Onkel Wanja (Uncle Vanja) - Schauspielhaus Graz

This review is for the Monday, October 25th, 2010 performance at the Probebühne.

Acting - 9/10

Every actor in this piece did wonderful justice to their parts. There was such precision and detail in creating real humans with wants and needs. Chekhov writes wonderfully complex and chillingly real characters with the emotional ups and downs written into the text. He provides the road map for the actor, but the actor chooses the speed and lane when driving the piece. And this cast gave us a very interesting and moving performance.

At the start of play we see old Ilja Iljitsch Telegin (played by Otto David) walk across the stage slowly and surely so to get some tea from the samovar. He took his time, setting up the place and his character, the silent movement kept me intrigued. Later in the Act when Telegin defends his name, David's slight nervous tug on the back of his cardigan showed us a somewhat nervous side to this poor old landowner. 

Also, at the start of the play we are introduced to the overworked doctor Michail Lwowitsch Astrow, played by Florian Köhler. Köhler consistantly shows us a doctor who is almost at witts end because of work and his unrequited love for Jelena. Köhler's uses body language that is somewhat shakey and never quite put together, this reinforced the characters uneasiness in life and emitted his stress to the whole audience. His boisterous drunkenness was highlighted by a very physically destructive Köhler which almost gave an expressionistic feel to his anguish. I am thinking of when Köhler climbed up the upstage lighting bar and hung off of it, thus displaying Astrows a confusion of emotion. This emotionally unstable and overworked nature of Astrow was very well countered by Köhler's display of wide-eyed romance and faith in nature during Astrow's forest speeches. I enjoyed watching this actor in all scenes, and was truly invested in his character's journey because the artistry of the actor was bang on in showing us his struggle for normalicy and the love of Jelena. Nevertheless, this is where my only criticism come in, I believed his love for Jelena throughout the entire piece but when the two of them were brought together for one last time before Jelena's depature there was some detachment. I no longer saw this as the woman Astrow loves and I'm not quite sure what ended the feel for the romance that was well presented throughout the piece. Perhaps it may have been a too evident coolness in the physicality of Köhler? It was as if there was no longer that magnetic pull towards her. I cannot quite explain it, but somehow the body language and presented energies told me of his defeat long before it was truly pronounced and somehow I missed that struggle for one last moment of togetherness before losing the women he never even had to begin with. But that is just one minor criticism, otherwise I think the performance was great.

Jelena (Sophie Hottinger) kissing Astrow (Florian Köhler) goodbye

Speaking of Jelena (Sophie Hottinger), I enjoyed watching this character's journey as well. In the first act, Hottinger did a great job convincing not only Wanja that she is happy in her marriage, but also the audience and her character. It is only in her obedient reception of her husbands verbal abuse do we see that her life isn't as wonderful as her beauty. Hottinger shows a woman who can 'keep up appearances' despite being romantically crushed on the inside. Hottinger does a good job of not making Jelena appear as a victim, instead she shows a woman who realizes her mistakes and faults and continues to trudge on the only way she understands, by doing nothing at all important. There were times that Hottinger seemed too outwardly emotional to be believeable but in retrospect that may have been a character  choice that Jelena uses her frail womanhood to attract attention to herself.  I liked the details Hottinger employed to present the inwardly nervous Jelena like picking at her nails or playing with her robe, dress, tea cup or hair. I also like that Hottinger made the relationship between Jelena and her step-daughter Sonja truly appear to be one of caring and not false masks. In this sense, she won my sympathy and interest into the character's story.

Katharina Klar, who played Sofja, did a great job of emboding a strong minded, caring and humble young woman. Klar's scenes with Wanja felt true and connected. In fact Klar's smiling face made all her interactions with the other characters seem like pleasant ones, despite what might have been said in them. This shows us an open and caring Sofja and paired with Klar's bouncy walk and light state of being, Sofja seems like an optimistic youth.  These qualities displayed by Klar gets the audience on Sofja's side so that we can empathetically feel the pain of Astrow's rejection.  I feel when Klar was stronger when acting opposite someone directly than in the last scene while giving the end speech to a spot light. Here she dwindled in efficacy - however, I believe that has more to do with script and lighting.

