'The Present': Lost Chekhov play is no gift

‘THE PRESENT”: (Left to right) Richard Roxburgh, Cate Blanchett, Chris Ryan & Susan Prior. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE PRESENT
By Andrew Upton
After Anton Chekhov’s Platonov
Directed by John Crowley
Through March 19, 2017
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
243 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200),www.ThePresentBroadway.com

By David NouNou

At best Chekhov is tedious. At worst is the lugubrious The Present, presented by the Sydney Theatre Company in what can only be described as the whining babblethon of this or any other year. It was Chekhov’s first play written when he was 18 and was untitled and went unpublished. There was good reason for that; it was originally five hours of text whittled down to three by Andrew Upton (Cate Blanchett’s husband). It could have been whittled down a lot more.

Had it been presented in its original setting, Russia of 1887, it would still have been rambling but at least it would have made sense. Now it is set in Russia of the 1980s with New Wave rock music (the Clash and the Talking Heads) and thrown in is Haddaway’s club classic “What is Love?” from 1993, and a reference to Martin Scorcese, (the American director). At this point you give up and pray that Act II will be shorter and less absurd. Well, you’d be wrong; the storyline becomes a ridiculous soap opera and everyone’s acting really goes off the deep end. The ham here is served in abundance. Also to add to the ambiguity is the title The Present. Does it mean a gift or the present day? Trust me, don’t waste too much time trying to figure it out, because in the end it won’t make any difference.

As in any of Chekhov’s plays, all the characters are miserable for one reason or another but here they are not pining to be in Moscow. In this case, it is Anna’s (Cate Blanchett) 40^th birthday and all her friends/guests/suitors have come down for “a weekend in the country,” not the Sondheim song but at an old country estate that belonged to the old General, Anna’s much older dead husband. Among the suitors is the “bad boy” of the lot and also a college professor, Mikhail (Richard Roxburgh). The suitors have also brought their spouses/girlfriends. Needless to say, all the women have the hots for Mikhail and they all leave their spouses but his one true love is Anna. The rest of the characters are all negligible babbling fools, some talking endlessly about youth, and others about their miserable lives, and misspent youth.

Cate Blanchett is giving another one of her ball-busting, manipulating, frozen-queen performances, not much different from her 2012 role as Yelena in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya at City Center. Richard Roxburgh as the married but still womanizing bad boy Mikhail—who incidentally played in Vanya with Ms. Blanchett—is too much in control, conniving and vain to be believable as the wastrel who has given up on life and is just in it for the hunt.

If you plan to see The Present, I recommend you bring three things with you: a Ritalin to keep you awake; a seat belt to strap yourself in, not for a bumpy ride but from fleeing the theater after Act I; and a flask of vodka (which the ad on TV purports that there will be plenty of drinking being done) to stay with the theme of the play or on the same wavelength as the characters or another beverage of your choice to alleviate the tedium.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 11, 2017
Reviewed at press performance on January 10, 2017