ПЕРВЫЕ СТАТЬИ ИЗ АМЕРИКИ "ЧИКАГО ТРИБЬЮН"
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‘Uncle Vanya' in Russian - real Chekhov survives titles
By Doug George, Tribune reporter
March 12, 2010
If your sparkling wine comes only from Champagne, your Colombian coffee from Caldas, we have an "Uncle Vanya" for you. Hailing from St. Petersburg, Russia, the Maly Drama Theatre is coming to Navy Pier with a production of Anton Chekhov performed in Russian. The story - the retired professor Serebryakov and his young wife come home to their family estate, disrupting the lives of his daughter Sonya and her Uncle Vanya - plays out over three hours with projected English translations. Lev Dodin, artistic director of Maly Drama Theatre since 1983, answered our questions about the production via e-mail through a translator. Here's an edited transcript.
Q
How would you describe the Maly Drama Theatre and its place in the Russian theater world?
A
We have a permanent company of actors, most of them my ex-students. These actors (have worked) together for years and decades. We have a repertoire of 17 productions, most directed by me. Some are 25 years old, some recent, like "Uncle Vanya" (2003). As for (our place) in the Russian theater world, it's not my place to define it. I like to say that we try to represent Russian theater abroad and European theater in Russia.
Q
Chekhov can have a subdued pace, this play is performed in Russian with English titles, it has a three-hour running time. Can that be a hurdle?
A
You know, Chekhov is not to blame. Everything can seem excruciatingly boring if nothing is happening onstage. I've seen such boring musicals, melodramas and action movies. What I believe with my whole heart (is that) people come to the theater to see a show about themselves, about real feelings that they can recognize. If a production is "alive" - if the actors onstage are not just wearing costumes, striking poses and trying to remember the words this or that long-dead writer wrote ages ago - then the production of a truly great author will never be boring.
It's so easy to say Chekhov is boring. Because it's very easy to direct a boring Chekhov and to act Chekhov in a boring way. The eternal problem of doing Chekhov onstage is that the actors are always smaller than characters. It's true for any great classic play - be it Chekhov or Shakespeare - but at least in Shakespeare this discrepancy between actors and characters is more self-evident. Shakespeare writes about kings and princes, and we all know kings and princes feel and live differently than us mere mortals. With Chekhov there's a different fallacy - the characters seem so like us that we often don't stop to think that a character written by a great author is always bigger then us.
Q
There are moments of comedy in "Uncle Vanya." How does that survive surtitles?
A
We've played in different situations - bad surtitles, the equipment breaking mid-show, surtitles in a wrong language, surtitles for a long play - you name it. "Uncle Vanya" works well with surtitles in general and English surtitles in particular - in fact, when we played London we discovered new meanings in the Chekhov text. In the very first lines of the play one character asks another "Have I changed much?" and the answer is "Yes, you've changed a lot. You used to be so handsome, but now you've grown old." We never saw these lines as funny - maybe tragic. But the British laughed out loud. So we look forward to seeing what American audiences make of Chekhov - we might learn something new again.
Q
It seems like every American writer likes to name-drop Chekhov as an influence.
A
Isn't that interesting that everyone has his own Chekhov? We recently opened Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night," and so often during rehearsals, the actors would say "Hold on, but that's pure Chekhov." For me the genius of Chekhov is that Chekhov tells us that the worst ordeal for a human being is life itself.
dgeorge@tribune.com
Uncle Vanya
When:
March 17-21
Where:
Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier
Tickets:
$65-$75 at 312-595-5600 and
chicagoshakes.com
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
chicagotribune.com
‘Uncle Vanya' in Russian - real Chekhov survives titles
By Doug George, Tribune reporter
March 12, 2010
If your sparkling wine comes only from Champagne, your Colombian coffee from Caldas, we have an "Uncle Vanya" for you. Hailing from St. Petersburg, Russia, the Maly Drama Theatre is coming to Navy Pier with a production of Anton Chekhov performed in Russian. The story - the retired professor Serebryakov and his young wife come home to their family estate, disrupting the lives of his daughter Sonya and her Uncle Vanya - plays out over three hours with projected English translations. Lev Dodin, artistic director of Maly Drama Theatre since 1983, answered our questions about the production via e-mail through a translator. Here's an edited transcript.
Q
How would you describe the Maly Drama Theatre and its place in the Russian theater world?
A
We have a permanent company of actors, most of them my ex-students. These actors (have worked) together for years and decades. We have a repertoire of 17 productions, most directed by me. Some are 25 years old, some recent, like "Uncle Vanya" (2003). As for (our place) in the Russian theater world, it's not my place to define it. I like to say that we try to represent Russian theater abroad and European theater in Russia.
Q
Chekhov can have a subdued pace, this play is performed in Russian with English titles, it has a three-hour running time. Can that be a hurdle?
A
You know, Chekhov is not to blame. Everything can seem excruciatingly boring if nothing is happening onstage. I've seen such boring musicals, melodramas and action movies. What I believe with my whole heart (is that) people come to the theater to see a show about themselves, about real feelings that they can recognize. If a production is "alive" - if the actors onstage are not just wearing costumes, striking poses and trying to remember the words this or that long-dead writer wrote ages ago - then the production of a truly great author will never be boring.
It's so easy to say Chekhov is boring. Because it's very easy to direct a boring Chekhov and to act Chekhov in a boring way. The eternal problem of doing Chekhov onstage is that the actors are always smaller than characters. It's true for any great classic play - be it Chekhov or Shakespeare - but at least in Shakespeare this discrepancy between actors and characters is more self-evident. Shakespeare writes about kings and princes, and we all know kings and princes feel and live differently than us mere mortals. With Chekhov there's a different fallacy - the characters seem so like us that we often don't stop to think that a character written by a great author is always bigger then us.
Q
There are moments of comedy in "Uncle Vanya." How does that survive surtitles?
A
We've played in different situations - bad surtitles, the equipment breaking mid-show, surtitles in a wrong language, surtitles for a long play - you name it. "Uncle Vanya" works well with surtitles in general and English surtitles in particular - in fact, when we played London we discovered new meanings in the Chekhov text. In the very first lines of the play one character asks another "Have I changed much?" and the answer is "Yes, you've changed a lot. You used to be so handsome, but now you've grown old." We never saw these lines as funny - maybe tragic. But the British laughed out loud. So we look forward to seeing what American audiences make of Chekhov - we might learn something new again.
Q
It seems like every American writer likes to name-drop Chekhov as an influence.
A
Isn't that interesting that everyone has his own Chekhov? We recently opened Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night," and so often during rehearsals, the actors would say "Hold on, but that's pure Chekhov." For me the genius of Chekhov is that Chekhov tells us that the worst ordeal for a human being is life itself.
dgeorge@tribune.com
Uncle Vanya
When:
March 17-21
Where:
Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier
Tickets:
$65-$75 at 312-595-5600 and
chicagoshakes.com
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune