СОНЯ@GuyltyPleasure

Interval at #unclevanyaplay. Surprisingly funny play which is getting lots of laughs. #richardarmitage does a lot of things I didn’t expect. He sings. He dances. One more thing that I won’t spoil. This Astrov is dreamy. Love Toby Stephens - wry but lovesick Vanya. Gorgeous so far

THEATRE REVIEW
THEATRE REVIEW: Uncle Vanya starring Richard Armitage & Toby Jones

Posted on 9 Hours Ago by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHERE? Harold Pinter Theatre RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

WHEN? 14/1, press night 23/1 runs to 2/5/20

Six years after a brooding Olivier-nominated performance as John Proctor in the Old Vic’s production of The Crucible and Richard Armitage (pictured above in rehearsal) is back on the London stage in Conor McPherson’s re-imagining of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya

Read on for reasons including how Toby Jones is the comic highlight as Armitage goes topless

We approached this star-powered Vanya with some trepidation because Robert Icke’s 2016 Almeida version had been so memorable yet hadn’t transferred to the West End.

We needn’t have worried because, while the story and structure remains intact largely, McPherson’s (the Old Vic production of Girl In The North Country currently playing in the West End at the Gielgud Theatre) is as funny as it is heartbreaking.

This is down in no small part to Toby Jones (who we saw last year at the Royal Court) who plays the titular 47-year-old who looks after his niece Sonya on a crumbling estate in Russia at the turn of the 20th century.

Life is quiet with occasional visits by Armitage’s local doctor to look forward to until Sonya’s father (an intentionally annoying Ciaran Hinds) and his much younger new wife Yelena (Rosalind Eleazar giving us outer beauty and inner laziness) drop by bringing chaos with them.

The plot becomes almost Shakespearean with misplaced affections everywhere and people falling in love with those they shouldn’t.

Jones runs an absolute riot with his midlife crisis and Armitage’s doctor proves what a good man he is as well as being ahead of his time in environmental terms yet falls for the wrong woman and lets the one with the biggest heart go begging. The scene when he kisses the unfortunate woman’s head as she reaches for his lips had members of this audience both sobbing and gasping.

Armitage also gets to blow raspberries, get drunk with Vanya and guitar-playing chum Telegin (an admirable supporting turn by Peter Wight) while even dancing topless in the rain at one point.

Aimee Lou Wood as the wise-beyond-her-years Sonya gets some of the best lines and veterans Anna Calder-Marshall and Dearbhla Molloy round out a fine cast.

It’s hugely unfair to review a first preview but this didn’t have the feel of one. We may only have given director Ian Rickson’s Uncle Vanya four-and-a-half stars but it doesn’t open until next week.

Very enjoyable, intensely moving and 2020’s first big show out of the blocks thoroughly deserved its first preview standing ovation.

Da kann er machen, was er will. Er schüttelt uns einfach nicht ab. Falls die dritte Überraschung sich als etwas herausstellt, was er so gar nicht mehr machen will, dann fragt der kleine kichernde Mephisto in meinem Kopf - Ihr habt ja schon von ihm gehört - heimtückisch, ob der Mann uns nicht manchmal zum Narren hält und seinen Spaß daran hat.

[...] Armitage also gets to blow raspberries, get drunk with Vanya and guitar-playing chum Telegin (an admirable supporting turn by Peter Wight) while even dancing topless in the rain at one point. [...]

Niamh@niamhyflynn

@unclevanyaplay is brilliant so far. #intervaltweet

Niamh@niamhyflynn

Highly recommend @unclevanyaplay. It made me laugh, cry and everything in between. Stellar cast and staging - the full shebang

Reflective Joy@ReflectiveJoy

Opening night of @unclevanyaplay and to be brutally honest, I’m still processing it. Unexpected, yet well timed humour intertwined with emotive and intense dialogue. So much resonated. There is a lot to unpack/reflect on. Incredible performance from the cast. @RCArmitage

Reflective Joy@ReflectiveJoy

I also want to add, the set for @unclevanyaplay is absolutely stunning. I’ve never seen or experienced anything like it and it adds immensely to the nuanced and reflective tone of the whole play. I’m genuinely considering seeing it again. Well done to all involved.

Michelle Lambert@Michelle_147

@unclevanyaplay@accessfox45 and I are on our way home. Brilliant! Everyone was excellent but particular praise to Toby Jones and @RCArmitage

j.@glandestino

@unclevanyaplay, cast & crew, thanks for having us all tonight! What a beautiful staging & some absolutely lovely scenes. Such an excellent way to spend a Tuesday evening

#haroldpintertheatre #london #premiere #moreplease #teatermuarm

Bethany Lanckmans@bethlanckmans

@RCArmitage was fantastic in Uncle Vanya at the @HPinterTheatre #goseeit

keiko sakamoto@keikosakamoto4

Amazing

Wonderful Toby Jones, beautiful Richard Armitage and whole ensemble, set design, direction, all the laugh and depth of life... So impressed!

Jacqueline Hepher@JacquelineHeph3

@unclevanyaplay und @RCArmitage
Came to see the play this evening. Thoroughly enjoyed it.What a cast!

Rob and his experiences of being a Nichols@NicholsErt

@unclevanyaplay Thoroughly enjoyed last night's performance of Uncle Vanya. Every performance superb. Simple but effective staging. What's note to love.

