Pasa Reviews
Uncle Vanya
A taste for the classics fuels the Oasis Theatre Company, which set up shop in Santa Fe a year ago and has opened its 2018-2019 season with Uncle
Vanya, running Thursdays to Sundays through Oct. 28 at Teatro Paraguas. The troupe is presenting Anton Chekhov’s play in a 1988 adaptation by David Mamet. Not being a speaker of Russian, Mamet worked from a literal English translation of Chekhov’s text and devised a script that sounds more conversational than what would have seemed “realistic” a century ago. That said, one should not go to this production expecting the rapid-fire patter and profanity of plays like American Buffalo or Glengarry Glen Ross. Mamet’s retouching is self-effacing. Theater aficionados experiencing this version of Uncle Vanya would probably not find it Mamet-like at all, although it is enriching to know that it represents an early pillar of theatrical realism filtered through a later one.
The Oasis production, directed by Brenda Lynn Bynum, does not try to emphasize that connection. In fact, the tempo throughout is markedly relaxed. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it yields an approach that seems more eloquent than colloquial, a series of declaimed arias and duets.
It is an attractive production that derives good use from modest means. The setting is that of Chekhov’s time — Uncle Vanya was premiered in 1899 — with antique furniture and decorations aptly conveying the idea of a modestly affluent country home. Jeff Tarnoff’s lighting highlights them effectively throughout. This is mostly an indoor play, but drapery painted with birches serves as a bow to the garden setting of the first act. Costumes similarly suggest the turn of the 20th century and the bourgeois economic ordinariness of Vanya and his cohorts, the resident overseers of the estate owned by the Serebryakovs, his in-laws via his late wife. The earth tones of their outfits stand in contrast to the stylishly ruffled, fur-trimmed reds of Yelena (Mrs. Serebryakov).
A strong performance comes from Jody Hegarty Durham, a disdainful and often dislikable Yelena, yet one who gains viewers’ sympathies for being trapped in an unhappy marriage (Steven Oakey plays her husband grandly) and unsuited to this isolated estate, “dying of boredom with nothing to do.” Nicholas Ballas is an engaging Astrov, the alcohol-infused doctor who is the object of two women’s affections (a self-referential touch from Chekhov, who was himself a physician) and who protests that everyone has become infected by the idleness of the Serebryakovs. Joey Beth Gilbert is charming as Sofya, the young lady in this entourage, although she does not quite convince us that love has eluded her due to her being unattractive, which the actress is not. At the heart of the play is James Jenner, who portrays Vanya as a kindly soul, though one who is knocked off balance and responding brusquely when facing the possibility of change in what he considers his misspent life. The smaller roles are upheld gallantly by Argos MacCallum (the impoverished landowner Telegin, who provides occasional guitar music), Juliet Salazar (as the nurse Marina), Jojo Sena-Tarnoff (as mother-in-law Mariya), and Armando Hernandez (as workman Yefim).
One might desire some tighter line-readings as well as broader arcs in the scenes, which are sometimes fragmented by momentary visual responses or gestures. But overall, this is a solid and satisfying rendition of a revered stage classic, with all its claustrophobia, ennui, inebriation, inclement weather, and “sad autumn roses.” — James M. Keller
The setting is that of Chekhov’s time, with antique furniture and decorations aptly conveying the idea of a modestly affluent country home.