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The Bear by Anton Chekhov, presented by Judder Theatre Company and directed by Shaun Elbert, ran in Doyle’s Bar from 30th January to 2nd February. The famous short-story writer and influential modernist playwright wrote several short “farce-vaudevilles”, including this one.

The action, set in a decadent Russian drawing room, concerns the supposedly inconsolable widow Elena Ivanovna Popova (Geraldine Crowley) and her efforts to rid herself of Grigory Stepanovich Smirnov (Alan O’Connell), her late husband’s desperate creditor. Luka (Vincent Patrick), a footman aged to the point of decrepitude, also features, and indeed his physical infirmities largely steal the show. Set designer Patricia Browne (assisted by Molly de Brun) prefers a sparse array of set dressings. However, each prop appears to be used as part of some gag by the actors, creating a welcome sense of streamlining in the performance.

One might encounter many challenges when staging a play. With regard to this play, however, the greatest challenge is perhaps to communicate something of the intertextual comedy on which the play relies for most of its entertainment value. Chekhov is one of those famous Russian writers we’ve all heard of but never read much of. Therefore, while the play gives the sense that the stock characters and their stilted dialogue should register with the audience, many of the jokes did not do so exactly because some audience members including me did not know what Chekhov was trying to reference. Frustratingly, I felt the really exciting comedy of the play bubbled underneath a performance I could only appreciate in the most superficial way.

The production was certainly good enough to make me want to find out more about Chekhov’s “farce-vaudevilles”, and after a little research I understand a little better what the play tries to achieve. However, a more successful production would find ways of communicating the hilarity of the piece in the moment with the aid of dramaturgic research and would therefore be much more entertaining for its audience.

Though many of the jokes failed to register with the audience, there seemed a general feeling that the play and the audience were somewhat mismatched, rather than either not being up to standard. As a result, the atmosphere upstairs in Doyle’s was enthusiastic and the performers certainly won the audience onto their side. An encouraging, if flawed, performance from Judder theatre company.