Reviewed by Frank McKone
August 3
Playwright: Anton Chekhov; Adaptor: Joanna Murray-Smith
Director: Mark Kilmurry; Asst Director: Emma Canalese
Set & Costume Designer: Nick Fry; Lighting Designer: Matt Cox
Composer & Sound Designer: Steve Francis
Dialect Coach: Nick Curnow; Intimacy Director: Chloe Dallimore
Stage Manager: Lauren Tulloch; Asst Stage Manager: Christopher Starnawski
Costume Supervisor: Renata Beslik
Cast:
Nanny / Maryia – Vanessa Downing; Telyeghin – John Gaden AO
Yelena – Chantelle Jamieson; Serebryakov – David Lynch
Sonya – Abbey Morgan; Vanya – Yalin Ouzecelik
Astrov – Tim Walter
“I’d adapt a phone book in order to have a show at the Ensemble”, says Joanna Murray-Smith. And so said all of us in the audience yesterday afternoon.
That’s because Murray-Smith achieved her Writer’s Note aim. She points out that “the eternal dilemma for contemporary Artistic Directors” is whether “Chekhov’s language needs to change” when “historical language [such as in the standard Penguin translation by Elisaveta Fen ©1954] sometimes doesn’t work for comedic effect. It sometimes sounds stilted or pompous to modern ears…. So by deftly translating the intention into language that fits it best in this moment now can make the play sing in the way more effectively as it was intended to.”
Of course, it was intended to be a satirical comedy in which Uncle Vanya’s plight in relation to the proposed selling of the family estate would be both a laughing matter and a serious concern for middle class Russians in 1899 attending the Moscow Art Theatre. And, of course, in 1954 the F- word would never have been allowed to cater for “younger audiences who aren’t used to having to ‘work’ to understand a play”, as Murray-Smith describes them today.
But, of course, at 83 I laughed along with the rest, many of whom were probably not much younger than me at the Saturday afternoon matinee. Even attempted homicide made us laugh in nervous reaction – though I wonder how that was received in Chekhov’s time.
And I say that because Mark Kilmurry and the terrific team of actors kept us right on the correct satirical edge so close to reality that often we couldn’t be sure whether to laugh or not. All the actors were equally in tune with Murray-Smith’s style, so that though we knew we were watching this late-19th Century specifically Russian society, we had no trouble believing these characters were real.
In particular I would like to give a little extra praise to Abbey Morgan. Her teenage Sonya could so easily be overplayed, especially in her scene with the older Yelena talking of her unrequited love for the doctor, Astrov. Yet Abbey made a speech like this:
“O Lord, give me strength…. I’ve been praying all night…. I often go up to him, start talking to him, look into his eyes…. I have no more pride, no strength left to control myself….. etc. etc.”
into both Chekhov’s satire of overblown young love and at the same time was just sad enough for me to feel sympathy when Yelena asked “And he?” and Sonya replied “He doesn’t notice me.”
In other words, Ensemble Theatre has done both Joanna Murray-Smith and Anton Chekhov proud.
And because of her deftly translating Chekhov’s intention, we see that this is not a play just about Russia in 1899, but a play which through our laughter makes us acutely aware of how the threat of social breakdown – all those F-words – is just as real for us today.
P.S.
For those confused by Russian names here’s the list of the characters in the standard form. It’s a bit like a phone book:
Serebriakov, Alexandre Vladimirovich, a retired professor
Yeliena, Andryeevna (Helene Lienochka), his wife, aged 27
Sonia (Sophia Alexandrovna), his daughter by his first wife
Voinitskaia, Maryia Vassilievna, widow of a Privy Councillor and mother of the professor’s first wife
Voinitsky, Ivan Petrovich (Vania), her son
Astrov, Mihail Lvovich, a doctor
Telyeghin, Ila Ilyich (nicknamed ‘Waffles’), a landowner reduced to poverty
Marina, an old children’s nurse, and A Workman
The action takes place on Serebriakov’s estate – which Sonia’s Uncle Vanya claims was given to Maryia when her daughter married Serebriakov, and so cannot be sold by Serebriakov without approval from at least his daughter Sonia (now a young adult) and preferably from her Uncle Vanya as well.
