Parts of a Whole

In Nikolai Gogol, Vladimir Pankov found a writer who suits his theatrical style and sensibilities to a T. Gogol's dynamic early stories, collected under the title "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka," have now served as the basis for two Pankov productions for the SounDrama Studio and the Meyerhold Center. A third is planned for the future.

"Gogol. Evenings. Part II" is primarily an interpretation of "Sorochinsky Fair," one of Gogol's many tales about flawed, simple-minded, but complexly motivated people who live in a world inhabited by cheats, chumps, devils and demons. The story itself -- young Gritsko falls for pretty Paraska at the marketplace and seeks her hand in marriage -- is nothing to speak of. It's the folderol and monkey business surrounding them that makes the tale, and Pankov is becoming an expert at organizing monkey business on a stage.

The stage for Pankov is a musical space where actors are musicians and musicians are actors. This particular piece is driven largely by a percussionist (Vladimir Nelinov), who sits behind his drum set on a platform, surveying the action before him and punctuating it with cymbal crashes, enigmatic thumps and various other ratchety, squeaky and tick-tocking sounds. He is often joined by a guitarist (Sergei Rodyukov) who wanders among the actors lending tender, more sentimental responses to the percussionist's crotchety outbursts.

In fact, "Gogol. Evenings. Part II" presents something of a battle between the territories of lyrical beauty and syncopated chaos. In Pankov's hands the latter usually holds sway, although the former gets in an occasional lick.

Gogol chalked up chaos to the demons and witches who wreak havoc on human's lives. Whether or not they are merely metaphorical representations of people's evil intentions is a question that gets no real answers, either from Gogol or Pankov. Does a Gypsy (Sergei Shevchenko) actually transform himself into Paraska's mean-spirited stepmother Khivrya, or is he just playing games? And how far into evil does Khivrya (Alina Olshanskaya) really go? Is she really a witch or is she just a conniving crank? Whatever the case, there is an air of supernatural rack and ruin hovering over everyone's head at all times.

Gritsko (Pyotr Markin) and Paraska (Anastasia Sychyova) have little trouble getting permission to marry from the girl's mush-minded father Solopy (Andrei Zavodyuk). At least not after Gritsko sits down to a serious evening of vodka drinking with his future father-in-law. But when Khivrya rebels at the idea, the village is launched into turmoil. Someone might wonder if Khivrya's main incentive is to throw up a smoke screen to obscure the illicit affair she is having with a neighbor (Alexander Gusev), but nobody really has any idea what moves this domineering, enigmatic woman.

Gogol's prose is filled with baroque descriptions of setting, mood and detail, and Pankov translates that into the language of theater through music and movement. The stage for this show is almost always filled with swirling action, loud music and flickering light and darkness. The folk-oriented nature of "Sorochinsky Fair" finds expression in the large crowds that always hover near the heart of the action or suddenly take it over. The story's supernatural underpinnings emerge in moments, for example, when four actresses play the forbidding Khivrya as a kind of hydra.

Designers Natalya Zholobova and Sergei Agafonov highlighted the amorphous, transformational qualities of Gogol's world by dotting the empty stage with a few simple and versatile props. Primary among them are pine crosses that may represent scarecrows, clothes hangers, the shafts of a cart or religious symbols, depending upon the context.

More than almost any other Pankov production in the last few years, "Gogol. Evenings. Part II" comes precariously close to being monotonous and impenetrable at times. At times its almost unrelenting wall of sound begins blunting the nuances in character and action.

But this surely is a risk the director took on purpose. He sought to create a universe in which the parts are controlled by the whole. None of the characters in this piece are independent; all are products and integral components of a strange but powerful social structure. This becomes evident when the marauding Khivrya ultimately is reduced to despair, and the newlyweds Gritsko and Paraska suddenly slip into the behavior patterns of everyone who has come before them.

"Gogol. Evenings. Part II" plays Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. at the Meyerhold Center, located at 23 Novoslobodskaya Ulitsa. Metro Novoslobodskaya. Tel. 363-1048. www.meyerhold.ru. Running time: 2 hours.