NEW YORK—“When real life is wanting, one must create an illusion,” so says the title character in Anton Chekhov’s 1899 work, “Uncle Vanya,” a story of souls adrift in a sea of the mundane, where the status quo is both their comforting ally and worst enemy.
Translated by Carol Rocamora and directed by Austin Pendleton, the play is being given a nicely serviceable revival at Classic Stage Company.
Ivan Petrovich Voynitsky a.k.a. “Uncle Vanya” (Denis O'Hare), is not a happy man. He spends his days managing an estate in the Russian countryside alongside his niece, Sofya (the excellent Mamie Gummer). The estate was purchased as a dowry (with Vanya’s inheritance) for his now-deceased sister’s marriage to Professor Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov (George Morfogen).
Although feeling trapped on the estate (under other circumstances he could, he feels, have been a great writer, along the lines of Dostoevsky),Vanya does his duties faithfully. Yet he is also prone to making sarcastic remarks about everything under the sun, in an attempt to make himself feel somewhat alive.
Those at the estate experience an upheaval when the now retired Aleksandr returns there to live, accompanied by his much-younger (and very pretty) second wife Yelena (Maggie Gyllenhaal). However, it quickly becomes apparent the two are ill-suited to life in the country, with its apparent lack of intellectual stimulation.
The professor is used to staying up late and having meals at odd hours, in contrast to a place where people pretty much get up at dawn. As for Yelena, she is quite simply she is bored out of her mind, spending her days moping about the lack of anything to do. Although she does turn the heads of both Vanya and Mikhail Lvovich Astrov (Peter Sarsgaard), the doctor for the district, who finds reasons to come to the estate almost every day since Yelena’s arrival—visits Sofya happily welcomes, as she has loved Mikhail for years.
Eventually, Aleksandr suggests selling the estate so he and his wife can live comfortably elsewhere. Not surprisingly, this does not sit very well with those that may lose their home and livelihood should the sale go through.
Translated by Carol Rocamora and directed by Austin Pendleton, the play is being given a nicely serviceable revival at Classic Stage Company.
Ivan Petrovich Voynitsky a.k.a. “Uncle Vanya” (Denis O'Hare), is not a happy man. He spends his days managing an estate in the Russian countryside alongside his niece, Sofya (the excellent Mamie Gummer). The estate was purchased as a dowry (with Vanya’s inheritance) for his now-deceased sister’s marriage to Professor Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov (George Morfogen).
Although feeling trapped on the estate (under other circumstances he could, he feels, have been a great writer, along the lines of Dostoevsky),Vanya does his duties faithfully. Yet he is also prone to making sarcastic remarks about everything under the sun, in an attempt to make himself feel somewhat alive.
Those at the estate experience an upheaval when the now retired Aleksandr returns there to live, accompanied by his much-younger (and very pretty) second wife Yelena (Maggie Gyllenhaal). However, it quickly becomes apparent the two are ill-suited to life in the country, with its apparent lack of intellectual stimulation.
The professor is used to staying up late and having meals at odd hours, in contrast to a place where people pretty much get up at dawn. As for Yelena, she is quite simply she is bored out of her mind, spending her days moping about the lack of anything to do. Although she does turn the heads of both Vanya and Mikhail Lvovich Astrov (Peter Sarsgaard), the doctor for the district, who finds reasons to come to the estate almost every day since Yelena’s arrival—visits Sofya happily welcomes, as she has loved Mikhail for years.
Eventually, Aleksandr suggests selling the estate so he and his wife can live comfortably elsewhere. Not surprisingly, this does not sit very well with those that may lose their home and livelihood should the sale go through.
