From March 7 to March 9, the Brandeis Department of Theater Arts staged “Intractable Woman,” written by Italian playwright Stefano Massini and translated into English by Paula Wing. It tells the story of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who documented Russia’s war in Chechnya in the early 2000s. The play is unique in its structure, as it provides only text with no dialogue indicators. Therefore, its cast size and roles are not stipulated and can change from production to production. This particular production chose to have a cast of seven, with each role being designated “ensemble.” The seven student actors took on different roles and different voices throughout the piece.
Acting on a stark gray set, with numerous levels resembling a large flight of stairs, stage pictures and scenery were mostly created by the actors themselves. A portrait of Politkovskaya, a candle, a piece of paper and four microphones were the extent of the props. “Intractable Woman” is about its text, and this stripped-back set, combined with the simple costumes of the actors, served to underscore the grim story of the play. The piece was almost fully scored, but most sound cues were subtle, gently encouraging the audience to fully immerse themselves in the story.
If any actors’ tracks served as the emotional heart of the play, it would be those of Emily Bial ’25 and Maya Schultz ’25. They took the majority of the monologues and the emotional climaxes of the piece, carrying these moments with seeming ease. And if any track served as the villain of the story, it would be that of Greg Roitbourd ’26, who played a range of army and terrorist characters (Roitbourd also took responsibility for the vast majority of Russian words within the script). However, every actor got their moment in the spotlight. One standout scene saw Politkovskaya interviewing a 19 year old Russian soldier (Helen Ma ’27). Ma’s grounded performance drove home the shocking nature of this 19 year old’s willingness to kill, just to have a decent job. Another standout scene was a series of letters exchanged between Russian officials and Politkovskaya (here played by Triona Suiter ’27), which had an exhilarating yet terrifying momentum from start to finish. Suiter’s interpretation of Politkovskaya was probably the most energetic out of the cast, and she took charge of scenes where Politkovskaya is at her most assertive. Other moments were quieter, like the heartbreaking performance of Jacob Budner ’27 as a grandfather trying desperately to find information about his missing grandson and Manning Zhang’s tough yet understated interpretation of Politkovskaya that emphasized her quiet dignity.
Each actor has clearly been well trained in vocal technique and diction. With the story being told almost exclusively through text, it is crucial that every thought is heard clearly. Some actors, particularly Bial and Roitbourd, elected to imbue every single word with great meaning, very nearly over-enunciating in their efforts to make sure their lines were perfectly clear. Other actors, like Zhang and Budner, choose to surf the language more, adopting an almost conversational tone. In my opinion, both approaches had their merits and the combination of both maximized the clarity of the story.
However, that same clarity was endangered by certain directorial decisions that had characters changing and moments shifting at breakneck pace. While the chameleon-like abilities of the actors to morph into various different characters, sometimes within a single scene, must be applauded, it was initially a bit dizzying as an audience member. Having worked in theater for some time now, it felt a little too much like theatricality for theatricality’s sake. Was the story coming through as clearly as it could have? Or was this choice simply an attempt to be, for lack of a better word, “artsy”?
Upon reflecting on the performance, I still struggle to answer these questions. At some moments, like the list of all the problems a journalist faces in Grozny, this style of devised theatricality worked beautifully. At others, such as the “I run” sequence recounting a terrorist attack, that same theatricality felt overwrought and more like a distraction than an enhancement of the content of the piece. I was more focused on the impressive stage picture than I was on what was actually being said. In the end, it felt as though this artsy style had been applied to all scenes, when it may have been suited to only some of them and others would have benefitted from a more subtle, straightforward approach.
I bring up this potentially nitpicky criticism precisely because the story of this play is so crucial. Although it describes events of more than 20 years ago, questions of the free press, the nature of war, the future of Russia and Russian imperialism are more essential than ever. Before entering the theatre, audience members passed a display of dramaturgical work outlining Politkovskaya’s life and career. The play ends with a warning of how quickly and how easily these truth-tellers can be silenced, swept under the rug and ultimately forgotten. “Intractable Woman” is a work that demands to be heard, and at times I felt that the ideas and personality of the director were asserting themselves just a tad too much.
All this being said, “Intractable Woman” was still a fantastic piece of theatre, with a phenomenal cast of actors. Crafting a story that is both educational and emotionally impactful is much more difficult than it sounds, and this play achieved that aim extremely well. It was unflinching in its depiction of the brutality, hardships and terror that Politkovskaya had to endure in her work as a journalist, which, after all had been said and done, felt like a fitting tribute to Politkovskaya’s remarkable legacy.
