ratchets up as the play goes on. But this style suits the farcical script. Kevin Hagan’s narrow set design reinforces the lack of privacy as neighbors eavesdrop on each other from a communal staircase and pop in and out of Semyon and Masha’s window via the fire escape.
We may not get a cathartic Capra ending—this is Soviet slapstick, after all—but there are some unexpectedly tender moments when Semyon realizes who is truly in his corner. So go for the laughs; stay for the life-affirming message beneath the buffoonery.
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