I've never seen a play twice.
I've flirted with the idea, but I've never followed through. On a practical note, it's hard to justify spending the money when you could always see something new, and on a more spiritual note, I was always afraid that it would take away some of the magic. It's not a secret that part of the beauty of live theatre is that you live it. In the present. There are no do overs.
I first saw Uncle Vanya at the Almeida a week ago. We're talking Chekhov here, so I was prepared for three hours of not a whole lot happening, but hoping for an electric air in the theatre... and my God, did I get it. The air was thick with... I don't know! Just that magic! Tension and romance and expectancy. There were stretches on the stage where these characters were just living their lives, and as the stage revolved (yes, the stage was turning the whole time and at different speeds, or at some times it would stand still, depending on the action on stage) you could catch a glimpse of every character. One of the recurring lines of the play is that boredom is contagious... you see each character deal with that. Of course as the play progresses, that boredom becomes essentially dangerous, but near the beginning, it is lazy. You see Elena bathing in the sun, nanny knitting, Cartwright playing music (the same riff over and over, always cut short to tune or because some sneezes) and Johnny rolling a cigarette.
I had a customer come into the pub well before I saw the show, and she told me she really didn't like it. She held Chekhov high, and couldn't understand the production's take, down to the anglicizing of the names. Well, no offence to this customer who's name I don't even know, but you are taking Chekhov from a literary standpoint. It's a play! And as a play, it captured Chekhov perfectly, I felt. It wasn't slow, it was just life! And in life, it's not all high stakes; people eat and sleep and take time for themselves. That's life. And life can be absurd. That's the comedy within the tragedy, and this production captured that. I couldn't believe how much laughter there was! Even when Vanya pulls a gun on the Professor and misses two easy and direct shots, the audience laughs. "Another failure," he says.
The anglicizing of the names worked beautifully. Icke did it to normalize the situation. In Russian, these names are ordinary and add to the blandness of certain characters. Vanya is a nickname for John, hence Uncle Johnny. If you were going to use the Russian names, it would stick out and pull an English audience out of that blandness.
The most telling translated name was that of Johnny's sister; her name translates to Faith. And when she died, Faith was truly lost.
Paul Rhys broke my heart. You see this 47 year old man who has come to realize that he has wasted his life. In the first two acts, he throws those lines out there. He means it -- he means that he feels he has done nothing -- but you don't fully realize what that means until the third act, when the little that he has is nearly taken from him. He has spent his life working for someone else, living on so little to make sure the Professor, someone he thought should be admired, would have as much as possible. He gave up his inheritance and dedicated his life to this piece of land, toiling all the while, never finding the courage to gain love. Work, work, work. And when the Professor suggests that they sell the farm... the break down filled my body with such tension. Tension I didn't realize I was holding until the lights came down and I was able to breathe again.
"My life is wasted," he screams. "I'm talented, I have a brain, I'm brave -- and if I'd led a normal life, I could have been a Schopenhauer, could have been a Dostoyevsky -- God -- I'm mad, I'm going mad -- I don't know what I'm saying -- mummy, I'm desperate -- mummy -- help me --"
Seeing a grown man sobbing and calling for his mother like a child, a mother who you see so silent, stoic and ambivalent, truly breaks you.
I'm skimming the script, rereading bits of the third act and am getting teary eyed.
It's the kind of play that you immediately want to learn from. It ends, and you immediately want to go and LIVE YOUR LIFE.
Jessica Brown Findlay was the other actor who shined for me. Her portrayal of Sonia was beautiful and tragic. You see this young woman going down to the same path as her uncle, and you just want to shake her and yell "WAKE UP!!!!" The relationship between Sonia and Johnny was visible even through physicality, with her mirroring his hands in pocket stance, or the way the both held their elbows behind their backs and twisted their hands in anxiety. I'm used to seeing Findlay play feminine characters -- strong in both Downton Abbey and Oresteia -- but still feminine. Her transformation into tomboy was full, so that I almost didn't recognize her!
I know I'm not an award winning actress, but I tend to watch a performance and whisper to myself, "Yea, I could do that!" With her performance? I really don't think so.
Her relationship with Michael was... frustrating. Just tell him the truth!! And when she gets so close, saying "... out of all the people I've met -- you're the best one..." your heart just melts.
And in the end of the play, once everything returns to normal and Vanya and Sonia are sitting to once more work, she suddenly jumps up and runs after Michael. I was shocked! I don't remember that from the original script, and I really thought, "Maybe it'll be different! Maybe she will live a life, find courage, get OUT!" only to find thirty seconds later that she saunters back into the room and returns to the account books.
In my context class, my tutor had us analyze Sonia's last speech, in which she encourages Vanya to just keep working in this life, and in the afterlife, they will both rest at last, and be rewarded. But she doesn't really believe it. I was waiting for that speech, and Findlay beautifully delivered it. The translation was so moving.
"You've never been happy. In your whole life. But you wait. We'll be at peace. We'll breathe. We'll rest."
As I said, I couldn't stop thinking about the play. Three days after I saw it, I went and bought the script. And four days after that, I took another friend and went to see it again.
No regrets.
I sat on the other side of the theatre and so had a completely new perspective of it. Because of the revolve, I saw new things and felt new things. I definitely saw more of Vanya, and was moved even more than I was the first time. The audience found more comedy, which added a new perspective as well.
I just can't believe how much I love this play. I can't shake it. And I don't know that I want to. It encompasses the most important lesson that can be learned in life : "Don't waste it."
"I could have done that. I could have been that. My life."
