"Uncle Vanya" by Anton Chekhov

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre.

The relevance to today’s current experience is an interesting point.  The constrictions, the remoteness of Russian rural life set in 1895 affected mental health, finances, ambitions and relationships. And this play is all about relationships, which I found the most interesting aspect, maybe because the relationships twisted and turned and affected every one of the characters. And then there's Dr Astrov's forward thinking regarding regeneration and recycling.

Vanya and his niece Sonya manage the family estate to support Sonya’s father, a professor named Serebryakov, and his younger second wife, Elena in the capital. Vanya’s sole friend Astrov, a doctor, struggling against rural poverty and peasant ill-health.

The professor retires. He and his wife come ‘home’. We find out which characters have feelings for each other and many home truths are revealed throughout. 

The family, holed up together, have their emotions stretched, and when the Professor gathers them all together for a family meeting about the future, the fragility of them all come to the surface with an explosive result.

I've never really seen Chekhov as a writer of comic scenes but I found quite a bit of this play to be humorous. The part where Sonya tests the waters for the Doctor's affections is almost like a schoolgirl asking for a friend. And then when Elena acts as a go between for Sonya, under the premise of showing interest in the good doctor's charts is a lovely pair of mirthful scenes.

I liked the fact that the play continually breaks the fourth wall with several of the actors also acting as narrators to the audience.

Danabha Johnson as Vanya starts off as a good humoured character who likes to let everyone know that, in his mid forties, that he is getting old. There's then the scenes where he is trying to woo Elena, creating more comedy. By the end of the play though, he has developed a serious, and quite manic side, due to the intentions of Serebryakov to sell the property, that isn't really his to sell.

 

Jack Leo plays Dr Astrov, a character that comes across as quite camp, but we discover that certainly is not the case when questioned about possible intentions towards Sonya.

 

Ali Lit plays Sonya. A lovely, almost schoolgirl set of characteristics who does, and then does not want to find out if her unrequited love is going to be requited any time soon. Sonya shows that she has many troubles on her young shoulders, but will they get any lighter after Serebryakov and his wife vacate the farmhouse?

 

David Phillips plays Serebryakov, the main catalyst of many of these issues that arise. Wonderfully bossy with the image of being in charge and having all the answers, but are the answers what Vanya and Sonya want to hear?

 

Charlotte Thomas is Elena, married to the Professor but the object of two others' affections, who do their best to woo her. Elena knows that Sonya has the hots for the Doctor and tries to get some answers for Sonya. Wonderfully shallow, well why else would she marry an aging Professor?

 

Sue Drew is Marya, Vanya’s elderly mother and Sonya’s grandmother.

 

Amanda Hodgson plays Marina, the elderly nurse and housekeeper. She's not afraid to speak her mind either! There's a scene in the second act where she plays to the audience when she is dressing the set itself with the props, commenting on this and referencing her age; a wonderful piece of comedy acting, but I wasn't sure if this was maybe an act in hindsight of someone else forgetting to move the props and furniture, or if it was part of the direction! Either way, a delightful, human piece of theatre that put yet another smile on my face.

 

James Whitby, in his 17th Lace Market Theatre role, plays Ilya Ilich Telegin, nicknamed "pimple" due to the character's skin condition. He is a poor landowner who's allowed to live on Professor Serebryakov's country estate. He's Sonya's godfather and a respected family friend who also plays around with a guitar on stage.

 

Laurence Bembridge is Efim, a worker, or labourer on the farm, who takes on a very sinister image in the last scene of the play.

Collectively this cast create an extremely enjoyable and humorous piece of theatre which shows that Chekhov has a sense of humour, or is it all in the translation?

Translated and adapted by Cynthia Marsh who also directed the play. What I thought was done really well was that there were several spaces in the play which gives the play room to breathe and the audience to digest the information. This led to a nice mix of pace. All of the characters also got a few comic lines so there were no totally serious characters and no characters who were just playing for laughs. Again, this may also have been the result of the translation. Telegrin's nickname has been translated as "waffles" in the past but the choice of "pimple" straight away tells you why he has the nickname that he has. 

• Lighting Design is by Hugh Philip with operation by Hugh, Alan Green, Philip Hogarth and Amy Bermudez.
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• Sound Design by Matthew Allcock. The soundscape seems to be constant throughout and gives that lovely, peaceful rural atmosphere throughout the four seasons the play covers.

Matt was also responsible for the Graphics which completed the excellent set with scenes of the four seasons, as well as quite a chilling final section.

The Set Designer is Steve Musson. The set grows throughout the play and by the end we have a multi dimensional set design which creates such depth to the stage. Cleverly constructed to allow easy fold out sections as the story unfolds.

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• Stage Managers are Ann Booth and Linda Hoyland.

  

  
  
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• Wardrobe is thanks to Sue Drew, Linda Croston and Maddie Gould, along with the wardrobe team. There's one thing that you can always guarantee with the Lace Market Theatre, and that is the quality and diversity of the wardrobe department, and yet again, all the stops were pulled out in this period drama.

As the scenery and set expanded, so did the props count, all of which were thanks to Lesley Brown.

Choreography is by Amanda Hodgson.

Many people may think that Chekhov is "hard going", and some of his plays can be, but when you have a Director and Translator who streamlines an often two and a half hour play down to two hours with interval in order to highlight the comedic elements in the writing, and still keeps the relevance and seriousness of the dialogue, then you can guarantee an enjoyable experience of Chekhov. And of course, you have to have a quality cast as well.

If this is your first experience of Anton Chekhov, then you could not have chosen a better introduction.

"Uncle Vanya" is at the Lace Market Theatre until Saturday 18 April.