A R T S A N D C U LT U R E
Family
Ties
Playhouse stages new version of Chekhov masterpiece By Bridgette M. Redman
Michael Michetti will direct “Uncle Vanya” at the Pasadena Playhouse.
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Pasadena Playhouse/Submitted Photo
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any times, the oldest of stories feel new again in a world where everything has turned upside down. The Pasadena Playhouse is launching Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” from Wednesday, June 1, to Sunday, June 26. Published in 1898, it is considered one of Chekhov’s masterpieces. Director Michael Michetti feels today’s audiences, having lived through the pandemic, will relate to the themes in this piece. The play explores family dynamics and what happens when people are thrown together with very different goals. “Uncle Vanya” takes place on a country estate, where Vanya and his niece are caring for the property. Unexpectedly, his brother-in-law and new wife show up. Passions flare, frustrations are revealed, and everyone’s life is threatened to be thrown upside down. This production uses a new translation, one that premiered at the Old Globe in 2018. The translators — Richard Nelson, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky — come together annually. Eventually, theaters commissioned them, and Theater Communications Group Books began publishing them. Their translation of “Uncle Vanya” has been widely hailed for brushing away the cobwebs and making it feel modern and conversational. “It is faithful to the original and feels very modern and colloquial,” Michetti says. “It has all the family dynamics that we’re all used to, but there’s nothing about it that feels like its Chekhovian or Russian.” Pasadena Playhouse wants to be known as California’s official state theater. Michetti said he and the Playhouse’s producing artistic director, Danny Feldman, spoke about the play, as it was one that he loved. It is his first time directing it, though he helmed the related “Anton’s Uncles” in 2012 at Boston Court Pasadena. Feldman sees this as an important part of the theatrical canon and something that will appeal to the Playhouse’s audiences. “In addition to producing American musicals and new works, boldly re-envisioning classic plays is core to our mission at the Playhouse,” Feldman says. “This new translation of ‘Uncle Vanya’ breathes new life into a theatrical masterpiece, making it perfect for fans of Chekhov or people experiencing his work for the first time.”
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