Impressive in its use of physical theatre, haunting staging and absurdist dark comedy
Viy is an adaptation of the 1835 novella by Nikolai Gogol: a sinewy, monstrous story full of shadow and horror. Writer and Director Angelina Voznesenskaia has undertaken a challenge in turning this strange and puzzling tale into a bold piece of theatre.
The story revolves around Homa, a student who is about to graduate from a Kyiv seminary. Homa, played by Ross Barbour, is a wily and carefree Philosophy student who leads a trio of friends, Halava (Morgan Avery) and Tiberius Gorobets (Olivia Merritt). They create a convincing sense of camaraderie, with well-judged comic timing. When Homa travels home with his friends for the holidays, he encounters a strange witch (Rianne Snape), who he murders, whereupon she transforms into a beautiful young woman. Especial praise must be given to Rianne Snape, whose physical embodiment of the witch was a masterclass in shape-shifting prowess. When Homa is forced to pray over the young woman’s body for three nights, her demonic reanimation from her coffin, from the moment her hands clutch the sides, is truly terrifying.
Homa’s character arc is well developed by Barbour, from impish student rifling around for tobacco to tortured soul praying with utter desperation. His gradual descent into fevered torment, as the nights progress, is performed with a hysteria that never descends into pantomime. A particularly effective moment within this sequence is the interlude of the frenzied Cossack dancing with two servants (also played by Merritt and Avery). The trio captures a sense of wild abandon which is particularly effective as the other side of the coin to deep terror and despair.
The story is woven together by the charismatic narrator (Callum McGregor), who sets the wry, observant opening tone of the piece, to be later demolished by the terror of the supernatural unknown. McGregor is also convincing in his dual role of Pannochka, the father of the witch. The set designer Daria Gorbonosova makes a praiseworthy effort with a simple set design, creating a sense of earthiness and aliveness through natural materials such as straw, wheat and pine. These elements provided an effective contrast to the horror that unfolds within the entrapping confines of the church scene, a reminder of Homa’s attempts to cling to reality as his world spins out of control. However, the danger of exploiting religion as a tool of manipulation, a stated aim of the piece, is not conveyed with conviction in the script, and the tale’s take on moral hypocrisy feels more of a sidenote than a well-developed theme. The play is well-paced with astute direction, creating an entertaining performance of intermingled comedy and horror. However, with a lack of a clear deeper message, it is down to the audience to draw their own interpretation from the essence of the folklore inspired tale, rather than to leave with a real sense of the impact of this particular adaptation.