Kate, Tim and I had a conversation about Chekhov this past weekend (with little baby sleeping on Tim’s chest) – Tim’s doing Astrov in Uncle Vanya – they’ve just begun rehearsals, so it was cool to hear about it, and cool (as always)to talk about Chekhov. Kate’s the one who made me read the The Plays of Anton Chekhov
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Dearest: I saw Brien Friel’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya at the Gate a number of years ago, and liked it enormously. But it was because I like Friel [and many of the Irish actors]. I would prefer to see Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. love, dad
I don’t think I own Friel’s adaptation – I’ll have to pick it up, he’s so wonderful.
So while you and your friends were discussing Chekhov, I was discussing the complexities of going #2 in the Space Shuttle… I’m sure your discussion was far more enlightening…
What a great quote. So beautiful.
One of the things I like best about the Schmidt translations (and also the Friel translation of Vanya, which is the one we used when I did it) is how funny it is. Especially when people talk about the Professor and what a pretentious windbag he is. A total hypochondriac who walks around “like he just stepped off of Mount Olympus.” So funny! And the scene when the Professor proposes selling the estate. It’s heart-wrenghingly sad and awful, but so funny–I rarely got through it without laughing (snorting) in rehearsal. I mean, the estate’s not even his! And it never occurs to him that he’s being insane. God, the whole thing is brilliant.
And another thing: I miss you. Having you come here and hang out and talk about Chekov, and politics, and life, and work, and laugh about everything else and then have you LEAVE is just mean.
Kate – ha!!! //And it never occurs to him that he’s being insane.//
Beautiful!
You know, the translation I had had for years was pretty stilted – I loved Chekhov but I certainly did not see the humor, at least not how SLAPSTICK he could be – and I was baffled at the stories of how Chekhov thought Stanislavsky ruined his plays, etc.
When I saw The Seagull – Marcia Gay Harden (wait – her name suddenly sounds wrong) – anyway, she played Masha, and she came onstage and said her first line, which I think is, “I am in mourning for my life” and the way she said it got this ENOMROUS laugh. You just saw her self-dramatic posing, her love for her own tragedy … it was totally ridiculous and hysterical.
I love that. I love when a production can really tap into that sense of the absurd.
Must go get the Friel translations.
Kate –
I know – it was such a great visit. I feel like I was there for a week.
And I’m still suffering from withdrawal. So so good to see you both, and to meet baby, and also to get some alone time with you. This last visit had it all!
Hey, guess what; JetBlue as of now does not fly to Chicago (at least not out of Newark) – but it will begin to do so in jan. 2007. Cheap cheap cheap. I’m a huge jet Blue fan. So there will definitely be more visits because I just can’t take it.