2006
\nMurray Bramwell<\/p>\n
Uncle Vanya
\nby Anton Chekhov
\nTranslated by Adam Cook<\/p>\n
State Theatre Company of South Australia
\nDunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
\nOctober 17. Tickets $13.50 – 50. Bookings : BASS 131 246
\nUntil 4 November, 2006. <\/p>\n
Chekhov has challenged directors from the beginning. Stanislavsky found The Seagull such a puzzle he was prompted to invent an entirely new approach to actor training. Of Uncle Vanya, the second of the four great dramas which Chekhov wrote in the last eight years of his life, Stanislavsky declared himself baffled by its \u201csadness, hopelessness and merry whistling.\u201d He produced a great success, but many would still say he really only nailed the first two out of the three. <\/p>\n
In his impressive new production for State Theatre, director and translator, Adam Cook, has also gone for two \u2013 this time, the sadness and the merry whistling. That\u2019s fine and perhaps inevitable. Choices have to be made, in tone and pace, and in the elusive balance of tragedy and comedy which Chekhov\u2019s mercurial plays present. <\/p>\n
Cook\u2019s production is accessibly brisk in pace, warmly humorous in tone and handsome to look at. Mark Thompson\u2019s striking set has two etched concrete facades of the country house on each side of the stage, with two long wooden benches placed together allowing a panavision view of the characters in isolated proximity. Suspended cryptically above the stage is a huge brass gramophone horn \u2013 a reminder of his master\u2019s voice perhaps, a herald of impending change, certainly. Kathryn Sproull\u2019s intricately finished costumes, in fawns and mulberry, grey plaids and stripes, are excellent, as is David Gadsen\u2019s suavely understated lighting.<\/p>\n
Among the performances, Sean Taylor\u2019s Astrov (another of Chekhov\u2019s interesting doctors) is an apt mix of sensual cynicism and animated advocacy. The play\u2019s prophetic speeches – on the destruction of forests and environmental havoc to come – have, to say the least, uncanny urgency. Elena Carapetis as Yelena, the trophy wife of the ageing Serebryakov (Don Barker) is believably conflicted in her attraction to Astrov and rejection of Vanya. Like everyone in the house she desperately wants what she isn\u2019t going to get. <\/p>\n
Most forlorn in this respect is Sonya, niece to Uncle Vanya, besotted with the doctor and working herself ragged running the estate for her ingrate father. Jennifer Speake brings a quiet dignity and tristesse to the role. <\/p>\n
As Vanya, Garry McDonald splendidly captures the agitated inertia of the character and, realising his life\u2019s devotion is now looking ludicrous, he resorts to Keystone pistol shots. It almost looks like sanity compared to the gormless acceptance of events by those around him. Adam Cook is reminding us that the play is about change, not hopelessness. Neither we, nor Vanya, can avoid inconvenient truths and just go back to counting the kopeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrama of sadness and merry whistling\u201d The Australian, October 19, 2006, p.42.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2006 Murray Bramwell Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov Translated by Adam Cook State Theatre Company of South Australia Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre October 17. Tickets $13.50 – 50. Bookings : BASS 131 246 Until 4 November, 2006. Chekhov has challenged directors from the beginning. Stanislavsky found The Seagull such a puzzle he was prompted to invent an entirely new approach to actor training. Of Uncle Vanya, the second of the four great dramas which Chekhov wrote in the last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-state-theatre-company","category-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":956,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}