Review

'Uncle Vanya' shows its lighter side

Although Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya was written in 1896, its world doesn't seem dated. An environment despoiled by reckless fuel consumption, men and women talking at cross purposes, working people toiling for the benefit of the ungrateful rich: It's all familiar.

The Banyan Theater Company opened its third summer season with a production of Uncle Vanya that uses Paul Schmidt's wryly contemporary translation of the play.

Set in the country home of Serebriakov, a retired scholar, Uncle Vanya revolves around how one of his rare visits affects his relatives who run the farm for him.

The title character is the brother of Serebriakov's long-dead first wife. Vanya and Serebriakov's grown daughter, Sonya, tend to the farm's constant demands. Their lives are disrupted when Serebriakov and his second wife, the much younger Yelena, come to the country for the summer.

Chekhov considered his plays comedies, not tragedies, and director Gil Lazier's lighter touch recognizes that. But we're still meant to feel sadness for Vanya, Sonya and their friend, the country doctor Astrov, for all they have given up in the name of duty. This production, though it's lively and entertaining, makes the bad guys so awful and the good guys so attractive that it's tough to see the latter as losers.

Serebriakov, played by Bradford Wallace, is so cranky and self-absorbed, no one would want him in the house, and so pompous it's difficult to envision how he could have inspired the admiration his family felt for him for many years.

Colleen McDonnell's Yelena is a vamping coquette whose only modes are pouting with boredom and sucking up the attention of any man in the vicinity. She's Paris Hilton with a modest wardrobe. When she declares, "I'm a trivial person," one is disinclined to argue.

Their presence causes Vanya, Sonya and Astrov to agonize over the limits of their lives. Yet their world, with its genuine, longstanding relationships, makes them seem much more capable of real happiness than their supposed betters.

Jeff Norton plays Astrov as a man with more energy than he knows what to do with. With his bluff manner, major mustache and tweedy suits, Astrov looks a little like a young Teddy Roosevelt, ready to charge up San Juan Hill and then go start the national park system.

Wendy Bagger's Sonya doesn't pass as a sad sack, either. An unfortunate wig and an earth-toned wardrobe aren't enough to make her plain. She's so warmly intelligent and, in the midnight scene, so adorable in her Dorothy-of-Oz pigtails, any reasonable person would rather be her than Yelena.

Douglas Jones brings a bit more touch of the tragic to Vanya, but even he comes off as a man whose demons - depression, drink, loneliness - are held at bay by his humor and his love for his family. When he tries to shoot Serebriakov, it looks more like a prank than an attempted murder.

There are pleasures to be had in this production, but don't expect to cry at this Uncle.

Uncle Vanya, a production of the Banyan Theater Company, runs through July 11 at the Cook Theatre, FSU Performing Arts Center, 5555 N Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets $27.50. (941) 358-5330 or banyantheatercompany.com.

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