YOUNG CHEKHOV features three early plays by Anton Chekhov in repertoire: the rarely performed Platonov and Ivanov and the much better-known, The Seagull. They are directed by Jonathan Kent, who is famed for his productions of Chekhov. He has engaged a fine ensemble. The translator is David Hare and his purpose is to show how Chekhov progressed from 19th century broad caricature to 20th century subtlety and realism.
Platonov is a wild, unwieldy, sprawling, a mixture of tragedy, comedy, crude melodrama and farce, which Chekhov wrote in 1881 when he was just 21. The play, which lasts six hours, has been abridged to two and half hours.
Platonov, the least known of the three, makes the most impact because of James McArdle’s charismatic performance in the title role. He is immensely likable and very funny as a 30-year-old, weak-willed, married schoolteacher, who cannot forgive himself for wasting his life. Women find him totally irresistible and throw themselves at him.
Ivanov dates from 1887. Ivanov (Samuel West), a disenchanted bourgeois intellectual, is deeply aware of his futility and blames himself for his clinical depression. His estate is in ruins and he has no money to pay bills, debts and workers. He no longer loves his consumptive wife (Nina Sonaya) who gave up family and religion for him. The most shocking moment is when he calls her “a dirty Jew” and says he longs for her to die.
The funniest is when an impoverished count (Peter Egan squawking like a hawk) dithers about marrying a very vulgar woman (Emma Amos) for her money. The wedding day, with two brides finding themselves husbndless and everybody in tears, might be a farcical scene out of Gogol or Ostrovky.
The Seagull premiered in 1896. All the characters are unhappy and dissatisfied with their dreary, unfulfilled lives. Everybody is in love with the wrong person. The comedy is at its best when a famous actress (Anna Chancellor) degradingly over-flatters her lover (Samuel West) in a desperate attempt to stop him deserting her for a younger woman.
You can see the plays separately and in any order or all on one day, a rewarding marathon for actors and audience alike, starting at 10.30 in the morning. Should you decide to see only one play, which would be a pity, I would recommend Platonov and that would be because of McArdle’s performance.