Nov
18
Ivanov: a Modern Hamlet
November 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment
In his interpretation of Chekhov’s Ivanov at the Classic Stage Company, director Austin Pendleton draws the audience into the dark, emotional story of modern Russian Hamlet Nikolai Ivanov through his use of movement, colors, lighting, and the careful development of flawed, complex characters and relationships. The play reflects Chekhov’s original writing in its ability to alternate between sly, witty black humor and solemn, intense meditations on death, guilt, and purpose. The cast, which includes Ethan Hawke, Joely Richardson, and Glenn Fitzgerald, create realistic and relatable portraits of their characters through acting that is naturalistic, fluid, and modern.
The set is simple and functional, with most of its focus on Ivanov’s bed. Several of the central themes of the play are expressed through this prop, as beds not only can be slept on, but they can also imply sex and death. In the opening scene, Borkin playfully threatens Ivanov with a gun, which presents comedy and mortality together, a theme that continues throughout the play. The sparse set only emphasizes the movement and action of each scene. The movements of the actors either enhance or juxtapose the dialogue; when Ivanov tells his wife Anna that he loves her, they are separate and stiff, revealing the complexity and tension to his truths, while when Ivanov and his young love interest Sasha speak of their feelings, their movements are dance-like and sensual. Pendleton also frequently places characters at opposite corners of the stage, using distance to create tension between them. Set changes happen with characters still on stage, caught in the whirl of movement, creating an interesting relationship between the realities of the play and of the audience. This direct relationship is strengthened as characters stare directly at audience members during their monologues and move among the audience.
Not only are the characters connected to the audience through their actions, they are presented as complex and multi-faceted and thus emotionally relatable—especially the anti-hero Ivanov, who could easily have been depicted as cold, selfish, and manipulative, but was instead complicated and easy to empathize with, pity, and understand. One way this is achieved is through a long, mournful, passionate monologue by Ivanov. The audience is led to connect to Ivanov and pity his struggles—feelings that are only increased when passionate, bright, pure, lovable Sasha shows undying devotion and love for him. However, Ivanov is not presented as simply misunderstood and miserable; like the other characters in the play, Ivanov is flawed and at times the audience is led to doubt him by emphasizing the opinions and doubts of the other characters towards him. Colors are also used to further develop the characters; Ivanov wears cream and off-white clothing, representing his confusion, indecision, and possibly impure motives, while Sasha and Anna both wear pink, representing sweetness, femininity, and love. Many characters wear black to signify death or corruption. Lighting is also used to show the nature of each character, with Ivanov often sitting in darkness or half-darkness to show his internal struggle between right and wrong, purpose and depression.
The play, overall, is extremely well done. It is modern, intriguing, and complex, with very funny moments and very emotional, somber moments. Both the acting and choices of the director emphasize the complexity of human nature, relationships, and the comedy, honesty, and love that can be found among a loss of purpose, direction, and passion in life. Although the actors all had slightly different accents, with some sounding British, others American, others Russian, it hardly took away from the careful, skilled, varied, and natural representations of Chekhov’s characters. I found myself, to my surprise, empathizing with Ivanov and feeling as conflicted over his relationship with Sasha as he does. The play was intelligently crafted and beautifully performed and I would absolutely go see it again.
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