The human body, a complex organism housing an even more intricate soul, is assiduously refashioned to a political prop. Where words of wisdom used to flow, lips have been sewn shut. Eyes which spun threads of light into a unique perspective are forever sealed. In mangling Lenin’s corpse, Stalin proclaims that he is made immortal. Once a man with a vision, now the puppet of a treacherous fascist. As Lenin himself puts it when the lights first dim and Heidi Winters Vogel’s “Lenin’s Embalmers” begins: this is “what happens when revolutions cross the line.”
“Lenin’s Embalmers” starts out as a macabre yet upbeat story, where discordant scientists Boris (Alex Schmidt ’27) and Vlad (Benjamin Donaldson ’29) agree to embalm Lenin’s corpse in hopes of carving out better lives for themselves. With Stalin (Eamon Colglazier ’28), Krasin (Nicholas Kvachkoff ’29), and the apparition of Lenin himself (Jeremiah Clayton ’26) breathing down their necks, they push through the pressure to service their country — the same country that spares no opportunity to have them stare down the barrel of a gun. By the second act, their delicate balance between personal growth and professional development begins to corrode faster than the body that they maintain.
Clayton brings his signature debonair performance to Lenin, last displayed only a week ago at the Malcolm X Institute’s Red Velvet Show. He excels at humorous body language and poetic line delivery, though the choice to insert his charisma into many important scenes between his fellow stars can distract from a few character moments. Despite the fact that there is almost always something going on between the extras in the background, Boris and Vlad still draw the audience’s attention during many key moments. Their banter, while funny, also feels authentic to the way that academics bicker. When their reforged friendship is tested again, the ensuing drama hits harder than Stalin’s cane.
The supporting cast deserves just as much praise. Stalin and Krasin play a deliciously comical dynamic as the demonic boss and his pathetic underling. Leo Trotsky (Preston Parker ’26) is privy to a few memorable exchanges with Stalin, and Parker plays a particularly hilarious side role. Robin Vogel plays three characters named Nadia and impressively distinguishes the voice, demeanor and personality of all three. The entire ensemble cast consistently sets the tone perfectly, bringing levity, drama and slapstick wherever necessary.
Stage managers Carson Wirtz ’26 and RJ Sturgill ’28 efficiently organize a set with a beautiful panache to match the cast’s bold costumes. To tie it all together, Gabrien Smith ’27 perfectly times the piano with the action on stage.
Winters Vogel’s directing is incredibly dense. She weaves precisely timed physical movements and prop interactions between a dynamic set, though her blocking choices can sometimes create literal and emotional distance between this detailed work and the audience. Much of the show gravitates toward the back of the stage, which is especially disappointing because the top of both acts avoid this problem and are better for it. When the apron empties and the actors become pinned upstage, some lines are subsumed by the distance, some backs are turned to the audience and the brilliant physical acting becomes harder to detect.
Despite this alienation, once Winters Vogel opens the stage, her directing shines. In a particular example early in the play, she stages a confrontation between Trotsky and Stalin with a sharp visual metaphor. The second act opens with a creative use of the Ball Theater’s architecture, with plenty of other surprising uses of the space peppered throughout the production.
As is typically the case with each new production, “Lenin’s Embalmers” is a valuable addition to the Fine Arts Center’s roster. Its twisted wit and snappy presentation make up for its faults and still leave the viewer with a smile one moment and a grimace the next. Indeed, it is ironic that a play about a dead man is among the liveliest I have ever seen.