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The Review - THEATRE by JAMIE WELHAM
Published: 24 January 2008

Vera Filatova shines as the loyal daughter as Dostoevsky’s nameless nobody

Forgiving the sins of the father

NETOCHKA NEZVANOVA
New End Theatre

DOSTOEVSKY’S little- known masterpiece of a girl’s unwavering devotion to her exploitative stepfather offers a typically stark portrayal of humankind’s capacity for suffering.
A stunning Vera Filatova plays Netochka, who recounts the story of her destitute childhood under the spell of her eccentric and unworldly stepfather.
Her father, as she knew him, was a gifted violinist who dreamed of becoming an artistic genius.
Years of self-loathing and neglect of his family in pursuit of the dream finally reach tipping point when he goes to watch a celebrated violinist play in town. On trying to imitate the virtuoso in front of his forlorn wife and stepdaughter, he finally realises his own fallibility – he will never join the cult of genius. This discovery drives him insane.
A one-woman show is always a stern examination but Vera’s masterful performance reveals a vulnerable nine-year-old and all her childhood foibles – almost imploring the audience to reach out and save her.
Netochka’s rose-tinted reverence for her father and his ravings, which she so energetically relives on stage, reveals the indelible mark the episode has left on her life.
The beauty of this adaptation is that Netochka exists in a vacuum. The audience can only guess her age and current predicament. One suspects she is as deluded as her stepfather – blocking out his flaws because, in spite of himself, he lifted her from the banality of life and showed her a glint of another reality.
Helped by clever use of lighting and snatched violin vignettes, Vera never lets the audience’s attention wane.
As the play draws to an end we urge Netochka to wake from her childhood reverie. Perhaps she never does.
Until February 3
0870 033 2733

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