I've gotten some mailing from Lincoln Center about this, but finally the NY Times has announced that it is indeed coming to NYC next summer. Lincoln Center is bringing the Sydney Theatre Company's acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya starring Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving to the NY City Center from July 19-28, 2012. Read more about it here.
Lani and I and a bunch of friends saw it at Kennedy Center this past summer. To read our post about the play, read here (Lani) and here (Pinky).
For those that get the Ovation Channel in their cable or dish subscription, they will broadcast In The Company of Actors tomorrow, Dec. 12 at 1 pm ET/ 12pm CT. Don't miss it!
It's a dvd called In The Company of Actors, a behind the scenes documentary of the Sydney Theatre Company production of Hedda Gabler with Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Anthony Weigh, Justine Clarke, Aden young, Julie Hamilton and Annie Byron. It played not only in Sydney but also at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2006. In fact, Lani saw it. But alas, it was way before this blog was created.
I had heard about the existence of the documentary about a year ago from another theatre geek friend who said that it was presented at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in 2008. Shark Island Productions produced a dvd but sadly, it is currently only available in Australia. Included in the dvd is a detailed study guide of the film. Isn't that a nice touch?
I haven't seen the film yet but surely I will post about it once I have. In the meantime, the description from the back of the cover reads:
"From a rehearsal room in Sydney through to opening night in New York, a company of actors reveals the magic and struggle of creating theatre".
I've seen Little Fish before but just lately popped the dvd back in the player and just again realized why I'm fascinated with this movie. Most films dealing with addiction talk much about hitting rock bottom or the rocky road of rehab but there's not much about the recovery process or how you pick yourself up after and rebuild your life. Little Fish is a little known Australian Indie film that precisely deals with this. It's very real and gripping but at the same time, somehow shows some hope.
Set in Cabramatta, a suburb of Sydney which has the largest Vietnamese community in Australia, it follows Tracy Heart (Cate Blanchett), a former heroin junkie who almost lost her life. When the film opens, we learn that she's 4 years into her recovery and is trying to desperately re-establish her life. At 32, she's moved back in with her mother, Janelle (Noni Hazlehurst). She manages a video store and takes the edge off with her daily swim in a community pool. Tracy is trying to secure a bank loan so she can go into partnership with her boss who owns the video shop. She soon finds out that she can never really escape her past when her loans are constantly denied due to her past record. Furthermore, the three men in her life just seem to keep tugging her back into her former world. Her brother Ray (Martin Henderson), a small time heroin dealer, arranges exchanges to be dropped at the video store. The only father figure in her life, ex-rugby star Lionel Dawson (Hugo Weaving) is himself a heroin addict and is actually the one who turned her into a user. Her ex-boyfriend Jonny (Dustin Nguyen, yes of 21 Jump Street!), once a junkie himself, suddenly comes back from a family imposed exile in Vancouver. With his return, Tracy is unnerved and begins to feel that the controls she has set in her life the past 4 years are slowly coming apart.
It's not an easy movie to sit through but it is riveting and a well scripted story of someone who is trying to live a clean life but now has to live up to the consequences of her past choices. It's a very astute observation of the human condition by scriptwriter Jacqueline Perske and executed skillfully with great realism by Rowan Woods. Aside from the recovery theme of the film, Ms. Perske also managed to discuss themes of immigrant (Vietnamese) life in Australia, a mother's love for her adult children who still depend on her and the temptation of the last score all very effectively in one movie. Furthermore, the details of the relationships and the back story between Tracy, Lionel, Janelle, Ray and Jonny are relayed in bits and pieces meticulously like a puzzle that you never know exactly where the movie was taking you (I loved that!).
This, I think, is Cate Blanchett's best movie (acting wise). It is so diverse from her more grandiose roles in The Aviator and Elizabeth but she is very compelling as a woman constantly trying to claw her way from slipping back. A master of accents, she has very thick and less refined Aussie accent here. Her physicality as Tracy is incredible that even her walk suggests some sadness. It is a very raw and visibly broken performance that as you watch it, you become so fearful for her. But it's not only her that's great in this movie for this is such an ensemble film. Hugo Weaving is devastating as a man who just can't get it together. Lionel and Tracy's bond as step-father and step-daughter is so strong that it's endearing and at the same time heartbreaking. Noni Hazlehurst is moving as a mom who's desperately trying to keep her daughter from slipping. Martin Henderson and Dustin Nguyen were also both effective. Sam Neil plays Lionel's supplier, Brad.
