The Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's comic drama UNCLE VANYA is indisputably one of the greatest plays ever written and the director Robert Icke is one of the rising stars of British Theater thanks to his acclaimed productions of the Oresteia and 1984 so the combination of the two is irresistible.
I must say I was hoping he would take a more radical approach to the oft performed classic, in the event the only departures from the norm are modern dress and sparse cube of a set that revolves occasionally to give different perspectives.
There’s a lot of context you need to be aware of before you can appreciate the significance of this hour or so of drama.
I make a point of trying to see the positive in everything I review unless the piece is lazy and cynical. THE END OF LONGING is lazy, cynical and cruel. It’s a first play by Matthew Perry who starred in the world’s best loved U.S TV sit-com, FRIENDS, in the 1990s.
From the moment the overture starts, without dimming of the house lights, applause for the conductor or warning of any kind, hopes are high for a playful, challenging yet engaging production of this opera, whose action and themes can be so difficult for a modern audience to relate to, despite some of Mozart’s best loved music. And when a video artist appears stage right and starts scrawling “The Magic Flute” on a chalkboard which then, by some multi-media magic becomes the backdrop, and a Foley artist appears in her booth stage left ready to create the sound-world of this fantasy land we are about to enter, expectation is tangible.
The Master Builder is probably Henrik Ibsen’s most autobiographical piece. Inspired by his fascination with a younger woman, the Norwegian playwright created a story which examines the existential and universal themes of guilt, desire, creativity and despair. The Old Vic’s fantastic production of The Master Builder directed by its artistic director Matthew Warchus and starring Ralph Fiennes, is a tribute to Ibsen’s compelling work.