Washington Post - Highly Recommended
"...Blanchett’s high-strung, drop-dead-gorgeous Yelena is the yin to McElhinney’s yang; costume designer Gyorgi Szakacs pours her into form-fitting red dresses and striking cream ensembles, as if all the proceeds from the working estate went into her closets. Sexually self-conscious, romantically malnourished and understandably restless, Blanchett’s captivating Yelena walks the Earth as a creature hypersensitive to touch. Beseeched by the snarling, elderly Serebryakov for a crumb of affection, this Yelena grudgingly complies, and the way in which Blanchett seems to prepare herself for this ordeal recalls the manner in which contestants steeled themselves to swallow caterpillars on “Fear Factor.”"
Baltimore Sun - Highly Recommended
"...Among the many small things that account for much of the production's power is the use of music, especially the Dream Song from Massenet's "Manon," which gets played on a phonograph a couple times. The aria describes a dream of a little cottage in a beautiful forest with a clear stream, a bit of paradise denied because a desired one is not there to share it."
Variety - Highly Recommended
"...A revival of "Uncle Vanya" set in 1950s-era Russia and performed in Australian "shrimp-on-the-baahbie" twang? Yes, it works -- does it ever -- in this sublime revival of the Chekhov classic by the Sydney Theater Company. Two years after their successful visit to D.C. and New York with "A Streetcar Named Desire," Cate Blanchett and colleagues impress again in an exclusive three-week stop at the Kennedy Center."
New York Times - Highly Recommended
"...What blissfully irritating people they are. Cranks, I believe, is the word that keeps coming up to describe them. Under most circumstances I’d run a country mile to avoid being trapped in a room with the desperate characters now inhabiting the Sydney Theater Company’s production of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” at the Kennedy Center here. Yet I consider the three hours I spent on Saturday night watching them complain about how bored they are among the happiest of my theatergoing life."
MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended
"...Maybe it's just the actress's luck that Chekhov has sent Yelena and the professor away -- not to mention Astrov, perhaps her only chance at happiness -- but it's McElhinney's Sonya who's left to make the final indelible impression of the evening, struggling to give Vanya, and herself, the strength to survive their lot in life, and doing it with a soaring command of Chekhov's language in a moment that takes your breath away and leaves a tear in your eye."
Washington City Paper - Recommended
"...Their prodigious vocal powers are on full display, too. When Upton decided to have Astrov attempt Yelena’s seduction by calling her a “delicious predator, you beautiful, sleek ferret!” he must’ve known he was aiming those words at his wife, right? (Blanchett and Upton are spouses and co-artistic directors of Sydney Theatre.) Selling the illusion of decay can’t be easy on a stage trafficked by such glamorous beings, but scenic and sound designers Zsolt Khell and Paul Charlier, respectively, pull it off."
Washingtonian - Highly Recommended
"...Ascher, who speaks no English and directed the production almost entirely through a translator, combines a brilliance with small gestures (one character gazes longingly at a glass, Yelena wipes her mouth after kissing her husband) with an inherent appreciation of the threads of despair and absurdity that weave through Chekhov. Setting the action during the zenith of communism, enhancing the dismal mindset and black humor of the writing and a sparse, almost surreal approach to language, brings a new relevance to the play. Vanya, who pays himself a minimal salary and often can’t eat, sends thousands every month to the professor, comforted that he’s doing his part. The professor, oblivious to the hardship around him, suffers from a vast range of ailments he refuses to treat. His pompous, self-absorbed lecturing almost comes across as more feudal and Marie Antoinette-esque than anything else."
Washington Blade - Highly Recommended
"...Working from a lively adaptation by Andrew Upton (Blanchett’s husband with whom she runs Australia’s Sydney Theatre Company), Ascher rather brilliantly moves the action from turn-of-the-century Tsarist Russia to mid-1950s Soviet Union. There is no romantic descent into genteel poverty or hope for the future. The atmosphere is more stultifying than ever: as pesky flies drone, radio static hums, the household grows increasingly on edge, ultimately erupting in bursts of violence. And when they’re not fighting, the extended family goes in for demonstrations of remorse, friendship and passion. Also included throughout are some very funny uncomfortable silences, pratfalls and drunken interludes, but nothing feels the least forced when executed by this top-notch group of Aussie actors."
The Georgetowner - Highly Recommended
"...This production—with a stellar cast headed by but not dominated by Oscar-winning movie actress Cate Blanchett, who runs the company with husband Andrew Upton, noted for his adaptation of “The Cherry Orchard”—is an electric, combustible staging, always entertaining to watch for its physicality, for its portrait of a group of people in frustrated mourning for the missed opportunities of their lives."
DramaUrge - Somewhat Recommended
"...In addition to the price, you'll have to ask yourself whether these "Scenes from Country Life" - the play's subtitle - are in keeping with the author's script and subtext, for this or any other time; or whether it's just a bunch of sound and fury, signifying nothing. But while you do, hurry, the last few rows of this 1,000 plus seat house are filling up fast, on both levels!"
MD Theatre Guide - Recommended
"...A purist would note, in closing, that unlike with The Seagull or The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov did not classify Uncle Vanya as a comedy but gave it the more neutral subtitle, “Scenes from Country Life.” Playing Uncle Vanya as farce merely gives the audience an easy defense mechanism against a fuller and more profound confrontation with the painful emotional truths of Chekhov’s drama."
Northern Virginia Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...Extra recognition must go to the set designer, Zsolt Khell, whose design mutated in unexpected ways that enhanced the performance. I was especially impressed with the rapid change-over between scenes. Director Tamas Ascher’s insight for the show must have been what brought the performance together, and I felt like things were constantly moving forward even though the characters never left the house. I would have loved to have read a director’s note or even a dramaturgical note; “Uncle Vanya” is one of those shows that clearly required such literary behind-the-scenes work, and to read about that personal insight gives the audience another lens through which they can view the show."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
Nobody does unhappiness quite like the Russians and this vodka-soaked melancholy is given a lively, physical twist in the Australian company’s vision of Mr. Chekhov’s tragicomedy about longing and bitter regret that features a snappy adaptation by Andrew Upton and fresh directorial turns by Hungarian Tamas Ascher.
