{"id":24714,"date":"2023-11-29T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T17:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=24714"},"modified":"2023-11-24T10:38:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T18:38:29","slug":"lenins-embalmers-uses-gallows-humour-to-make-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2023\/11\/29\/lenins-embalmers-uses-gallows-humour-to-make-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenin\u2019s Embalmers<\/em> uses gallows humour to make statement"},"content":{"rendered":"

What would you do if Joseph Stalin asked you to come up with a way to preserve Vladimir Lenin\u2019s corpse for all time? Success would change your life forever; failure would end your life abruptly. This is the high-pressure scenario two Jewish scientists found themselves facing in 1920s Russia, and the stage play of this true story is being brought to life at The Canadian College of Performing Arts (CCPA) with Lenin\u2019s Embalmers<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Elijah Bell, who plays one of the two scientists, Vladimir Vorobiov, is excited to share the play\u2019s quick wit with audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really interested me was the pace of it all,\u201d says Bell. \u201cBecause it\u2019s so quick, and it\u2019s so snapping. There can be two scenes happening at the same time, but the writing is constructed in a way that it all just kind of makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lenin\u2019s Embalmers<\/em> debuted in 2010 but has changed to remain contemporary; it runs from November 30 to December 3 (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the high stakes, the story cuts its teeth by using pervasive and morbid comedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the Soviet Union, there was this special type of joke that kind of helps people cope, that points out the difference in how things should be and how they are,\u201d says Bell. \u201cIt takes place… under the kind of totalitarianism of Joseph Stalin and it highlights the hypocrisy and the the kind of imbalance of power… This idea of a communist joke is very present throughout, so it was definitely very mocking and poking fun at the structural integrity of these ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the jokes are based on a format which is 100 years old, Bell feels that the comedy may be familiar to today\u2019s audiences given our current social climate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gallows humour is actually fairly similar to a lot of the very modern doom humour in terms of, like, it\u2019s a way of coping and laughing when everything sucks,\u201d says Bell.<\/p>\n

The ideas explored in Lenin\u2019s Embalmers<\/i> are primed for this type of humour.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest themes of the play is definitely power, and this idea of how power changes hands, as well as this idea of legacy, and what you are leaving behind, what you will be remembered for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Written by one of Canada\u2019s most produced playwrights, Vern Thiessen, Lenin\u2019s Embalmers<\/i> debuted in 2010, with the ending taking place in modern day. Thirteen years later, Thiessen is aware that the world has changed a lot since he wrote it. Because of this, he\u2019s given CCPA the chance to create something entirely unique.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very contemporary, it\u2019s very new,\u201d says Bell. \u201cBut along with our licence for this production, Vern has said, \u2018Hey, if you guys want to change the ending, feel free.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The cast and director worked together with Thiessen to present something more fitting to today\u2019s world. But one thing remains the same: no matter what, the world needs art. Not just art that deals with the abstract, but art that\u2019s self-aware about the time and space it\u2019s existing in, art that takes responsibility for what it\u2019s saying and what it implies. Bell, for one, takes that responsibility head on.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that we have talked quite a lot about is, no matter what you do, as an artist, you\u2019re always making a statement. With a play with the subject matter of Russian leaders\u2014and corrupt Russian leaders on top of that\u2014there\u2019s definitely a statement we\u2019re making, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lenin\u2019s Embalmers
\n<\/i>Various times, Thursday, November 30 until Sunday, December 3
\nVarious prices,\u00a0Canadian College of\u00a0Performing Arts
\nccpacanada.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What would you do if Joseph Stalin asked you to come up with a way to preserve Vladimir Lenin\u2019s corpse for all time? Success would change your life forever; failure would end your life abruptly. This is the high-pressure scenario two Jewish scientists found themselves facing in 1920s Russia, and the stage play of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,301],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-november-29-2023"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24716,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24714\/revisions\/24716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}