Petra Kugler@PKugler3

@RCArmitage @unclevanyaplay @SFP_London
Thank you, the cast and crew for this evening. It was laughs, tears, thoughts and feelings. My best Chekhov experience so far. Thanks again.

A Tortoise in London@tortoisehearted

1st visit to the theatre in 2020 was to see 1st preview of #UncleVanya at @HPinterTheatre
! It was fantastic! Beautiful set, music & lighting & a wonderful cast. All were great but I particularly liked Toby Jones's Vanya, Anna Calder-Marshall's Nana & @RCArmitage
's Astrov. Go see!

:mrgreen: Da kann er machen, was er will. Er schüttelt uns einfach nicht ab. Falls die dritte Überraschung sich als etwas herausstellt, was er so gar nicht mehr machen will, dann fragt der kleine kichernde Mephisto in meinem Kopf - Ihr habt ja schon von ihm gehört - heimtückisch, ob der Mann uns nicht manchmal zum Narren hält und seinen Spaß daran hat.

СОНЯ@GuyltyPleasure

@Olfya und @dainty_c
The play was actually great. (Not a fan of the ending, though) Especially because it was much more comedic than I had expected. I’m looking forward to seeing it again at a later stage. But I can tell you all that it is definitely entertaining and worth watching!

СОНЯ@GuyltyPleasure@KateARH

Big time. And I have to say - he did really well in terms of comedic timing. I have never seen him in a role as comedic as this. Totally unexpected btw.

Misper@misperaki

#UncleVanya première tonight. Toby Jones a fine Vanya: equally spontaneous in his grumpy quips and pining. Armitage's Astrov a true idealist. How he painted in my mind's eyes that scene with dying child, how it must have felt to feel a young heart stopped under your hands.

Misper@misperaki

Armitage truly surpasses himself as Astrov since I saw him in the (already formidable) Crucible. Aimée Lou Wood very likeable Sonya and she has the power to speak those last few lines. My special love to Peter Wright's Ilya Ilyich & Anna Calder-Marshall's Nana. Both excellent.

Misper@misperaki

Vanya has always ben a very special piece for me (still cherish the memory of the 2012 version with the ever perfect Roger Allam) — and this revival certainly did not disappoint. Will definitely come back for more.

Natürlich pflanzt er uns, der Lausbub! Verspricht, gaaaanz seriös zu werden, von wegen Dad body etc, und dann das. So ein Schlankel!

:heartthrow: Ohhhhhh, hoffentlich gibt es bald (bewegte) Bilder

Bei mir wird das mit einer London-Tour wohl leider nix werden

Marco Foti@Marco_Foti

@OlivierAwards @RosalindEleazar @RCArmitage

Great premiere of @unclevanyaplay yesterday evening! Amazing production, stunning performances! I smell #OlivierAwards
P.S. A great actor in the audience - nice to have met you @petersarsgaard

Donna@donna24_donna

@unclevanyaplay @HPinterTheatre @RCArmitage fantastic performance from all the cast this evening. Loved every moment of it. What a way to celebrate my 50th birthday thank you @RCArmitage for being such a gentleman at the stage door #dreambirthday

Elsa@ElsaIsBritish

#UncleVanya is still surprisingly relevant. Yes, it's russian and a tad depressing, but it's not all doom and gloom, all the actors are brilliant, set is simply beautiful, and it might give you a few smiles and chuckles. So go see @RCArmitage rant about trees. @unclevanyaplay

Sarah@SCairns77

@unclevanyaplay@SFP_London
It was wonderful, thoroughly enjoyed the entire production. Thank you for making my first west end play such a memorable experience. X

rouxe@Lucygllm

guys it is so good @unclevanyaplay

Bianca@lustanddespair

17. Jan.


@RCArmitage@unclevanyaplay Saw the play tonight and absolutely loved it!!!!

Uncle Vanya
January 15, 2020. Harold Pinter Theatre

Janet Hitchen
Jan 17 · 2 min read

Starting the year with Chekov. The Russians still aren’t my favourites as they languish in their misery and despair.
No one is happy. No one has an easy life. Everyone is struggling with a lost love, or a lost life, or lost dreams and hopes.
Park all of that cos you know that’s coming. It’s Chekov. Do that and this has a lot to commend it.
I adore Toby Jones and here he perfectly portrays the anguish of Vanya, a man who’s spent his whole life running an estate that he doesn’t benefit from and never will because a quirk of fate and his desire to support his sister. He falls in love with his brother-in-law’s second wife Yelena. He hasn’t the wherewithal to pull himself out of his situation and laments tragically that he has another 13 years of this until he can hope to die.
Richard Armitage is wonderful as the doctor (there’s always a Doc in Chekov) here part eco-warrior part unrequited lover. He too falls in love with Yelena; like Vanya and, in doing so abandons his environmental work to drink and wallow in this infatuation.
Aimee Lou Wood is super as Sonya, spurned by the Doctor who’s she’s loved for 6 years and seemingly fated to continue her life like her Uncle Vanya in ennui.
It’s absolutely beautiful to watch like a beautiful 19th century painting and the lighting is exquisite.
It felt a little flat though. It’s classy and classic but lacks the edge of Cyrano just down the road and I’m spoiled.
It also wasn’t helped that a man-mountain sat in front of me and obscured half the stage. Annoying in the extreme.
4/5 Worth seeing for Jones and Armitage alone. Just remember it’s Chekov.