In between social statements, it charts two love stories, but resolves them so awkwardly, they grow meaningless.ĭwyer turns this into a watchable piece of theater. The play veers haughtily in various directions, taking stabs at sociological class warfare alongside denunciations of the plundering of the environment. Petersburg, which rejected the piece in the last century, probably was. If Chekhov wasn’t, then the Aleksandrinsky Theatre in St. Toss in a love interest for the Wood Demon in the professor’s daughter Sonya (Nike Doukas), her nerdy jealous suitor Zheltoukhin (Raphael Sbarge) and a romantic subplot between Fedya (Eric Allan Kramer), the son of a neighboring landowner, and Yulya (Janellen Steininger), sister to Zheltoukhin. The rich landowner professor, Aleksander (Dakin Matthews), wants to sell his house and forest, a particularly galling concept to the Wood Demon (Mark Harelik), a handsome, ecologically minded doctor who lives to keep the Russian forests healthy.Įqually irked by the professor’s decision is Zhorzh (Lawrence Pressman), the brother of his first wife, who will be left homeless by the sale. Plot’s typical of Chekhov, with several bickering, upscale families ensconced on a lavish country estate. The cast, as well, is up to the task, with actors rotating nightly in the 16 roles. Director Frank Dwyer and actor Nicholas Saunders, who collaborated on the adaptation, breathe life into this Russian corpse with brisk, playful language and loose, colloquial English that, for once in Chekhov, doesn’t echo of a language primer. Certainly worth seeing if you have an interest in the body of Chekhov's work, but not essential.The result is a spectacular production of a so-so play with a terrific translation. If that flaw lies with the actors, the director, or the playwright himself was hard to ferret out on just one viewing. The supporting cast is strong, although the characters don't seem as memorable as some of the other BBC Chekhov productions. Holm is terrific, although the performance is arguably a bit theatrical for the world of small screen close ups.
Ian Holm – who I always love – is the title character, rabid about protecting what's left of the forests, but ironically unaware of the damage he does to the hearts of others. Chekhov was second to none in seeing how families and friends could rip each other apart, without ever really seeing how hurtful their words and actions could be, just as developers and industrialists would destroy the forests for short term profit without thinking of how they leave the world in their wake. None-the-less, this more-serious-than-not play (and production) has its moments. Chekhov was a master at fusing comedy and tragedy, but in this comparatively early work, the marriage seems a bit forced at times.
More than many of Chekhov's plays, it seems to suffer a bit from an unevenness of tone. An early variation on what would become "Uncle Vanya".
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