Uncle Vanya

In the intimate surroundings of Chichester’s Minerva Studio theatre, once again the festival have worked a miracle. How do they create the sense of remote open space, of fading grandeur and of an ideological age in its death throes in so small a room? But they do, and they do it with great style. Of course the intimacy of the space does help add to the oppressive nature of the play, and the tension as it build is tangible, ready to burst from the confines of the stage and enter the audience. But of course it does not – manners, traditions, style all prevail in the end, or at least they do on the surface. Underneath that thin veneer, that maintaining of appearances, much if not all is lost.

Roger Allam’s Vanya is a tragic buffoon, a desperate, lonely and disillusioned man trying to hold on to a thread of dignity and the slim chance of a life of his own and he is utterly brilliant. Dervla Kirwan as Sonya manages the incredible by playing plain convincingly despite being a stunningly good-looking woman. She shifts from fragile to strong and back with great skill and is totally compelling when on stage. Timothy West does arrogant with great aplomb, the academic as unworldly and unfeeling, and Lara Pulver as his beautiful young wife is chillingly cool and calculating – even when Sonya throws out the olive branch of friendship. Alexander Hanson as the doctor is dashingly handsome and disillusioned, one minute the eco warrior, the next deceitful and filled with lust. For Maggie Steed there is simply not enough to do but Maggie McCarthy is excellent as the old nurse, a far better role. Uncle Vanya, despite its age remains a scarily poignant indictment of the break down of a society and the despoliation of the planet.

Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 11 April 2012

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