In 2012 it will be exactly 84 years since the Russian writer Nikolai Erdman wrote the play The Suicide. It was openly critical of the Soviet system and Erdman was deported after an organized rehearsal before the Chief Committee for Repertoire and the party committee. Prominent figures in Russian theatre like Meyerhold and Stanislavski also found themselves in trouble: their productions of The Suicide were censured by Stalin even before the curtain went up.
For Meyerhold it actually marked the beginning of the end: he was taken prisoner, some say tortured, others say executed and, according to almost nobody, years later he…committed suicide. It was 1982 before permission was given for the play to be staged in Russia.
The celebrated Russian reviewer Zinka Padespan described the play as “the best I haven't seen in years.” According to Izvestia journalist Fedya Petunin, it was the best play Zinka Padespan hadn’t seen in years. Another less celebrated theatre critic Nikifor Arsenteyevich was less impressed by it, but then he was also less celebrated, though Zinka Padespan thought his comments were to be expected precisely because he was less celebrated.
LAZARUS and Olympique Dramatique have come up with their own adaptation of Erdman’s The Suicide under the Toneelhuis roof. Niets Is Onmogelijk (Nothing is Impossible) is their first coproduction for the stage. The play wrestles with the question: can liver sausage change your life? Is there liver sausage after death? And if there is liver sausage after death, is there enough for everyone?
performance
- Pieter Genard
- Günther Lesage
- Joris Van den Brande
- Ruth Beeckmans
- Geert Van Rampelberg
- Goele Derick
- Stijn Van Opstal
- Ryszard Turbiasz
light design
- Mark Van Denesse
costume design
- Karen De Wolf
production
- Toneelhuis
- Olympique Dramatique
- LAZARUS
- Toneelhuis
- LAZARUS
- Olympique Dramatique
