Midnight in Moscow is a new play from Dean Parker; one of his best. What gives it such force is his seamless interweaving of an intriguing plot and interesting personal stories with the politics of one of the great debates of the twentieth century. 

The highlight of the play for me was the argument between Boris Pasternak and a New Zealand diplomat, which reminded me ever so much of a scene from a Ken Loach film, and I can’t pay a bigger complement than that. 

Set in 1947, inside the New Zealand Legation in Moscow, it concerns the public and private lives of the legation staff. While communism might well be “the god that failed,” it’s not that clear to one of its disciples, a staff member, who is busy passing on information. 

The unstated irony running through the play is that while the diplomat is betraying his country for the greater cause of the class struggle, Stalin is betraying the class struggle for the sake of the country.

At the same time, those who are playing it straight are betraying their wives and lovers. Indeed, personal treachery is to the fore and it all makes for a fascinating play. 

A very strong Court cast complements the very strong writing. Stalwarts Jonathan Martin, Clare Dougan and Jon Pheloung invest their characters with an easy believability, while squeezing every ounce of meaning out of their lines.

Stephen Papps and Darien Takle are both insightful and forceful in their portrayals. Kathleen Burns holds her own as the young student and Georgia Kate-Heard, as Pasternak’s lover, is strongly convincing. 

Add to the mix lots of humour throughout the play, and you have an entertaining and thought provoking production. 
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

Espionage has not figured too often as the raw material of New Zealand drama, but undeniably it furnishes some rich ingredients. The tensions of betrayal fuel Dean Parker’s new play all the way, as a fascinating contrast to the relaxed sociable world of New Zealand Legation in post war Moscow, 1947. 

The play is, as he explains in the programme notes, “totally made-up,” but woven from threads and snippets of true characters and happenings. Sensitivity to Russian interests in developing atomic weapons, Stalin’s iron rule, Boris Pasternak’s noble preoccupations are part of the fabric of the play.  

Inspiration for the warmly hospitable head of the Legation came from real- life June Mc Kenzie, the first New Zealand woman to hold such a post. Mostly, however, the characters are Parker’s own, crafted by his active imagination and cleverly applied to the time and place. 

Framed by reflective musings from Kit Lovell Smith, the laid back diplomat at the centre of it all, the play takes a while to find its momentum. Once characters take shape and find their distinctive voices, an engaging and often highly entertaining insight into life at the embassy emerges, sustained as it is by lunches and hunches, romance and an occasional whiff of ‘home’. The suspicion of a leaked file hovers in the background but it is betrayal on a personal level which really sets the pace.

Director Ross Gumbley wisely steers his course away from the ideological and into the human complications generated by the sociable June Temm (the McKenzie character) and her staff. There is a niece as well, studying engineering no less, and a glimpse of the Pasternak household. Ample material for cover-ups / diplomacy of varying significance arise as keeping up appearances motivates every move. For the audience this means ongoing interest and entertainment.

The embassy itself is a comfortable cocoon in Tony Geddes’s set, the Russian connection heightened and lightened by sound design from Josh Major. With ‘telltale’ costume from Emily Thomas and effective lighting from Brendan Albrey the world of the play is in good hands.

The hands of course belong to a team of accomplished actors and each adds a strong note to the play. (In fact breaking into song seems to have been part of diplomatic culture at the time, to the delight of this audience.) Each relates also to the general theme of personal if not political betrayal. 

June Temm, played with warmth and insight by Darien Takle is both arch diplomat and, at a personal level, betrayed by her closest team member. Without giving too much away, Jon Pheloung’s sophisticated Kit Lovell Smith is himself betrayed by his own conscience. 

Jonathan Martin and Claire Dougan, as Hugh and Sophie Toomey, both turn in well tuned performances and Kathleen Burns, as niece Madeline Corless, does a great line in dewy enthusiasm. 

The real Russians, Boris Pasternak and his young companion Olga Ivinskya played by Stephen Papps and Georgia-Kate Heard, add colour and a convincing reminder of other realities beyond the cosy Legation.  

With its thoughtful undertones about delusion, life (“not a stroll through the fields,” writes Pasternak) and political theory, the play manages to freshen our acquaintance with the convoluted ways of diplomacy. This production gives us cause to ponder as well as smile. Bravo! 
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer