Classic Stage Company, New York
Last summer, at least three different Uncle Vanyas bestrode New York stages. Recent years have also witnessed fields of cherry orchards, a small flock of seagulls, and at least a dozen sisters. With Anton Chekhov's tetralogy seemingly exhausted, the Classic Stage Company has revived his lesser-known 1887 play, Ivanov, with a new translation by Carol Rocamora. Ethan Hawke performs the title role under Austin Pendleton's direction. (Polymathic Pendleton also plays Lebedev, standing in for an injured actor.)
Like The Wood Demon, Uncle Vanya's precursor, Ivanov offers a chance to see the theatrical master not yet certain of his powers. Chekhov renders some of its scenes and speeches adroitly, but its construction falters, particularly in the final act. No wonder, soon after revising Ivanov, Chekhov would cry out that he needed new endings, complaining in a letter, "The hero either gets married or shoots himself!
Last summer, at least three different Uncle Vanyas bestrode New York stages. Recent years have also witnessed fields of cherry orchards, a small flock of seagulls, and at least a dozen sisters. With Anton Chekhov's tetralogy seemingly exhausted, the Classic Stage Company has revived his lesser-known 1887 play, Ivanov, with a new translation by Carol Rocamora. Ethan Hawke performs the title role under Austin Pendleton's direction. (Polymathic Pendleton also plays Lebedev, standing in for an injured actor.)
Like The Wood Demon, Uncle Vanya's precursor, Ivanov offers a chance to see the theatrical master not yet certain of his powers. Chekhov renders some of its scenes and speeches adroitly, but its construction falters, particularly in the final act. No wonder, soon after revising Ivanov, Chekhov would cry out that he needed new endings, complaining in a letter, "The hero either gets married or shoots himself!
- 11/12/2012
- by Alexis Soloski
- The Guardian - Film News
- Baltasar Kormákur’s domestic hit might make international waves, especially since sales company Celluloid Dreams are on board. The company has picked up the Icelandic rom-com White Night Wedding a should be successful in parting with distribution rights in several pockets of the globe. Coming off his huge domestic box office hit with Jar City - the filmmaker will return to English-language fair with Run for Her Life. Loosely based on Anton Chekhov’s play Ivanov, White Night Wedding tells, the story of Jon, a university teacher who is trying to figure out his life and himself during one bright summer night in the island of Flatey, which lies in the Firth of Breidafjordur in West Iceland. White Night Wedding, or Brudguminn in Icelandic, is a light comedy about the joy of life and search for happiness, although with bittersweet undertones, for there is never light without some streaks of shadow.
- 4/2/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
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