Bahia Watson and Tom Rooney in ‘Uncle Vanya’, Photo by Dahlia Katz
Chris Abraham’s production of Uncle Vanya, presented by Crow’s Theatre, is an intimate spectacle, a majestic world of light and texture that focuses our attention on the human frailty at the story’s core. It held me spellbound throughout.
As the heat of late summer gives way to autumn, the threat of a harsh winter on the horizon, a collection of extended family and in-laws gather on the country estate of an elderly, irascible professor, Alexandre (Eric Peterson), and his much younger second wife, Yelena (Shannon Taylor). Communal angst abounds in this tale of unrequited love, festering resentment and perpetual malaise.
Tensions flare when the professor announces his plan to sell the estate. Facing eviction and an uncertain future, long-suffering care-takers of the estate—Vanya (Tom Rooney) and his niece, Sonya (Bahia Watson)—are the most personally wounded by this news. A charismatic local doctor, Astrov (Ali Kazmi), an impoverished and dependent local landowner, Telegin (Anand Rajaram) and Vanya’s mother, Maria (dtaborah johnson), are caught up in the drama.
Aloof yet intensely present and aware, the old nurse, Marina (Carolyn Fe), is a quietly stabilizing force. As passions ignite around her, she knits, clears tableware and tends to the creature comforts of all concerned. She represents the essence of well-executed Chekhov—consistent attention to detail, revealing specific life yet never pulling focus from the whole.
Chekhov can be intensely moving, but he can also be an absolute drag. His characters are constantly lamenting their existence and can be insufferable if the tone isn’t properly managed. Too much Sturm and Drang will collapse upon itself. Abraham and his ensemble understand this intuitively. In their sure hands, the terrible burden of being a person on this planet is genuinely… funny! This lightness of touch allows the heavier emotions to rise naturally to the surface, where they feel authentic.
Liisa Repo-Martell’s adaptation of the classic is a subtle revision, adding a contemporary punchiness without drawing attention to itself. It honours Chekhov’s rhythm and style; the shape and texture is retained, she just dusts them off a little.
The audience is seated in-the-round with Julie Fox and Josh Quinlan’s vast set spread gloriously out before us and creeping into corners. This estate feels simultaneously grand and dull, the massive walls and roof beams towering over our heads, but always drawing our eyes to the minutiae of domestic life—an old phonograph spinning idly, abandoned piles of books beneath tables, floorboards giving way to pockets of dirt on the fringes.
Kimberly Purtell’s lighting is sensual, filling the space with shafts of sunlight that catch the haze hanging in the air. An oncoming storm is a moist, palpable presence and the atmosphere is always charged.
This actors’ physicality is expressive and revealing. Representing three generations, the cast exhibit telling differences in posture and stride that mark the stages of life. At each extreme, we see the ease of youth juxtaposed with the decrepitude of age. For some, even rising from a chair has significant physical cost.
As Vanya, a man caught in the middle, Rooney is riveting. Slightly stooped, though always in motion, he regrets his squandered potential and rails against life’s unfairness. In Alexandre, he sees the realities of old age that await him and desperately clings to Yelena, yearning for the youthful hope, beauty and enthusiasm she represents.
And the drinking! For the first time, I recognized how vital all that slurred speech and stumbling about is to Chekhov’s dramatic concerns: intoxication can bring such delicious escape, but that heightened state can turn, quite suddenly and without warning, from delight to abject despair.
Amidst all the stress and heartache, there is a moment of pure, unrestrained joy that stood out to me: Sonya and Yelena’s giddy reconciliation. In this moment, Watson and Taylor are a dizzying relief to each other and the audience, a gust of fresh air displacing the stifling murk of anxiety that surrounds them.
Uninterested in any sort of re-contextualization of the material, this is a solid and evocative production. Much care has gone into deeply resonant aesthetics and performance. The cast and creative team’s achievement here is truly awe-inspiring.