Mini Review: A visit with 'Uncle Vanya' at Kansas City Actors Theatre
Chekov’s masterpiece gets personal in a sharp new adaptation.
An invigorating, often funny production of “Uncle Vanya” at the dependably top-quality Kansas City Actors Theatre is well worth a road trip. The production, crisply directed by Matt Schwader, marries a well-rounded cast with a 2018 adaptation/translation by Richard Nelson that makes the 128-year-old classic astonishingly relatable — “as naked and fully human an Uncle Vanya as we’re likely to see,” as Ben Brantley put it in the New York Times.
A family tree inside the program underscores the relationships that are the meat of Chekov’s play. Vanya is but a member of this Russian family, and the actor playing him but a member of the ensemble. Scott Cordes as Vanya rails at levels that escalate to a heartbreaking, humiliating final scene.
The rest:
- Hillary Clemens, beautifully capturing the conflicting nuances of passion, despair, and pragmatism of Vanya’s young adult niece Sonya
- Chioma Anyanwu, in turns cold and very hot as Elena, Sonya’s stepmother
- A brusque Victor Raider-Wexler as her father Serebryakov, selfish, arrogant, distant, maddeningly clueless but still somehow inviting compassion
- Nedra Dixon as Marya, his mother, useless but dignified
- The charming, precise Sarilee Kahn as Marina, unrelated by blood but thoroughly in the mix as a guileless nanny and peacemaker
- A particularly affecting Jerry Mañan as Astrov, the doctor who arrives to attend to Serebryakov’s gout and stays for the tempestuous months of the play’s action
Although Chekov’s plays are not autobiographical, I suspect a lot of his passion and sorrow went into Astrov, and Mañan richly captures both in his philosophizing and his physical action. His deep worry for the alarming rate of reduction in his country’s forests and the ensuing climate disaster they portend is not the play’s central issue, but it’s both a striking element and a beautifully delivered metaphor for his character’s particular flavor of despair.
A handsome, practical set by John Rohr and lighting by Zoe M. Spangler that gorgeously caresses it join Matt Snellgrove’s costumes, perfect for each character, especially Sonya’s practical yet flattering workman’s clothes.
The show — in the cozy, comfortable, deeply raked City Stage at Union Station (no bad seats) — runs until August 24.
— Anne Welsbacher is The SHOUT’s performing arts editor.
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