The Ironworks, Inverness, 1 October 2011

ANTON Chekhov’s reputation as a playwright was made in 1888 by this bonne bouche of a work, and Michael Frayn successfully adapted it in the West End as part of The Sneeze with Rowan Atkinson.

For the Play Pieces’s production, performed by Stevie Hannan and Garry Collins (who also directed the show), Open Book PW added a prologue contrasting modern and Victorian acting styles, accentuating its vaudeville roots with some deft clowning.

Stevie Hannan in Swan Song (photo Matt Campbell)

The play’s the thing; the works of great playwrights like Shakespeare, Chekhov and Pinter survive through the years, translated into any language, any context, any period, because they’re expressing universal truths about the human condition. This bittersweet vignette of an ageing, alcoholic Russian actor, retiring after a lifetime on the stage, looking back at his life and the choices he made – unfulfilled loves, unrealised triumphs – turned out to be surprisingly relevant to an Inverness audience. After all, all the world is a stage, as Shakespeare so rightly pointed out.

Plenty of knockabout physical acting kept the piece moving and the laughs flowing. A special mention for the costumes, particularly the hats and Garry Collins’ beard which had a Muppet-based life all of its own. Nairn’s Elena Reid, a genuine Russian, stood up during the Q&A session to say ‘spasibo’ (thank you or, literally, God save you). One more Play Pieces to go in this year’s series – it’ll have to be good to beat this one.

© Jennie Macfie, 2011

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