Reviews 2010
Reviews 2010
✭✭✭✭✭
by Ivan Turgenev, directed by László Marton
Soulpepper Theatre Company, Young Centre, Toronto
May 27-August 7, 2010
Soulpepper’s production of Turgenev’s A Month in the Country is a revelation. Though it is now considered one of the greatest Russian plays of the 19th century, Turgenev’s play is seldom staged and when it is, as in the Shaw Festival’s revival in 2007, it does not always succeed. This time, however, with Susan Coyne and director László Marton providing a fresh, colloquial adaptation and designers Andrei Both and Victoria Wallace shifting the setting from the 1840s to the present, its universal themes of ageing, desire and delusion shine more clearly than ever before.
Ivan Turgenev, most famous for his novel Fathers and Sons (1862), designated A Month in the Country a “comedy,” and Marton, unlike so many directors, takes him at his word. Fiona Byrne is radiant as Natalya, the central female character, married to the stolid Arkady (David Storch), who spends all his time at work or in hobbies. To while away the time she engages in a half-serious flirtation with Rakitin, played by Diego Matamoros as a marvellously detailed study in frustrated desire. Rakitin notices that Natalya has been on edge since the arrival of Belyaev (Jeff Lillico), the new young tutor for Natalya’s child. Much of the play centres on Natalya’s dawning realization that she has fallen in love with Belyaev and he with her. Byrne and Lillico beautifully capture all the joy and pain of every step of this fearful process. Yet, in Russian comedies tragedy is never far away. Turgenev ties Natalya’s love for Belyaev to her belief that she is still young and that her 17-year-old ward Vera (an excellent Tal Gottfried), is her rival. Natalya’s relationships with Rakitin and Belyaev ultimately lead to a bitter unveiling of human folly.
The twelve-person cast gives an ideal demonstration of fine ensemble acting. Small scenes like the proposal of Dr. Shpigelsky (Joseph Ziegler) to Bogdanovna (Nancy Palk) are comic gems of the highest order. Some may question the updated setting where actors in modern dress speak of coaches and give orders in French Yet, the setting helps Marton and his cast destroy any notion of Turgenev’s play as a museum piece. Andrei Both’s abstract set consists of nothing but doors. This is perfect for action that switches constantly between the indoors and outdoors and for a play where all characters feel they stand at the threshold of a new life, even if that new life turns out to be completely contrary to expectations. Standing on that threshold with them is a truly invigorating experience.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2010-07-13.
Photo: Fiona Byrne and Jeff Lillico. ©Cylla von Tiedemann.
2010-07-13
A Month in the Country