Here’s an odd pairing. On the one hand you’ve got Anton Chekhov, Russia’s poet of stasis, revered for a handful of delicate tragicomedies about minor aristocrats slipping into lives of quiet desperation. On the other, the Hypocrites, Chicago’s jolly party ensemble, known lately for a Pirates of Penzance done beach-bash-style, an H.M.S. Pinafore performed in PJs, an Into the Woods set in an outsize playroom. Even All Our Tragic—the company’s marathon effort to visit every extant Greek tragedy—played out as gory fun, meals thrown in.
The garrison constitutes the only show in town for these folks. And vice versa. A ragged coterie of soldiers gathers around the Prozorov table, savoring the touch of femininity and flirtation they find there. Of course, a tremendous amount of pining goes on. Masha falls for soulful Lieutenant-Colonel Vershinin, who’s looking in turn for relief from his whacked-out wife. Irina is pursued by nerdy-sweet Baron Tuzenbach and his scary pal, a choleric misfit named Solyony. The elderly, alcoholic, ever-present army doctor Chebutykin serves as a kind of Ghost of Yearnings Past inasmuch as he claims to have loved the sisters’ mother back in the day.
Through 6/6: Mon and Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM the Den Theatre 1329 N. Milwaukeethe-hypocrites.com $28
