Camden New Journal
Publications by New Journal Enterprises
spacer
  Home Archive Competition Jobs Tickets Accommodation Dating Contact us
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
The Review - THEATRE by JOSH LOEB
Published: 26 June 2008
 

Alex Hunter and Elena Knight
Chekhov’s small town Russia brought to life

UNCLE VANYA
Lion & Unicorn Theatre

ACT Provocateur is made up of the kind of thespians it is impossible not to admire.
In a small venue above a Kentish Town pub the theatre company has staged productions that have consistently impressed in terms of everything from the acting to the costumes and sets.
At first glance the prosaic Lion and Unicorn might seem an unlikely place to enjoy classic drama. But while audiences are small, zest and ambition always abound with Act Provocateur.
Recent months have seen a romp through Chekhov’s oeuvre to characteristic effect. Such consistency cannot be due to mere coincidence; attention to detail and a love of theatre are at work.
The latest drama privileged enough to receive such treatment is Uncle Vanya. It is a play about grudges harboured by members of a bourgeois Russian family in a backwater of the empire.
The plot swerves around the relationship between Vanya and Alexander.
The latter is an elderly professor who regards aging with a horror so ferociously conveyed by Gil Sutherland as to be alternately frightening and comical.
Vanya, the brother of Alexander’s deceased wife, once admired Alexander but has come to loathe him for the disregard he pays his family in his pursuit of scholarly fame.
Sub-plots are woven in as the tension builds to a crescendo. Alex Hunter stands out as char­ismatic Doctor Astrov, whose feverish eulogies about forests and fauna enchant Sonya, the play’s most tragic character.
This is a story about people learning to live with the realities of their time and place – dreary small town Russia at the beginning of the last century. Tight and professional, this production does justice to Chekhov’s art.
Until July 13
020 7485 9897
line

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:


 

line
Click here to book your hotel
spacer
» A-Z of Theatre
» Local Reviews
» Local Listings
» West End Reviews
» West End Listings
» Theatre Tickets
» Theatre & Hotel Packages













spacer


Theatre Music
Arts & Events Attractions
spacer
 
 


  up