Young Chekhov, theatre review: A cocktail of farce and melodrama in this rewarding trilogy

It’s an all-too-rare joy to watch a proper ensemble at full stretch like they are here, says Fiona Mountford
Wonderful gallery: Anna Chancellor, right, as Arkadina with the cast of The Seagull
Johan Persson
Fiona Mountford20 October 2015

If one were in the market for a little frivolous light relief during this demanding, rewarding trilogy of plays, to be consumed in just one day by the very brave or separately by the possibly more sensible, there could be worse games to play than Chekhov Bingo.

Tick off the self-absorption! Penniless landowners! Flatlining marriages! Existential ennui! Useless doctors! Full house! Five minutes of down-time over, it would then be right to gather ourselves and reflect seriously on what ambition the ever-outstanding Chichester Festival Theatre has shown in mounting this extravaganza of the Russian master’s early works.

Platonov (1881) was Chekhov’s first large-scale drama and Ivanov (1887) his first play to be staged, whereas The Seagull (1896) shows him rejecting the youthful extremes of 19th-century farce and melodrama in favour of a mature blend of proto-20th-century naturalism. It’s a fascinating, if exhausting, progression to watch. Yet the irony is that for a fair chunk of all this, Chekhov is in danger of playing second fiddle to the brilliance of his new set of collaborators. Jonathan Kent directs three helpings of large-cast realism impeccably, David Hare provides crisp new versions of the scripts and 23 gloriously cross-cast actors shine in 50 different roles. It’s an all-too-rare joy to watch a proper ensemble at full stretch like this and particular credit goes to the increasingly noteworthy Olivia Vinall, who excels as no less than three lovelorn young women, each compellingly characterised.

There can be no getting around the fact that Platonov and Ivanov are rarely performed because they’re not brilliant plays and, cumulatively, are rather hard work. Platonov, in which the eponymous anti-hero is both disillusioned schoolteacher and local lothario, is electrified by James McArdle’s hugely charismatic central performance. Got up like a New Romantic hero, with hints of devil’s horns in his hair, McArdle swaggers and philosophises and despairs with enormous verve. Nina Sosanya as a penniless landowner (bingo) lends fine support in this uneasy cocktail of farce and melodrama.

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“Our own local Hamlet” is how Platonov is referred to and there is much more Hamlet-ing around in Ivanov, as bankrupt landowner (ahem) and failing husband Ivanov (Samuel West) sinks into a deep depressive despair in Chekhov’s perceptive portrait of mental illness. A faint glimmer of redemptive hope is offered by the youthful adoration of Sasha (Vinall).

After more than five hours of acutely self-obsessed men, it’s a great relief to come to The Seagull and its wonderful gallery of fully fleshed characters of both sexes. The play’s exquisite domino row of unrequited love is as compelling as ever and Anna Chancellor revels in the part of self-regarding actress Arkadina. All in, this is a brave and notable theatrical achievement.

Until November 14, Festival Theatre, Chichester (01243 781312, cft.org.uk)

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