The New York Times: IN WATCHING MIXED-BREED dogs play, I’ve often thought that mutts are more dog than the purest purebred. They’re the essence of caninity, all mud, turf and wet fur. So, too, with dramatic works: Some are purebred — think of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” (1611) or Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (1962) — while others are mad rambles, off leash and messy. This brings me to Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” (1897), a singularly psychologically destabilizing piece of theater that’s now being seen anew as a study of post-Covid paralysis, not to mention the existential dread of watching your life slip away by the spoonful.
2 comments:
I really like the comparison the author draws to breeds of dogs when comparing types of theatre to each other-the scrappy ones seem more alive and human than the other, more produced ones. I think it's important to keep in mind that as theatre makers we need to put our humanity into plays as well. I've never seen, read, or even heard of this play, "Uncle Vanya," before. I think this show is particularly resonant with social media, and the two drive a nice contrast between others desires and your own, and how managing the balance of what you pay attention to is a tricky thing. The director of Penelope this season mentioned he was interested in exploring how our phone tailor themselves to us-how the experience of going though someone else's phone is boring, and even gross feeling at times. Phones pump manufactured desires into our consciousness, and I think this play could be really interestingly done if set in a more modern era.
This article reminded me of a production of a script similar to this (inspired by the same story,) called “Vanya”, presented by The National Theatre starring none other than the brilliantly talented and incredible actor Andrew Scott. I thoroughly enjoyed this production, although very different from the one discussed in the article, as it was entirely a one-man-show set in present times. Although I didn’t see the production that this article is specifically referring to, I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of the script. I find it interesting that this article categorized Uncle Vanya as a possible study for post-Covid paralysis. Although this wasn't my first idea upon watching it, I totally understand the correlation. “not to mention the existential dread of watching your life slip away by the spoonful.” I also enjoyed how this article commented on the simplicity of the text, rooting it in reality while still being so dense in character depth and layered stories.
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