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In Moscow, in 1926, a housing crisis rages. In a cramped apartment, Ludmilla, a put-upon housewife, lives in dreamy complacency with her cheerful despot of a husband, Kolya. When one day, Kolya's handsome comrade, Volodya, arrives from the country, but can find no lodgings, Kolya offers him their sofa. When Kolya returns early from a business trip, he is shocked to discover that Ludmilla and Volodya have become lovers. Kolya moves out, but there is still nowhere to live, so he reluctantly returns, taking the sofa, leaving Ludmilla and Volodya the bed Kolya stalls the new couple's lovemaking with endless games of checkers, so that slowly, to Ludmilla's frustration, Volodya becomes more interested in the manly sport of checkers than in sex. Finally, Volodya reveals himself to be just as much a domestic despot as Kolya. So Ludmilla banishes Volodya to the sofa and takes the bed for herself. Ludmilla's "marriage" to the two men has already had its consequence as she is pregnant. The two men bicker over who is the father and finally decree: Ludmilla must have an abortion. Acquiescing, Ludmilla waits her turn in a frighteningly efficient clinic. But seeing a living, breathing baby out the window convinces her to leave, without the procedure. She packs up and abandons her two "husbands," declaring them unworthy to be fathers, and Kolya and Volodya find themselves alone in the dose Moscow flat. They have no choice: as Ludmilla rides alone into the exciting unknown. Kolya takes the bed and Volodya the sofa.
It is a sung-through and highly stylised piece, with an offstage voice working in much the same way as the caption cards did in the silent film version. It was a quirky and unusual piece and received a mixed critical response.
Based on the 1927 Russian silent film classic “Tretya meshchanskaya” by Abram Room
this was first seen off-Broadway in February 1996 where it won two Obie Awards and received seven Drama Desk nominations, including Best Musical.
Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant Bed and Sofa
Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant Bed and Sofa
Version 1
Bed and Sofa (1996-01-Vineyard Theatre-Off Broadway)
Type de série: OriginalThéâtre: Vineyard Theatre (Broadway (Off) - Etats-Unis) Durée : 1 mois 3 semaines Nombre : 40 représentationsPremière Preview : 16 January 1996
Première: 16 January 1996
Dernière: 10 March 1996Mise en scène : Andre Ernotte • Chorégraphie : Producteur : Star(s) : Avec: Terri Klausner (Ludmilla), Michael X. Martin (Nikolai-Kolya), Martin Moran (Radio Voices), Polly Pen (Radio Voices), Jason Workman (Volodya)Commentaires : Award Nominations: 1996 Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical
Awards Won: 1996 Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Actor(Musical): Jason Workman / 1995-1996 OBIE Awards: 1. Performance, Terri Klausner, 2. Music, Polly Pen
Version 2
Bed and Sofa (2011-03-Finborough Theatre-London)
Type de série: Original EuropeThéâtre: Finborough Theatre (Londres - Angleterre) Durée : 3 semaines Nombre : Première Preview : 29 March 2011
Première: 31 March 2011
Dernière: 23 April 2011Mise en scène : Luke Sheppard • Chorégraphie : Producteur : Star(s) : Avec: Alastair Brookshaw / Kaisa Hammarlund / Alastair Parker / Penelope Keith (voice - The Announcer)Commentaires : Nominated for five Off West End Awards including
Best Production
Best Director for Luke Sheppard
Best Female Performance for Kaisa Hammarlund
Best Designer for David Woodhead
Best Lighting Designer for Howard HudsonPresse : "Kaisa Hammerlund is simply stunning as Ludmilla, encompassing perfectly all complexities of this torn woman" Jennifer Reischel, Fringe Review
"It is quite astounding to see a small (extremely well conducted) orchestra residing near the ceiling above the action" Jennifer Reischel, Fringe Review
"A startlingly honest and wonderfully expressive musical version of a lost art form with a haunting score, where not their conversation but the actors' facial expressions and gesturing become a focal point in understanding their feelings and journey." Jennifer Reischel, Fringe Review
"This is the most delightfully unusual musical to see at the Finborough.... It is ingeniously designed with the tiny flat complete and in character while the string musicians perform the music with a sense of delightfully warm tones on the roof of the flat... It is a completely jelled production....a gem that sparkles and brings a wit with compassion. Don't miss it." Blanche Marvin, London Theatre Reviews
"as pleasant added bonuses we get the recorded voice of Penelope Keith reading some of the film's ironic between-scenes commentary, and a delightful little toy train." Gerald Berkowitz, London Theatre Guide
"Under the direction of Luke Sheppard and the musical direction of Candida Caldicot, Alistair Parker (husband), Kaisa Hammarlund (wife) and Alistair Brookshaw (boarder) sing beautifully and capture all the quiet humour of the story" Gerald Berkowitz, London Theatre Guide
"There is a nicely witty edge to a song in which the woman realises that both she and the USSR government have bad luck in choosing their men, and a melodic trio in which the three sing of their separate dreams is lovely and satisfyingly complex in a Sondheimish way, recalling the 'Soon/Now/Later' trio in A Little Night Music while retaining its own individual sound." Gerald Berkowitz, London Theatre Guide
"A shower of five stars for all: the performers, the creative team, and especially to Luke Sheppard, who directs with a fine-tuned sensitivity and an excellence that belies his years. Very impressive: if the run doesn't sell out, I'll eat my shapka." Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide
"It is impossible to take one's eyes off Kaisa Hammarlund - her performance and singing are captivating, commanding." Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide
"The scene at the movies was so focused I couldn't resist turning my head in case more magic was taking place behind me. But the magic was in front of me." Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide
"In pale commedia dell'arte faces and stylised movements the performers negotiate the tiny space deftly (credit to movement director Lucy Cullingford)." Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide
"The set is fabulous in its realism, replicated almost exactly, with its Stalin calendar and her photo on the wall. David Woodhead has squeezed in all the furniture and the Bolshoi pediment... Bulgakov's Professor Woland must have taken over the Finborough, for how else to explain that all fits with room to spare for an audience. Where there's a will..." Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide
"Her music (for violin, viola, cello, and piano/conductor) has Russian harmonies, his book and libretto gently mock faux Trotsky, Stalin and Marxist texts, delivered by Penelope Keith's voiceover announcer in exquisitely sardonic tones." Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide
"whether you are a fan of Soviet satire and Soviet films of the 1920s or not matters not a bit to delight in Polly Pen and Laurence Klavan's faithful but oh so witty rendering of Abram Room's 1927 silent movie" Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide
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