REVIEW: The Heart of a Dog, Golden Goose Theatre 25 – 29 April 2023

‘a worthy attempt to animate a difficult, historically significant, text’ ★★★

Daniel Passi has adapted Mikhail Bulgakov’s anti-Stalin satire ‘The Heart of a Dog’ for his company Overtone Theatre. With a large nod to physical theatre, a cast of seven, and a multi-use steel trolley, Overtone explores the wild and wacky world of Soviet satire, when the cost of the authorities getting the jokes was an NKVD bullet in the head. That history makes Bulgakov’s novella compelling, but it also makes it opaque, and this production doesn’t quite thread that needle. The comedy is broad, the physical representation of the dog was a bit sloppy, the removal of the consequentiality brings the dodgy sexual politics front and centre. The energy of the actor playing dog number two, Oliver Lyndon, was good to watch, and made the imprecision of his fellow cast-members apparent.

Overall, a worthy attempt to animate a difficult, historically significant, text. Daniel Passi has form with ambitious literary adaption. He brought a pair of Robert Frost poems to the stage in 2021 with considerable effect, and his visual flair and taste for exploring off-beat texts is admirable. This didn’t quite achieve the desired result, but the attempt is wholly praiseworthy.

Golden Goose, 25-29 April 2023

Professor Phillip - Jack Tivey

Bobby - Denise Elena (dog 1) / Oliver Lyndon (dog 2)

Doctor Bormenthal - Mohit Mathur

Zina - Anastasiya Ador

Shvonder - Rio Pettersen

Patient #1/Militiaman - Mayuresh Mishra

Reviewed by Chris Lilly