Review - Uncle Vanya: Mr. Monotony

If the blocked sight lines caused by Santo Loquasto's dominating set - the wooden skeleton of a Russian two-story country home - seem at first a bit of an annoyance in Classic Stage Company's engrossing and well-acted production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, the wonderful moodiness his work helps create becomes more evident as the evening moves onward. With most of the action taking place on the porch pushed to the forefront, the audience can partially view the unseen business of others through thick structural beams. Or perhaps watch scenes with those not directly involved in the forefront. And while the clarity of your view depends on which of the three sections you're seated in, it seems intentional that nobody can tell exactly what is happening in one key moment.

Director Austin Pendleton, who has visited this play many times as both actor and director, uses this jungle gym setting as a sort of playground for the anxious. Vanya (Denis O'Hare), who sees to the daily business of the estate owned by his late sister's husband, Serebryakov (George Morfogen), battles the monotony of his replicated days by being in constant motion as he pontificates on the unworthiness of others and of the man he could have been. His niece Sonya (Mamie Gummer), who takes care of household matters, is continually attending to one chore or another. Summer guest Yelena (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Serebryakov's much younger second wife, escapes the dreariness via flirtations with Astrov (Peter Sarsgaard), the pleasantly alcoholic doctor who would prefer a life benefiting Russia's forestry. The best laughs in Pendleton's production come when the movement stops and we're suddenly reminded of the insufferable boredom the characters are experiencing in Chekhov's study of wasted life.

With Carol Rocamora's translation laying easy on a contemporary ear without disturbing the early 20th Century character of Loquasto's setting and Suzy Benzinger's costumes, the four main players gives us passion, jealousy and frustration with great vivacity. While playing a quirky bundle of tension is familiar territory for Denis O'Hare, his often-seen mannerisms and off-beat inflections have been toned down here to present a Vanya who, despite his cerebral elitism, is an exuberant package of wasted brilliance. If the character is not exactly sympathetic, O'Hare makes him nobly pitiable.

Gyllenhaal's Yelena is a study of the calculating innocence of a woman who knows little more of life than using her looks to her advantage and Sarsgaard perfectly balances Astrov's distain for his professional life with the boyish glee he gets from voicing the need to save Russia's woodlands.

The dependable character actor Louis Zorich brings plenty of gruff old world charm to his role as Telegin and Delphi Harrington gives a fine supporting turn as Vanya's emotionally detached mother, Maria.

But the standout performance comes from Mamie Gummer's Sonya, whose genial exterior lets out occasional glimpses of her unrequited love for Astrov, until her agony over his rejection bursts into a heart-ripping defense of her value as a woman despite her plainness. The grief she hides underneath a desire to make the best of the life she has been handed can be noticed through any obstruction.