In a nod to a famous replica of The Seagull, Sonia tells her big brother, Vania, that she is not a seagull, but “a wild turkey”! Because the single, always depressed, constantly bitter, argues that she falls out of bed during her sleep, like turkeys from their nest.
Updated yesterday at 12:58 p.m.
The tone of Christopher Durang’s play is given. Simultaneously parody, farce and homage to Chekhov’s theatre, Vania and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a light comedy on the evil of living, an entertainment built from the characters of the famous author of The cherry orchard.
In Marc St-Martin’s staging, we understand why, more than a century after the death of the Russian playwright, Chekhov remains the benchmark for theater actors. The production that closes the Rideau Vert season remains above all a magnificent playground for virtuoso performers. With prowess from a solid cast (including Sylvie Léonard, Nathalie Mallette and Alex Bergeron in very good shape!) who give it their all in cape effects and comic scenes.
At times, this show of less than 1 hour 45 minutes without intermission resembles summer theater… for initiates. In his play created in New Jersey in 2012, Christopher Durang, veteran of Broadway, makes many references to the classics: Chekhov, of course, but also to the Greek theater (the character of the cleaning lady is called Cassandra), Shakespeare, Neil Simon. It makes a satire of Hollywood, the author being also a film actor.
PHOTO DAVID OSPINA, PROVIDED BY LE RIDEAU VERT
Sylvie Léonard and Alex Bergeron form an unlikely couple.
Agents provocateurs
Single in their fifties, Vania (Roger LaRue) and Sonia (Nathalie Mallette) still live in the family home where they grew up. They have long taken care of their now deceased parents, at the expense of their professional and personal life which they have neglected too much. Unlike their sister, Macha (Sylvie Léonard), a movie star, who provides financial security for the siblings.
The day Macha arrives at home on the arm of Spike (Alex Bergeron), an attractive, ambitious young actor who tends to undress in front of everyone, Vania and Sonia will be shaken up in their habits. The arrival of the recent couple acts as an agent provocateur and will transform their daily lives. The family will have to unite to face misfortune.
Funnyly constructed with sometimes clumsy twists, the piece would have benefited from a varnish, an additional layer to deepen its plot and its characters. For example, the story always alludes to a costume party, which we will never see on the stage. However, the acting redeems the weaknesses of the text and the staging. We come out of the Green Curtain with a smile hanging on our faces, very far from the Chekhovian spleen.
Vania and Sonia and Masha and Spike
By Christopher Durang, translation by Maryse Warda
Directed by Marc St MartinAt the Théâtre du Rideau Vert until June 4th.