Review-Uncle Vanya-LCSD

  3-11-13

By: Tom Hope

I’ll not waste words – turn off your mobile, cancel all appointments and catch the final matinee show this afternoon (starts 2.30pm): you will see the finest of dramatic writing interpreted by the finest of theatre companies.

I’ll not waste words – this is genius magnified by genius magnified by genius.  The MDT has been touring since the early 1990s but this is their first time in Hong Kong.  It might not be their last but this is your last chance this time round to see Chekhov performed the way Chekhov might actually have wanted it performed – Stanislavski’s method taken to another (and in my view higher) level, combining virtuosity of production values and ensemble acting skills to meld bitter-sweet humour with grandly abstracted themes whilst maintaining a hypnotic sense of the historical particular.

If you want to know the plot/background to Vanya and Chekhov, click here.  If you want to know about Lev Dodin’s MDT, click here.  But I recommend instead you just click here to book your ticket.  And go!

(If you can't get through the Urbtix firewall, just go to Kwai Tsing and buy your ticket there.  The theatre was half full last night - for a production which, if it were playing in London or New York, would have sold out months ahead, such is the MDT's reputation.)

My only other recommendation (if you have the time and the script to hand and don’t speak Russian) is to skim-read ‘Uncle Vanya’ beforehand.  That way, you’ll have less need to look at the side-titles, which generally ran out of sync and distracted from the theatrical experience.  The principal joy of watching this production stems from how – despite the care with which everything has been so carefully choreographed – the actors interact with each other so intuitively.  Chekhov famously told Stanislavski that his actors didn’t listen to each other.  Well, Lev Dodin’s do.

Uncle Vanya is playing at the Kwai Tsing Theatre through today, (Sunday, the 3rd). For more information, click here.


Rate This Show: 1 2 3 4 5 Audience Rating: 4.0

Comments

  • danwi
    04 November 2013

    Watched in Kwai Hing. The acting was excellent and the audience sounded like they were really enjoying it. Sadly, I was sitting near the back of the theatre and couldn't see the surtitles clearly so I had no idea what was being said.

  • Brad Jacobs
    05 November 2013

    I don't think people can say bias anymore. 2 shows in the past month got 5 stars and they were foreign language productions.

  • Neil Harris
    05 November 2013

    I loved it despite the challenge of reading titles. Some super acting not all of it naturalistic in my view!

  • Veronica Lam
    08 November 2013

    I caught the matinee on Sunday ! I love that they breathed humour into a lengthy and slow-moving script that could have turned utterly boring. I've seen a production that took the 'serious' approach, but I much prefer the 'super acting' actually. It's funny. It is precisely how plainly the characters spoke of their agony that made the air bleak. There is nothing more sad than seeing people's resignation to fate. It's like 'yeah, right. Life's shit anyway why waste tears crying about it."

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