Uncle Vanya – review
The full cast of Uncle Vanya. Photograph: Robert Day
‘How to live one’s life – a guide to future generations’. No, this is not another nauseating self-help guide (I Googled just to make sure) but a line from Helena Kaut-Howson’s new version of Uncle Vanya. If you’ll forgive me a moment of plagiarism, Mr Chekhov, this production at the Arcola should be given the subheading: ‘How to do Chekhov – a guide to future directors’.
On a lazy autumn afternoon on a rural Russian estate, the members of Professor Serebryakov’s extended family are stewing in the muggy heat. Doctor Astrov (Simon Gregor) is waiting to treat the aging Professor’s case of gout. The Professor’s devoted daughter Sonya (Hara Yannas) and Vanya (Jon Strickland, who co-translated the play with Kaut-Howson), the brother of his first wife, are all out of sorts. Their daily routine has been thrown off-kilter since the Professor’s arrival. His new wife – the young, glamorous Yelena (Marianne Oldham) – does little to help. Idle and beguiling, she is the biggest distraction of all. All in all, this is not a happy household.
It almost goes without saying that this Chekhov play deals with disappointment, so synonymous are the two. The futility of existence is considered by every character as the world-weary Uncle Vanya mourns the loss of his youth, earnest Sonya longs for love, Dr Astrov’s ecological philosophies are doom-laden, and Yelena declares “I’m so bored I could die”.
Impressively, this production combines its desolate stories with some inspired moments of comedy. Simon Gregor does a great job at delivering some of the play’s lighter moments with his very physical delivery of some farcical set pieces. Chekhov’s infamous pauses have been carefully rethought and are played for laughs at all the right times. And Jon Strickland manages to make gunplay funny. This production has few faults, however; Paul Bull’s sound design misses the mark as ticking clocks and tweeting birds are distracting and overly literal.
This is a beautiful, haunting and thought-provoking production. Don’t miss it.
Uncle Vanya
Arcola Theatre
24 Ashwin Street, Dalston E8 3DL
27 April – 4 June 2011
Box Office: 020 7503 1646
Related: Interview: Helena Kaut-Howson