Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh to Chat THE PRESENT on THEATER TALK This Week

This week, THEATER TALK welcomes actors Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh, now appearing on Broadway in the acclaimed Sydney Theatre Company production of The Present - an adaptation by Andrew Upton of Anton Chekhov's first play Platonov. The charismatic and articulate duo provides a master class in acting techniques and playing Chekhov in this rewarding episode of the series.

The two speak frankly about the initial difficulties of approaching Chekhov, and then the great rewards that follow in performance. (Both have done a number of Chekhov plays together in Sydney, including a production of Uncle Vanya that played at Lincoln Center.) Blanchett calls Chekhov's original Platonov "a broken fragment of a work;" Roxburgh calls it "tedious to read, let alone see." But in Upton's new setting in Russia in the 1990s, at a 40th birthday party for Blanchett's character, Anna Petrovna, the play is "alarmingly explosive and different," says Roxburgh. Indeed, critics praised it: "A feeling of vital connection saturates the room like the fizz from an exploded bottle of champagne," says Ben Brantley in The New York Times.

The current company of actors has benefitted from a long working relationship, rehearsing and first performing The Present in Sydney. Chekhov is "excruciating to rehearse," says Blanchett. Asked why, by co-host Susan Haskins, Blanchett explains, "Because you're at the beginning - when the only way you can do it is to be in the middle or the end. Only time will give you the gift of being able to do Chekhov well."

When asked by co-host Michael Riedel of the New York Post about the differences between stage work and film - Roxburgh and two-time Oscar-winner Blanchett, say they prefer the theater. "You get infantilized in the film industry," wryly observes Blanchett. On stage however, notes Roxburgh, "You're in charge of the nightly voyage."

The Present edition of THEATER TALK premieres in the New York City metropolitan area Friday, March 17 (2017) on PBS station Thirteen/WNET at 1:30 AM (early Saturday morning) and repeats there on Sunday 3/19 at 11:30 AM; it re-airs on CUNY TV* Saturday 3/18 at 8:30 PM, Sunday 3/19 at 12:30 PM, and Monday 3/20 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM; and also airs on WLIW/21 on Monday 3/20 at 5:30 PM and on NYCLife on Thursday 3/23 at 11 PM.

THEATER TALK is jointly produced by the not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 100+ participating public television stations nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The CUNY TV Foundation, and The Friends of THEATER TALK.

*CUNY TV, the City University of New York television station, is broadcast in the NYC metropolitan area on digital Ch. 25.3 and cablecast in the city's five boroughs on Ch. 75 (Time Warner & Optimum Brooklyn), Ch. 77 (RCN), and Ch. 30 (Verizon FiOS). THEATER TALK episodes are available online anytime at www.cuny.tv and www.theatertalk.org and via iTunes.

Pictured: Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh on THEATER TALK. Photo courtesy of Theater Talk Productions Inc. & CUNY TV.