INTERVIEW: New Chekhov revival makes connections to 2018
Photo: Platonov, or The Play With No Name stars Darrell Stokes and Irina Abraham. Photo courtesy of Maria Baranova / Provided by PR-ism with permission.
Platonov, or A Play With No Name, Anton Chekhov’s early and unfinished play, will receive a rare revival in New York City thanks to the creative team from the Blessed Unrest theater company. Jessica Burr is set to direct a new translation by playwright Laura Wickens. Performances run Feb. 17 to March 11 at the New Ohio Theatre on Christopher Street in New York City.
Wickens has taken Chekhov’s original 220 pages and cut them down to 60 pages, and she makes connections in the text to the playwright’s other works, including The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters. There may even be a few references to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet for good measure.
The new translation makes parallels to many modern-day issues and news stories, including the #MeToo Movement, gun possession and leaders with seemingly unchecked power.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Burr and Wickens. In the following interview, they chose to answer together, unless otherwise noted. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What can audiences expect from Platonov?
Brilliant actors behaving badly! In Platonov, the characters make selfish, often desperate, choices for pleasure and power, and this can be funny and also painful, as we see ourselves all too clearly in them. The audiences should not expect to see characters drinking tea but rather a daring train rescue, missed kisses and dancing.
What themes did Anton Chekhov touch upon that are still present in 2018?
A man of status with questionable sexual ethics runs rampage. A society fixated on the chaos of the moment ignores their collapsing economic system. A culture of open gun possession leads to rash and deadly consequences. This focused, raw and riotous adaptation rips the heart out of Anton Chekhov’s scandalous first play, and shows how Chekhov, 140 years ago in Russia, was piercing through the issues we are facing in America today.
How did you two collaborate together?
Wickens: I write, and Burr adds the magic! By that I mean that the script is very spare yet emotionally dense. Burr creates the physical life of the world and characters to support the lean textual frame. When we collaborated on The Storm, there was a time passing of 13 days between two lovers, and she developed a pas de deux that told the progression of the relationship — much better than anything that I could write.
Burr: One of the things that I love the most about Laura’s writing is the space that she leaves me inside the text to play. My actors work very physically, and this allows them to shine, and for us to tell multiple, complex stories simultaneously.
Are there challenges with directing and translating Chekhov’s play — being that it’s unfinished and rather long? Were there many changes to the text?
It’s a fun puzzle to translate and direct — in that we can shape the unfinished text to suit the story we want to tell. There’s much freedom, and yet we have remained true to the original narrative written by a teenage Chekhov. However, Laura has cut the text from 220 pages to 65. Six actors now deliver all the intensity of the five-hour classic in 90 minutes!
How challenging do you believe, from an actor’s perspective, will this play be to perform each night?
This play requires actors to have a lightness of spirit for the comedy plus a raw vulnerability for the love stories and violence. The challenge is being able to instantly switch between the two. While this can be challenging, even brutal for the actors, it also shows off their amazing skills.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Paltonov, or A Play With No Name runs Feb. 17 to March 11 at the New Ohio Theatre at 154 Christopher St. in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
