UncleVanya, Conor McPherson's new adaptation of Chekhov, starring Toby Jones and Richard Armitage, adds soliloquies, but loses drama
Problems surface, however, with the text. Every writer/translator interpreting Chekhov adds, to a greater or lesser degree, their own voice. Working from a literal translation by Helen Rappaport, Conor McPherson has provided what he describes as an adaptation, but it’s more than usually “adapted.”On the plus side, McPherson loses almost all of the archaisms of the language of this 1898 play and gently makes it sound more contemporary.
At the risk of being labelled a purist, it is also bizarrely un-Chekhovian. The greatness of Chekhov lies chiefly in his controlled understatement. His characters almost never say what they mean, allowing us instead to sense and feel their thoughts and desires. He deals in show, rather than tell. By having characters explain themselves and their motives, scenes are leeched of texture and tension, and audiences are robbed of the pleasure of gleaning what lies beneath.
She’s matched by Jones’ restless, witheringly sarcastic Vanya, ricocheting between indolence and frustration at his arrogant and unusually bullish brother-in-law . Jones’s emotional precision means he’s alive to — and enlivens — every beat of the text, but not everyone is on his level.
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