Chekhov on the cheap

THEATRE-REVIEW Ivanov
WYNDHAM'S THEATRE
There is a major theatrical problem which has to be addressed. Straight plays no longer work in the West End. Unless they have a big American film star, they lose money. The public prefers musicals. It could be argued that since London has the National Theatre, the Donmar Theatre, the Almeida Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the Old Vic, the situation is not as dire as has been made out.
One of the major reasons plays fail is that the price of a ticket is far too expensive. Michael Grandage, artistic director of the Donmar, has come up with an excellent idea. which may well be the model for West End impresarios in the future. He has taken a lease on Wyndham's Theatre and announced a season of four plays, each headed by a major actor — Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench and Jude Law — and the great news is that tickets cost £10, £25 and £32.50.
The season opens with Branagh in Tom Stoppard's version of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov, the least performed of Chekhov's major plays. The 27-year-old Chekhov, primarily known as a writer of humorous short stories, was challenged to write a play when he criticised the melodramatic trash which was being produced on the Moscow stage in the 1880s. He dashed off Ivanov in eight days. The premiere was a disaster: the actors did not know their lines and some of them were drunk. The experience very nearly put him off theatre for good. Ivanov is invariably dismissed as grossly inferior to his more famous works; yet Jonathan Kent's excellent and very funny production at the Almeida in 1997, which had a charismatic performance by Ralph Fiennes, proved beyond all doubt that the play is well worth reviving.
Ivanov, a 35-year-old landowner, an indolent, self-centred bourgeois intellectual, a typical Russian character of the 19th century. is given a new spin by Chekhov, who wanted to get away from the stereotypical "superfluous Man". The estate is in ruins and he has no money to pay bills, debts and workers. He no longer loves his consumptive wife, who gave up family and religion to marry him and whom he had married only for her money, only to find there was no dowry. Full of selfloathing and deeply aware of his futility, he blames himself for his malaise in a series of self-lacerating monologues. There is a memorable moment when his best friend offers him the money he needs to pay off his debts and Branagh just sits there, totally silent, until he sinks to the ground, crumpled up in shame. Ivanov has often been likened to Hamlet but he is not nearly such a sympathetic character and his cold, callous egotism is, perhaps, one reason for the play's neglect. The last act, with a household weeping their hearts out in grief on a wedding day, is hilarious: an irresistible and characteristic Chekhovian combination of comedy, farce and tragedy, all going on at the same time. Grandage's revival is very impressive and Branagh's performance is just one of many fine performances in an excellent ensemble. Kevin R McNally as the decent, generous. unhappily married best friend, who likes a drink, Lorcan Cranitch as the expansive steward. and Malcolm Sinclair as a misanthropic count, so broke that he contemplates marrying an heiress he loathes, are all on top form. So, too, are Gina McKee as Ivanov's beautiful (too beautiful?) Jewish wife who loves him dearly, and Tom Hiddleston as the self-righteous doctor, who hounds and hectors Ivanov.
Michael Grandage's season has got off to a flying start. Ivanov is a major event and not to be missed by all those who care for theatre. Booking is very heavy and so I strongly advise you to book as soon as possible. The production finishes on November 29. Derek Jacobi opens in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in December.
Robert Tanitch