Sonja (Katharina Klar) comforting a crushed Vanja (Franz Solar)

As for Wanja, played by Franz Solar, his rises and falls in the character arch made this show as affective as it was. At first I wasn't sure this somewhat short man would fill the large shoes of the perpetual worker Wanja, but those doubts were quickly squashed after Wanja's rant about the Professor in the first act. Here I was taken aback by his power and drawn in by interest to hear every arguement he was setting up irreconcialably. Solar displayed the phyisical strength of Wanja but also showed us the uncertain, scared and lonely man behind the power. This was mainly through physicality and voice. His calm singing voice made the 3 or 4 sad songs sung in a happy way all the more chilling because it was like seeing through the character's mask (not the African mask). I was particulary affected by his blow-up in the third act. Solar's whole body was clenched in anger, even his out stretched arm of accusation quiwered with anger. Solar stomped up and down a few of the stairs beside the audience which echoed in the wood of the seating area which allowed every audience member to viscerally experience the rage trying to escape from Wanja. Some people in the audience couldn't take the rumbling, loud and deep accusations of Wanja so they would just laugh (maybe people who aren't used to visceral power like that from the Theatre of Cruelty), whereas I was completely shaken by the outburst almost to the point of tears (helped by Telegin's wimpering to stop). All I can say is it was magnificent.

Finally, Gerhard Ballach's portrayel of Alexander Serebrjakow - the Professor, served as the imminent catalyst to Wanja's outburst. Without Ballach's cool and collected togetherness, Wanja's physical rucous would not have been as effective, their polar difference in physicality was essential to the success of the scene and the show as a whole. Ballach really captured the swager and arrogance of the Professor through his stiff walk, nose in the air, and artful articulation. Also, Gerti Pall as Marija Wojnizkaja - Wanja's mother, served as a good spectator inside the play for the audience, she really made the character seem like a useless member of the family which added to the haze of their dull and depressing lives.

Direction - 8/10

Ingo Berk set this production of Onkel Wanja in the present which is an idea I am rather weary of especially when considering that this piece is naturalistic meaning that the time period it is set in has a large effect on the story. Somehow placing this story in the undisclosed present in an undisclosed place gave the piece the feel of gloom. I think this was the goal for the feeling of the entire piece, espeically when one considers the music between acts. Moving on, all the relationships were interestingly explored. The stage and props were used to aid the story and did not detract from the experience.
The inclusion of pop songs which highlighted the inner termoil of the characters but sung in a cheerful choral manner left a chilling feel in my heart. Also the inclusion of some very expressive and normally out of place acting set ups (the stark reading light for the Professor) lead to a very symbolic effect keeping the audience engaged with the story. And finally the scene of Wanja's explosion the setup of having the family sit in a large semi circle facing the audience and having Wanja in the audience was ingenious and very effective. As stated in the Acting critic this employment of the Theatre of Cruelty made this experience unlike anything you could experience at a movie theatre or from television. It was real, it was live theatre.

Design - 8/10

The design was very minimal and simple. Clothing for the most part didn't seem to match, but everything worked for the characters. The simple shirt and pants of Wanja, the brown corderoy jacket of Astrow, and Jelena's floral dress all worked very well. In terms of the set, it was mainly chairs, a table with food, cups, and a samovar, and a very large floral carpet that gave the look of Russian folkart. The overall design aided the directors conception for a modern Uncle Vanja very well. As for the sound effects, I thought them odd and somewhat distracting.

Special Effects - 8/10

There really was only a gun shot and it worked well.

Affectiveness - 9/10

Really affective. First of all Chekhov is one of my favourite playwrites so I am rather bias. But I do believe that this well-concieved and executed production made a lasting imprint of the mind's of every member in the audience. I will think about this play anytime I think about the Schauspielhaus Graz or about Chekhov from now on.

Overall - 8.5/10

This piece was truly wonderful. The play is a strong piece to begin with but the detailed acting and the well-conceived direction make the piece particularly affective. I particularly enjoyed being viscerally affected by the downfall of Wanja, it makes this production especially interesting and unique. This is definately a production worth seeing and telling your friends about. I would like to see more theatre like this, so that I can walk out of the venue thinking I have experienced something television and films can't every give me. Very, very good.