Plasticine

The plot in Vassily Sigarev’s Plasticine revolves around the life of a teenage delinquent called Maksim. He lives with his grandmother in a shabby apartment block and moves from place to place in search of a fast buck, a quick fuck and the possibility of missing another day at school. Along with his friend Lyoka, the pair get involved in trouble deeper than they can handle. They follow a girl back to her flat with the prospect of sex not far away, but on arrival they discover that the place is far less hospitable than they had in mind. The occupants are three rowdy middle-aged men who take sadistic pleasure in dominating and frightening the two youths before raping them. The overall feeling one gets from the play is that this is the boys’ fate, that sooner or later in the environment they live in, with the aspirations they live by, they will be subject to some form of violence that outweighs that which they inflict on others. Call it twisted divine retribution.

If ‘in-yer-face’ theatre were part of the Russian theatre landscape then Plasticine would definitely have its place among the top ranks. It is a play that depicts a world where human energy and resources are channeled through violence and aggression; sometimes administered in groups, sometimes individually; and though the list of violent acts in the play is long, including beatings, rape, murder, verbal abuse, exploitation and humiliation, there is a sense of deep human nature that comes across at key moments. For example, Maksim’s (the protagonist) emotional outburst towards his dying grandmother or the girl known as ‘SHE’ who displays her pristine new shoes at the end, in an act of fulfilment and pride. These are moments when even the bleakest of situations, the darkest of times, human beings still find ways of rekindling bonds and finding passion.

Sigarev’s formula is by no means new, it is well tried and tested but the vibrancy he brings to the landscapes and its characters, the grit, the stains and the vivid sense of dilapidation make for a compelling read. What I found striking from the beginning was the enormous scope of the play, just in terms of its setting alone. From the opening scene with a crane that lowers a coffin from an apartment building into a hearse, to derelict blocks of flats, a sports stadium, a meat market and a school, Sigarev makes it clear that the scale is large, and although there are only a few main characters, there are many secondary characters to populate the environment he creates.

Bearing in mind this was one of Sigarev’s first texts and written at the age of 24 the overall sense is of something very powerful. But, and there’s usually a ‘but’ somewhere, there were a number of weaknesses that I picked out, usually to do with a lack of clarity or underdevelopment of a theme. One clear example is the relationship between Maksim and his friend Lyoka. In a scene about half way through the play, they turn up at the side door of a movie theatre trying to catch a glimpse of a porno movie. Lyoka moves in close to Maksim and there is a moment of intimacy between the boys, but before there is time to react the scene is over an the incident is left untouched. Another example is the recurring presence of a ‘Boy’, perhaps the ghost of the young boy who’s coffin is being lifted from the apartment at the beginning. The boy tries to interpolate Maksim on several occasions but Maksim pushes him aside saying ‘not now, later’, but again the later never happens, we never know who the boy is. Not all loose ends in a story need to be tied up, but the ends that fizzle more, like these do, need attention.