Vanya Is Alive – Omnibus Theatre

Vanya is alive is a unique play, telling the story of political censorship and the realities of war in Russia today. In its current form, it is calling out for a more complete staging, with moments of excellence not translating into a production that fully explores its own potential.

The play focuses on Alya, whose son Vanya is captured and killed in the war, and her journey of political awakening that follows this. This tragedy is explored through a central conceit, namely that in Alya’s society, the sentence that began this paragraph is not permissible, indeed it doesn’t even exist. Instead, Aliya is told that her son is “absolutely free”. In this way characters speak and emote through antonyms.

It is an interesting idea, and at times can be incredibly moving. We are told how Alya ‘laughs, and laughs, and laughs’ as an empty casket is lowered into the ground at her son’s funeral. This functions to show us the absurdities and brutalities of a society in which speaking freely is not possible. It also manages to simultaneously heighten the pain of what Alya is going through while creating a kind of defiant counter narrative. As things get worse for Alya, we simultaneously listen to words with positive meaning – Alya is not alone, she is not sad, she is not afraid and she is going to become alive. This suggests a paradoxical liberation through Alya’s protests, despite the consequences.

It is, however, as a text is where this play is strongest. Nikolay Mulakov takes on the role of storyteller, playing Alya and all the people she interacts with throughout the story, but he never really embodies them. The lack of physical or vocal distinction between characters means that all lines have to be preceded with the character’s name, a point of repetition that can become frustrating. The idea of monotony coexisting with the horrors of war may well be what this performance was aimed at, but as my friend rightly pointed out, monotony is a difficult weapon to wield on stage, and it doesn’t always work here. Ivanka Polchecnko’s staging is similarly stripped back. This is certainly a script that calls for a simple staging, and yet the amount of time which we spend simply hearing a play text read aloud on a blank stage takes this principle too far.

What makes this all too clear is that when clear points of staging are found they are fantastic. Mulakov has serious physical ability on stage and finds a number of sublime pieces of visual storytelling. At one point, he contorts his arms inwards, fingers locked, and pushes them into his belly, holding himself in a long, silent scream. It is a brilliant expression of Alya’s pain in a society where she cannot speak about her loss. Similarly, the play’s final image is truly haunting – a lullaby comes from the audience as Mulakov fades slowly into blackness. The problem is these moments of creative excellence are too rare and so, despite their quality, the play as a whole feels a little empty.

This contrast of high quality moments in a less successful whole makes rating this show a hard task, and despite my reservations, I would urge readers to see this show for themselves, not least because as a piece of living political testimony, it has an undeniable power. As a play, it is sadly not fully realised, but what is there makes you wish that there was more.

Vanya Is Alive is running until the 8th of February – https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/vanya-is-alive/

Reviewer: Ralph Jeffreys

Reviewed: 4th February 2025

North West End UK Rating: