An untitled, early play by Anton Chekhov (adapted and directed by Joey Folsom) Sex, Guns and Vodka is set at a Christmas party, hosted by the Vonitsevas, a wealthy, convivial married couple. They are blowing balloons and sipping drinks, before the guests arrive. They are the sort you see at a crowded bash. The quiet, beautiful woman under her husband’s thumb. The effusive, elated guy, kissing everybody. Drunk and happy to be alive. The older guy in the bad toupee, sharing “back-in-the-day” wisdom. The zaftig, Earth Mother. The squeaky, emotional woman. The exquisite, ethereal lass, almost too glorious to touch. The introspective intellectuals. The mischievous aristocrats. The awkward and loquacious.
Of particular note is Platonov, an obnoxious, appalling, insulting prick. He truly is a buzzkill, ignoring boundaries, shamelessly molesting the ladies, creepy and spoiling everyone’s enjoyment. Rasputin without the charisma. He seems to take pleasure in messing with people’s heads. As time passes, Platonov puts the moves on each of the female guests, and (much to my chagrin) succeeds! Perhaps it’s the intersection of privacy and opportunity. Perhaps some women (and yes, men) get a tingle from shtupping a guy with no warmth or propriety.
There are several phenomena that make for marvelous satire, and drama. The best parties have a profusion of guests, endless liquor, and proceed (or digress) till the last dog is hung. They wind down on their own clock. Alcohol is the playwright’s friend. It brings out frankness, and preposterous, reckless behavior. What more could you ask for? On a loftier note, in life and on the stage, these kinds of affairs create a quirky, rich, freewheeling cosmos. Guests take chances. They confide, they get philosophical. It’s a pensive, frothy pageant of humanity.
Director Joey Folsom manages Sex, Gun and Vodka with a keen, instinctive sense of pace, timing and tone. They are numerous moving parts, stories within stories, pathos juggled with insanity juggled with profundity juggled with the ridiculous. Folsom has brought us a nuanced, surprising, pleasurable view of what it means to be human, what it means to be seduced, what it means to be livid, what it means to be enraptured, what it means to intoxicated by the company of others. Guns are fired, mouths kissed, liquor gulped, egos stroked and rendezvous missed. Folsom hits the notes meticulously and brings out Chekhov’s playfulness without ignoring his affection for we pathetic, flawed, remarkable, broken mortals.
The Classics Theatre Project Presents Sex, Guns and Vodka (the untitled first play by Anton Chekhov) playing May 20th-June 11th, 2022. The Margo Jones Theater at Fair Park, 1121 First Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75210. 214-923-1619. www.theclassicstheatreproject.com