I've flirted with the idea, but I've never followed through. On a practical note, it's hard to justify spending the money when you could always see something new, and on a more spiritual note, I was always afraid that it would take away some of the magic. It's not a secret that part of the beauty of live theatre is that you live it. In the present. There are no do overs.
I first saw Uncle Vanya at the Almeida a week ago. We're talking Chekhov here, so I was prepared for three hours of not a whole lot happening, but hoping for an electric air in the theatre... and my God, did I get it. The air was thick with... I don't know! Just that magic! Tension and romance and expectancy. There were stretches on the stage where these characters were just living their lives, and as the stage revolved (yes, the stage was turning the whole time and at different speeds, or at some times it would stand still, depending on the action on stage) you could catch a glimpse of every character. One of the recurring lines of the play is that boredom is contagious... you see each character deal with that. Of course as the play progresses, that boredom becomes essentially dangerous, but near the beginning, it is lazy. You see Elena bathing in the sun, nanny knitting, Cartwright playing music (the same riff over and over, always cut short to tune or because some sneezes) and Johnny rolling a cigarette.
I had a customer come into the pub well before I saw the show, and she told me she really didn't like it. She held Chekhov high, and couldn't understand the production's take, down to the anglicizing of the names. Well, no offence to this customer who's name I don't even know, but you are taking Chekhov from a literary standpoint. It's a play! And as a play, it captured Chekhov perfectly, I felt. It wasn't slow, it was just life! And in life, it's not all high stakes; people eat and sleep and take time for themselves. That's life. And life can be absurd. That's the comedy within the tragedy, and this production captured that. I couldn't believe how much laughter there was! Even when Vanya pulls a gun on the Professor and misses two easy and direct shots, the audience laughs. "Another failure," he says.
The anglicizing of the names worked beautifully. Icke did it to normalize the situation. In Russian, these names are ordinary and add to the blandness of certain characters. Vanya is a nickname for John, hence Uncle Johnny. If you were going to use the Russian names, it would stick out and pull an English audience out of that blandness.
The most telling translated name was that of Johnny's sister; her name translates to Faith. And when she died, Faith was truly lost.
Paul Rhys broke my heart. You see this 47 year old man who has come to realize that he has wasted his life. In the first two acts, he throws those lines out there. He means it -- he means that he feels he has done nothing -- but you don't fully realize what that means until the third act, when the little that he has is nearly taken from him. He has spent his life working for someone else, living on so little to make sure the Professor, someone he thought should be admired, would have as much as possible. He gave up his inheritance and dedicated his life to this piece of land, toiling all the while, never finding the courage to gain love. Work, work, work. And when the Professor suggests that they sell the farm... the break down filled my body with such tension. Tension I didn't realize I was holding until the lights came down and I was able to breathe again.
"My life is wasted," he screams. "I'm talented, I have a brain, I'm brave -- and if I'd led a normal life, I could have been a Schopenhauer, could have been a Dostoyevsky -- God -- I'm mad, I'm going mad -- I don't know what I'm saying -- mummy, I'm desperate -- mummy -- help me --"
Seeing a grown man sobbing and calling for his mother like a child, a mother who you see so silent, stoic and ambivalent, truly breaks you.
I'm skimming the script, rereading bits of the third act and am getting teary eyed.
It's the kind of play that you immediately want to learn from. It ends, and you immediately want to go and LIVE YOUR LIFE.
Jessica Brown Findlay was the other actor who shined for me. Her portrayal of Sonia was beautiful and tragic. You see this young woman going down to the same path as her uncle, and you just want to shake her and yell "WAKE UP!!!!" The relationship between Sonia and Johnny was visible even through physicality, with her mirroring his hands in pocket stance, or the way the both held their elbows behind their backs and twisted their hands in anxiety. I'm used to seeing Findlay play feminine characters -- strong in both Downton Abbey and Oresteia -- but still feminine. Her transformation into tomboy was full, so that I almost didn't recognize her!
I know I'm not an award winning actress, but I tend to watch a performance and whisper to myself, "Yea, I could do that!" With her performance? I really don't think so.
Her relationship with Michael was... frustrating. Just tell him the truth!! And when she gets so close, saying "... out of all the people I've met -- you're the best one..." your heart just melts.
And in the end of the play, once everything returns to normal and Vanya and Sonia are sitting to once more work, she suddenly jumps up and runs after Michael. I was shocked! I don't remember that from the original script, and I really thought, "Maybe it'll be different! Maybe she will live a life, find courage, get OUT!" only to find thirty seconds later that she saunters back into the room and returns to the account books.
In my context class, my tutor had us analyze Sonia's last speech, in which she encourages Vanya to just keep working in this life, and in the afterlife, they will both rest at last, and be rewarded. But she doesn't really believe it. I was waiting for that speech, and Findlay beautifully delivered it. The translation was so moving.
"You've never been happy. In your whole life. But you wait. We'll be at peace. We'll breathe. We'll rest."
As I said, I couldn't stop thinking about the play. Three days after I saw it, I went and bought the script. And four days after that, I took another friend and went to see it again.
No regrets.
I sat on the other side of the theatre and so had a completely new perspective of it. Because of the revolve, I saw new things and felt new things. I definitely saw more of Vanya, and was moved even more than I was the first time. The audience found more comedy, which added a new perspective as well.
I just can't believe how much I love this play. I can't shake it. And I don't know that I want to. It encompasses the most important lesson that can be learned in life : "Don't waste it."
"I could have done that. I could have been that. My life."