Durang does quirky Chekhov at Trinity

Posted 11/27/13

“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” Christopher Durang’s Tony Award-winning quirky comedy that takes hilarious liberties with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, is given one great production …

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Durang does quirky Chekhov at Trinity

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“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” Christopher Durang’s Tony Award-winning quirky comedy that takes hilarious liberties with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, is given one great production at Trinity Rep.

Director Curt Columbus has taken three Trinity veterans and teamed them up with three Trinity/Brown Conservatory students to give justice to Durang and Chekhov.

You will laugh from the moment brother and sister Vanya and Sonia (Brian McEleney and Janice Duclos) appear on stage. Beneath the laughter, you’ll feel sadness and poignancy for a family whose individual lives all have something missing. Durang mirrors Chekhov, beginning with the characters’ names, continuing with references to the Russian author’s classic family dramas and throwing in some classic lines.

Vanya and his adopted sister have chosen not to marry, devoting their lives to taking care of their now deceased parents, community theatre actors and professors who named their children after Chekhov characters. They spend their time arguing with each other and feeling sorry for themselves for letting their empty lives slip away from them.

Enter Masha (Phyllis Kay), their sister who has gone on to become a successful actress in B movies. She is not even in the front door before putting her siblings down and flaunting her success. No matter that she is getting older, has been married five times, drags along Spike, a young, self-centered wannabee actor (Mark Larson), and plans to sell the house.

Spike is not the only self-centered character, he is just more demonstrative about it. Each character wallows in self-pity and thinks the world revolves around them. When he shows interest in a young neighbor (Sylvia Kates) Masha’s jealousy and self-doubt fills the room.

The second act has the group going off to a costume party, where Masha manipulates things so that she is the center of attention. Sonia doesn’t allow this to happen, as she finds one moment in her life where she can experience happiness and a glimmer of hope. It is a shining moment for her, and Duclos captures it perfectly.

We see this in all of Chekhov’s plays, and it makes for some pretty heavy theatre. Durang chooses to parody Chekhov by giving the actors a barrage of hilarious lines, which they all deliver brilliantly.

McEleney brings the house down, buzzing around Michael McGarty’s terrific set with a lengthy soliloquy about the “good old days,” when people licked postage stamps, watched Ozzie & Harriet, worshipped the Mouseketeers and actually communicated. More comic relief is provided by Tangela Large as Cassandra, the psychic maid who shakes things up, resorting to wild outbursts and serving as the catalyst to resolve a few issues.

While Chekhov emphasized hopelessness, and we see much of it in Durang’s characters, we are left with the possibility that “we can hope.”

Three cheers to Curt Columbus for obtaining the rights to “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” so quickly and giving Rhode Island audiences an opportunity to see one of the great contemporary plays while it is still contemporary.

“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” are at Trinity Rep’s downstairs theatre through Dec. 22. Call 351-4242.

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