Chekhov not short of humour

Romanian actor Cristina Ionda worries about her English

When you have had a stage and screen career spanning 45 years it is time to take things a little less seriously, says veteran actor Kevin J. Wilson. So you may wonder why he picked four Chekhov works for his Olfarts Comedy Company's debut show. Many people summing up the Russian writer would employ words such as "complex" and "serious".

They would be wrong, says Wilson, who points out that Chekhov's early works were comedies known as "the Chekhov vaudevilles".

Out to show Chekhov's funny side, Wilson has dusted off four of those lesser-known works as the foundation for Olfarts' first production, Red Shorts: The Boar, On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco, The Pink Stocking and The Swansong.

But rather than simply presenting these, it has another thread. In Red Shorts, a fictitious Russian theatre group is touring the Chekhov plays around New Zealand and suffering a serious case of culture shock.

For starters, the players are astounded by our smoking laws, the orchestra has decided busking in Queenstown might be more lucrative, and there is no stage crew in sight.

It is up to a Romanian tap dancer, picked up in a bar in Bucharest and now manager of the Moldova Arts Theatre Company, to ensure everything will be all right on the night.

It sounds manic but fits perfectly with Wilson's desire to mix classical theatre with clever European clowning and character acting. After Red Shorts, Wilson says he may consider tackling a Machiavelli work, but make it a musical.

"I've lost interest in film and television because I've done it for so many years," he says. "It's the same sort of characters and there is not a lot of choice once you are more than 45 in the range of roles you are offered.

"I wanted to go back to where I started, which was theatre and comedy, so I thought I'd start a fun theatre company that I wouldn't take too seriously."

The cast of Red Shorts includes Michael Lawrence, Peter Cox, David Stott and Denise Snoad. One actor adds a touch of authenticity to proceedings - Cristina Ionda, a Romanian, who hosted a television series and worked in the state-funded theatre in her homeland.

Ionda and husband George Tudor, who directs Red Shorts, left Romania two years ago after seeing a documentary about New Zealand on the Discovery channel. Both signed up with the actors' agency run by Wilson's wife, Kathryn Rawlings.

Playing the frazzled manager of the Moldova Arts Theatre Company will be the first acting Ionda has done since her arrival.

"I'm not nervous about getting back on stage but I am about the English," she says. "For an actor, the only place to be is on the stage."

What: Red Shorts
Where and when: Herald Theatre, June 7-23