Theatre Reviews

Chekhov's sad play set in a big house is no less affecting in this version by Brian Friel. The revered writer has always shown a dab hand at portraying lost souls, who are caught in a stagnant existence and who find it difficult to express their true emotions.

And then there are those who 'pass through' and offer advice. Yet their mutterings only serve to compound an already bleak situation. After they move on, those who are left behind pick up the shattered pieces and learn to cope admirably.

'Uncle Vanya' is timeless in its appeal and in Friel's version, references to endangered forests and possible climate change are given heightened expression. Indeed, the wooded backdrop in Liz Ascroft's set indicates a lack of foliage - an estate in decline. The Russian people that cross its threshold are a collection of beings, weighed down by petty grudges and nonsensical notions about what is love.

Vanya (Roe), along with his niece Sonya (Belton) tend to the estate owned by Vanya's brother-in-law Professor Serebryakov (Kavanagh), who is present for his summer visit with his wife Elena (Walker). She exudes beauty, and attracts much interest from Vanya, but also from the visiting Doctor Astrov (Calf) a sensitive man with a drink problem.

While he painfully declares his love for Elana, she cannot find it within herself to part with her husband, however plain and irrelevant he really is. In actually fact, the qualities the doctor admires in an individual are more evident in Sonya's personality, who makes no secret of her admiration of him.

She may have had him if life were different, if she and her Uncle had not viewed Serevryakov as a great man and instead gave expression to his many flaws and weaknesses. A classic case of those who wished they could turn back the clock and live life over again.

While Chekhov's story is bleak - though it can be argued that his work should be played strictly for laughs - and there are elements of farce here, Uncle Vanya is essentially a series of set pieces that elicits quiet desperation. Friel's script and Lefevre's direction encapsulate the latter and while the tendency for a rather mannered form of acting is apparent early on, its dissipation as events folded was certainly welcome.

In what could have been rather ordinary fare if left in other hands, the performances of Owen Roe and Cathy Belton certainly elevate this interpretation. Roe's desperate Vanya, particularly in his advances towards Elena and his outburst against Serebryakov, is in marked contrast to the charming and somewhat comical side that also pervaded his character.

Roe's portrayal of these diverse emotions is spot on. Sonya's words of comfort for her 'beaten' Uncle and her undeniable strength that will see her and her alone carry the burden into the future is given poignant expression by Belton in what was an outstanding turn.

The support is not bad either, from Stella McCusker's suitably calm Marina; Tom Hickey's ourageous Telegin; Anthony Calf's confident, yet doubting doctor to the sheer pomposity of John Kavanagh's Professor Serebryakov.      

James McMahon