WHY THERE ARE MENUS

 

I ventured out at the behest of actor, pal, scholar, and student of theatre Stephen Macht to see Andrew Scott in Vanya, a one man show … updated and based on Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya… one of history’s most venerated and (lest it go unsaid) most performed, plays.

The seven characters Chekhov created, and that were first presented to a Moscow audience in 1899 under the direction of Stanislavski (yeah, the very same), are in this version brought into the 21^st century by writer Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) and director Sam Yates (Magpie). The two fellas both do decent enough work, but no one is going to write about them and/or this play so long as actor Andrew Scott is anywhere in the vicinity.

C’mon, you all remember Mr. Scott… the “hot priest” in Fleabag? That was one sensational introduction to television audiences. That same Mr. Scott then went on to the title role in the very stylish Ripley on Netflix. Now the actor is showing off his stuff in Vanya on a London stage, with Director Sam Yates filming it all for international consumption.

I saw this film at the Coral Gables Art Cinema. You know things are serious when the theatre is more than half full, on a weekday, at 12 noon, and for the full 100 plus minutes, no one in the audience coughs. Not once.

There are more positive things one could say about the filmed play… and nearly all of them would contain Mr. Scott’s name in every sentence. Still, there is sort of a nagging thought about the guy looking at the Pacific Ocean for the first time and saying, “It’s lovely, but what is it for?”

I am sorry, but I am sure I am not the only one who feels compelled to ask, why would anyone do this?

Scott’s balls are not in question. He has them in abundance, as is amply demonstrated here. One of theatre’s most famous plays turned into a one-man show (actor Scott even does the lighting effects while on stage), and what a stage… the West End of London. The Broadway theatre on steroids. Imagine, as Scott must have at some point, who might be in that theatre… only perhaps every actor on the continent who has a working relationship with the English language.

I do not mean to make fun of the chutzpah… Scott is genuinely terrific playing whatever gender, whatever age, whatever interaction, with whatever other character, in whatever part of the room on that stage. This includes intimate scenes of lovemaking which… by the very nature of the conceit of this piece… must be done with himself/by himself.

Vanya will, I am sure, eventually find its way to Amazon, Hulu, or Netflix. If you can’t wait, check out your local art house cinema for upcoming runs … and if you want an even better idea of the basis for all this… or you know yourself to be more comfortable when in a conventional mode, Uncle Vanya has opened on Broadway starring Steve Carell, Alfred Molina, Jayne Houdyshell and Anika Noni Rose.

It is, I am told, also updated to the 21^st century, but these actors will have to go a long way to match Andrew Scott, who has laid down the gauntlet to all Chekhovian challengers.

Up a totally different street on the Disney Channel, and derived from the Marvel superhero series, The Hulk, is a must-see nine-episode action/comedy series called She-Hulk: Attorney At Law.

You think it is sacrilege to go from Chekhov to Disney? Cut me a little slack here and read on.

One of the best series ever reviewed in these columns is Orphan Black, a brilliant sci-fi thriller from 2013-2017, starring Tatiana Maslany. The Emmy Award winning actress who played the multiple leads in that series is now in the forefront again, this time limiting herself to only two roles: Jennifer Walters, attorney at law, and the She-Hulk. Twice again she is fabulous.

Ms. Maslany is funny, sexy, and on-the-money in scene after scene. She is joined by some of the best guest stars in town, including Mark Ruffalo, Charlie Cox, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Tim Roth. The writing is smart, the special effects for a weekly TV series are over-the-top elaborate, and the overall wit of the show transcends the self-deprecating humor we have learned to expect from Marvel superhero shows. (Fleabag-like, Tatiana Maslany not only breaks the fourth wall to interact with her audience, but totally shatters it by busting into the writer’s room of the show when an episode is not living up to her standards.)

The series looks like a million dollars… an out-of-date term meaning, in today’s parlance, tens of millions. It no doubt accounts for why Uncle Walt has cried whatever an uncle cries when he has had enough and wants to close the bank.

The audience drop-off for the Marvel brand, plus this show which held little respect for anything approximating a TV budget, must account for why something this good is cancelled so quickly.

See it, you will thank me. But you might want to pause a bit between whatever version of Uncle Vanya you take in and She Hulk: Attorney-at-law. If nothing else, you will at least need to adjust the sound level on your TV.

 

Barney Rosenzweig