Oh, you may wonder about the title, well, it refers to those plastic fish containers that usually contain soy sauce but in this film it's used for drugs. It's a shame this movie didn't get a huge buzz here in the US although it did get great reviews from critics (see here). Little Fish however, won 5 Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Actress (Cate Blanchett), Best Actor (Hugo Weaving), Best Supporting Actress (Noni Hazlehurst) plus Best Sound and Editing. I just have to add this because it's amusing, but below is Cate Blanchett's acceptance speech from the Inside Film Awards for Little Fish. She gets a little help from George Clooney:
Some scenes from Sydney Theatre Company's Uncle Vanya at the Kennedy Center with Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving. Apparently this show that runs through August 27 is already sold out. I am so lucky to have seen it and just wanted to say that I have a new appreciation for Chekhov. Thank you Sydney Theatre Company!
As soon as I knew I was going to DC the first week of August, I immediately checked the website of The Kennedy Center and to my surprise, I would manage to catch the production of Uncle Vanya. Having missed Cate Blanchett in previous productions of Hedda and Streetcar, I made sure I wasn't going to miss this chance.
A few years ago, I had a geek streak and read some of the classics including Ibsen and Chekhov. I read The Seagull and have seen The Cherry Orchard film with Charlotte Rampling and Alan Bates so I guess I was very aware on how daunting Chekhov's plays can be. They are generally a representation of Russian life with his characters having feelings of hopelessness and futility in terms of their lot in life. In this case, Uncle Vanya delves in themes of a wasted life and missed opportunities. How exciting isn't it?!! It is not an easy night at the theatre. So we did our homework and read the play's plot before we saw the play. We were all set to go but got a surprise when our friend Greg and Ariel said that our tickets for Aug. 6 Saturday evening is for opening night! It's a first for Lani and I to see a show at the Kennedy Center and for it to be opening night makes it all the more exciting!
The play is set in a Russian estate supervised by Vanya and his niece, Sonya. The estate residents have been milling around sulking in their ordinariness and wastedness when life is stirred by the arrival of the Professor (Serebryakov - played by John Bell) and his young wife, Yelena (Cate Blanchett). This play is said to be a challenge to it's ensemble of actors which this Australian cast manages to do so well. Everyone of them was like a cog in the wheel which propels this play forward. Evenly matched. Richard Roxburgh, Vanya, realizes his yearning for the affection of Yelena. Mr. Roxburgh plays him well with his bottled rage which eventually bursts and yet manages to be touching. Hayley McElhinney is the plain-Jane Sonya who has to compete with Yelena for Astrov's affection. She plays her as a woman hardened by labor which makes one feel for her plight. Hugo Weaving is magnetic as the vodka ladened doctor Astrov. He is a force perfectly matched with Ms. Blanchett. Much of their sexual tension is carried throughout the play and it is SO palpable. In fact, they didn't even need to say much. It's felt and seen through their the very nuanced actions. Cate Blanchett, as Yelena is restless and an enticement without knowing it. She is, in one word, incredible. I have never seen a stage presence ever so strong that your eyes are drawn to her. Her walk across the stage, a lean on the wall or even how she sits on a chair tells you so much without even speaking. I know I am gushing but I am really in awe. I mean, she's a well known actress with a "celebrity" factor but she managed to inhabit Yelena that I had forgotten that she was Cate Blanchett and just saw the character. It's one theatre experience I'll never forget.
Much of the praise should also be given to the play's director Tamas Ascher who moved the play's era to around the 1950's Soviet Russia giving it a more oppressive ambiance . Andrew Upton (Ms. Blanchett's husband) did the adaptations and he managed to make it very accessible. There was so much humour in the play it was surprising. I was also impressed with the way costume designer, Gyorgi Szakacs dressed most of the ensemble in browns, beige and greys while dressing Ms. Blanchett in striking creams in the first Act and vibrant reds in the second. It just really heightens the drama of her character's beguiling aura. Such a great production with every element working together. It's the only North American production with this ensemble and they will only be at the Kennedy Center until August 27th so if you're in the DC area, make sure to see it!
Some of the photos I took at the Kennedy Center:
JFK's bust in the lobby
The foyer
Opening night crowd. The Australian Embassy crows dominated the scene but there was also a sighting of Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebylius
Production still in the lobby of the Eisenhower Theatre
We tried to stagedoor but a lady with the production said that the actors weren't coming out because they have an opening night party in the theatre. Still, we thought that was nice of them to let people like us know.
