Uncle Vanya

I'm such a sucker for Chekhov. I typically get so lost in Russian literature, often feeling unworthy or under-educated to appreciate Doystoevsky or Tolstoy. But Chekov makes me laugh ... and jump ... and basically react along with the characters. I just love watching his world.

I wandered south of Union Square to the Classic Stage Company on E 13th. I've never been to this theater and found the three-sided 200 seat space intimate but strangely boxy. The audience sits around the stage which was designed with stairs leading to an upper loft and bedroom while below columns, chairs, the stairs, and a swing. These props seemed to create a porch, parlor, piano room, and bar area. While I liked the open feel of the set, I worried that some of the columns and structural aspects would block sight lines for the side seating areas. Since I'm a cheap-seats kinda gal, I was in the back row on the stage left side. And, yes, some moments during the show didn't allow me to see all the actions or faces but the direction and movement was choreographed well and this never bothered me to distraction.

Vanya (Denis O'Hare) is 47 and struggling with the value of his life. He's spent most of his hours working the family country estate with his niece, Sonya (Mammie Gummer), and various other supportive, familial hands. Recently his sister's husband, Professor Serebryakov (George Morfogen), has returned to the estate with his much younger new wife, Yellena (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Doctor Astrov (Peter Sarsgaard) has his own place nearby but often finds himself drawn to this home, to map his forests, find comfort in the old nanny Maria (Delphia Harrington), and perhaps to be near Yellena. Vanya, too, has his eye, head, and heart distracted by Yellena. But this isn't a happy home. Soon Serebryakov starts to demand too much and sets Vanya off to the point of chaos. Too much family has upset the balance and something, someone must give in if peace is to be restored.

The play opens with Astrov at first showing some signs of melancholy and reserve which soon gives way to angst and sorrow at the thought that life is "boring, stupid, sorrid." He ponders the thought that he has never truly felt anything meaningful in his core. In a bit of foreshadowing, he blames the Professor and his wife for creating some of this discord of late. Sarsgaard beautifully delivers what I think is his signature style of dissatisfaction to Astrov; the audience immediately feels his sorrow and sadness. 

As the family drama progresses, we see O'Hare deliver Vanya's more flippant and confrontative nature to the mix. I love when Vanya refers to the Professor as a soap-bubble. How magically insolent! As the characters drifted on and off stage, up stairs, around the rooms, we watch and waited for someone in the cage to loose control, and of course it had to be Vanya. 

The actors all did a great job, although Morfogen seemed to have stubbled in his family speech at the beginning, soon recovering his pace. The three leads really set the bar high and classically delivered a well-formed and entertaining Uncle Vanya. I enjoyed Gyllenhaal's refined, restrained performance as Yellena, not too flirty, strong, but enough small cracks that when her passion comes out, it feels released and you wish she could revel in it more. Sarsgaard had to start with sad emotions so I appreciated how he brought Astov back around to a place where it is obvious his feelings, which he protested to not having, are rawly released, unrestrained. O'Hare was having a fun time with Vanya, swinging from brooding to flirty to crazy, sometimes tugging at his tufts of hair framing his face with a sense of frenetic energy. I loved not knowing where he was going to go next with Vanya. 

The direction, sets, lighting, and sound all added to the classic delivery of the play. After the strange and irritative take on these elements in Hedda Gabler, I really appreciated a more traditional take on these important aspects of theater production. I believe good sound and lighting can just transport the audience into the time, place and space of the play. Crickets, wind, light seeping through the wood slats of the home all worked very well. The porch lights even swayed during the stormy part, subtlety accented by a few distant flashes of lightening. Yes, traditional but so very, very effective. All the movement, characters, and scenes were so nicely presented that the story had space, background, and room to bloom. Professionalism at its best.

So if you get the chance to venture away from 42nd street, you couldn't find a better way to spend some intimate time with Vanya and friends than down on 13th and 3rd.