Semyon Semyonovich (Paco Tolson) was the biggest loser in Moscow, and then he decided to commit suicide.  Now that you have the main idea, lets get the details down.  Goodbye Cruel World (a Roundtable Ensemble piece, which ended its run at the ArcLight Theater in February) is an adaptation of Nikolai Erdman’s 1928 Russian comedy The Suicide.  When it was written it was the object of competition for several Russian theatres; that is until big bad Stalin put a stop to it as part of his first five year plan to crack down on so-called dissident elements.  So that put a damper on things until 50 years later when Moscow finally allowed a performance. It was a crying shame that the playwright was dead by then.

The play focuses on the relationship between societal and individual ideals and puts a satirical spin on the often dark and forbidding idea of suicide.  While other plays seek to explore the psyche of the pained protagonist, this one takes a look at the big picture and shows us the various ways that people tied to the victim will either deal with or take advantage of his final curtain.  Take for example Maria (Tami Stronarch) and Serafima (Cindy Cheung), Semyon’s wife and mother-in-law respectively, who at first can’t put up with his nonsense, but as soon as he tries to commit suicide they bend over backwards to get him anything he wants including a tuba and a constant stream of amusing stories;  they even entertain his silly notions of moving into the street to save on rent.  It doesn’t make any sense but it’ll do, as long as our loser without a job stays alive.

On the other hand we have Alexander Petrovich (Curran Connor) the newly widowed and adulterous man who runs the shooting range.  He plays the concerned neighbor at first and even smacks Semyon around a little to make him forget thinking about taking is own life.  Then we find out that several people approach Semyon, asking him to kill himself for their cause and write a suicide note that will bring their cause fame and attention.  He was no longer a loser but the hero of possibly the Russian Inteligencia, small business, the theatre, and the church.  Turns out they were paying Alexander Petrovich very handsomely so that when Semyon killed himself, Alexander would write the suicide note advocating for them. They all even threw a going away party for big hero Semyon Semyonovich, but there was one little problem:  he couldn’t do it.  Semyon put the gun in his mouth but he couldn’t pull the trigger.  He tried multiple times counting to 15 and even 1000, but he would always come up with some excuse and every single number was a different facial expression and noise.

This unique satire creates comedy from communism and slapstick from suicide.  It’s about someone who realizes what he has to lose right before he is about to lose it all.  In the end, life is a precious thing.  Even for the biggest loser in Moscow.