American premiere of Turgenev adaptation features Mt. Lebanon resident in ensemble cast
Cast members Leo Marks and Nike Doukas.
Sam Tsoutsouvas and Helena Ruoti are among the cast members of “Three Days in the Country.”
For anyone who drew the English class assignment of reading the works of Ivan Turgenev, the thought of sitting through one of his stage productions might induce a groan.
When it comes to “Three Days in the Country,” though, not to worry.
“If you don’t like Russian plays, you’re going to like this one,” cast member Helena Ruoti said. “It’s very funny.”
The Mt. Lebanon resident is among the ensemble of 13 starring in the American premiere of British playwright Patrick Marber’s adaptation of “A Month in the Country,” which Turgenev wrote in the 1850s.
“In a lot of these Russian plays, the characters feel so much for themselves,” Ruoti explained. “They feel sorry for themselves. They laugh at themselves. There’s a lot of vodka involved. So the audience doesn’t have to feel sorry for them, and they’re free to laugh not with them, but at them.”
The retitling to “Three Days in the Country,” which previews on Nov. 18 and opens the following night at the New Hazlett Theatre in Pittsburgh’s North Side, reflects Marber’s intent to update the story of reckless romantic love and its consequences.
“He’s basically rewritten the play and sort of streamlined it, given it a very cinematic, sort of very contemporary sensibility,” director Andrew Paul said. “I think it’s really interesting material, but I had always found the play in straight translations really kind of stodgy and old-fashioned, and hard to get through.”
When he was in London, a friend talked him into seeing the updated version.
“I’m so glad he did, because when I saw the Marber adaptation, it opened my eyes as to what the play can be and why it’s considered such an important piece of literature,” Paul said.
Putting together the play has been somewhat of a challenge.
“You need 13 good actors, because it’s a total ensemble effort, and every single actor has a pivotal role in the proceedings,” Paul explained. “It was not an easy undertaking, but I’m really proud that we got the rights for doing it here in Pittsburgh before anyone else is doing it.”
Along with Ruoti, the cast includes well-known staples of Pittsburgh theater such as Nike Doukas, David Whalen, Sam Tsoutsouvas and Larry John Meyers.
“We’ve worked together before, many of us. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do this play with him,” Ruoti said about Paul. “People want to come and work for him, because it’s an actor-centric company. It’s a very collaborative situation.”
Paul agreed.
“That’s how I like to work, organically,” he said. “If you hire really good people, you want to allow them to be creative and help interpret the play.”
A co-founder of the Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theater, Paul is producing artistic director for the Kinetic Theatre Company and has directed all six of its plays so far, including the black comedy “The Dance of Death,” which starred Ruoti and Tsoutsouvas.
Paul, in fact, has worked with many of the “Three Days in the Country” cast members in the past, and he is glad to do so again.
“There are a lot of big egos in the room, but they play beautifully together,” he said. “So I think it’s going to be a great show.”
For more information, visit kinetictheatre.org.