I made it a point to watch the great Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving for "Hedda Gabler" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music a couple of years ago. A few weeks ago, Pinky was planning her trip to the Washington D. C. area and said the duo is back together for the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Uncle Vanya at the Kennedy Center. Although I was intimidated by Anton Chekhov's play---based solely on his reputation for doom and gloom---I couldn't pass up the chance to see them again. Plus it would be a chance to watch at the Kennedy Center for the first time.
We were fortunate to have purchased tickets for opening night, 06 August. Although it made a stage door experience unlikely, it was also another first for us. We have never watched an opening night performance!
This show was directed by acclaimed Hungarian stage director, Tamás Ascher. The dense material was made less threatening by Ms. Blanchett's husband, Andrew Upton. He brilliantly adapted the play with humor and even dance sequences. Set in Russia, but changed to the mid-20th century instead of the 1890s, the Serebrakov farm is shaken up by the arrival of favorite son Professor Aleksandr and his younger, beautiful and bored wife Yelena. Country life starts to change for the farm's original inhabitants. Despite the characters' burgeoning passions, their lives oddly take on a complacency and isolation that make their fates more desperate and tragic.
The pacing, the set/lighting/sound/costume design are all very effective in highlighting the languor pervading the estate, as well as the contrast between country folk and the urbane Yelena and her tyrannical spouse.
A true ensemble piece, this amazing cast is led by the extraordinary Richard Roxburgh as the dissatisfied Uncle Vanya; John Bell as his brother, the retired and rheumatic Professor; Cate Blanchett as Yelena (sidenote: who knew she's so good at physical comedy? That woman can do anything. She's Australia's national treasure!); the poignant Hayley McElhinney as her hardworking and plain stepdaughter Sonya; and the marvelous Hugo Weaving as the doctor Astrov, who Sonya secretly loves. The cast is rounded out by Jacki Weaver as sympathetic nanny Marina, Anthony Phelan as Telegin, Andrew Tighe as a laborer, and Sandy Gore as the matriarch Maria.
The story is a study on human nature, and the dysfunction in every family: love, regret, admiration, anger, envy. Vanya embodies ennui and discontent. Despite its light moments, I left the theatre with a sense of unease (despite being bowled over yet again by Cate's stupendous acting abilities and stage presence). Chekhov makes you reflect on inaction, missed opportunities, resignation about one's lot in life.
The show will run until 27 August 2011. Get tickets here.
Oh and have I mentioned Cate's stunning, bravura performance? I will leave it up to Pinky to rave more about her.
This came in the post today whee!
Cate Blanchett headlines Sydney Theatre Company's production of Uncle Vanya at the Kennedy Center in DC. Together with her is a stellar cast of Australian actors: Hugo Weaving, John Bell, Sandy Gore, Hayley McElhinney, Anthony Phelan, Richard Roxburgh, Andrew Tighe and Jacki Weaver.
I made it a point to watch the great Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving for "Hedda Gabler" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music a couple of years ago. A few weeks ago, Pinky was planning her trip to the Washington D. C. area and said the duo is back together for the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Uncle Vanya at the Kennedy Center. Although I was intimidated by Anton Chekhov's play---based solely on his reputation for doom and gloom---I couldn't pass up the chance to see them again. Plus it would be a chance to watch at the Kennedy Center for the first time.
We were fortunate to have purchased tickets for opening night, 06 August. Although it made a stage door experience unlikely, it was also another first for us. We have never watched an opening night performance!
A true ensemble piece, this amazing cast is led by the extraordinary Richard Roxburgh as the dissatisfied Uncle Vanya; John Bell as his brother, the retired and rheumatic Professor; Cate Blanchett as Yelena (sidenote: who knew she's so good at physical comedy? That woman can do anything. She's Australia's national treasure!); the poignant Hayley McElhinney as her hardworking and plain stepdaughter Sonya; and the marvelous Hugo Weaving as the doctor Astrov, who Sonya secretly loves. The cast is rounded out by Jacki Weaver as sympathetic nanny Marina, Anthony Phelan as Telegin, Andrew Tighe as a laborer, and Sandy Gore as the matriarch Maria.
The show will run until 27 August 2011. Get tickets here.
Oh and have I mentioned Cate's stunning, bravura performance? I will leave it up to Pinky to rave more about her.
