How times and reputations change. When I saw John Gielgud play Ivanov in the mid-1960s, he drove me nuts. I rushed home and wrote a poem: “Ivanov, Ivanov, we’ve all had enough of, your whimpering, simpering whine; your tiresome self-pity is not even witty...” and so on.
Now the brutish comedy and callowness of Chekhov’s first play – overlooked by the playwright’s best English translator, Michael Frayn – makes it seem just the West End ticket. And the Donmar season at Wyndham’s is off to a flying start with Michael Grandage’s scorching production, Kenneth Branagh’s meticulous and moving performance as the gentleman farmer swimming in debts and despair, and Tom Stoppard’s clinical, idiomatic new version (using a literal translation by the perennially unsung Helen Rappaport).
I’ve rarely felt heat like it in the theatre, even without the air-conditioning. The lighting of Paule Constable and soundtrack of Adam Cork conspire with Christopher Oram’s dilapidated cream-painted interiors and fugged-up windows to create an overpowering atmosphere of meteorological and emotional stasis. Branagh’s Ivanov, aged up slightly to the wrong side of 40, is literally at the end of his tether and cannot fly.
He has fallen out of love with his Jewish wife who is dying of tuberculosis – and is played with an ingrained grief and starchy moon-faced resignation by beautiful Gina McKee – and trapped in a nightly vigil on his own crisis at the Lebedevs; Kevin J McNally’s wealthy neighbour is the Horatio, if you like, to this self-absorbed over-age Hamlet, while his grasping wife Zinaida (Sylvestra Le Touzel) pushes their daughter Sasha (Andrea Riseborough) towards a relationship of tactical materialism.
The luxury casting includes Lorcan Cranitch as Ivanov’s tempestuous estate manager, Malcolm Sinclair as his sadly unfulfilled uncle (“No children, no money, no prospects”), Tom Hiddleston as an impatiently critical doctor and Lucy Briers as a snobbish young widow. The cartoonish, Gogolian quality of the rogues’ gallery is more restrained than it was in Jonathan Kent’s hilarious revival (using a David Hare text) at the Almeida ten years ago, but the actors certainly give full individual value while maintaining an overall ensemble purpose of style and tone.
Branagh has never been better, making no bones about Ivanov’s horrible anti-semitism and the utter futility of his situation. Unlike Gielgud, of course, he doesn’t ask you to like him for a moment. The play hurtles by, hitting its four curtain climaxes with an almost shocking intensity. What was that about not too much serious drama going on in the West End?
- Michael Coveney
Reader Reviews
Score
Comment
Date
I have to say this is one of the finest productions I have seen (and I have seen many!). The entire cast was outstanding, but particular plaudit has to go to Kenneth Branagh for his sensitive and highly charged portrayal of the title role. I also have to commend the lighting and stage crew. A magnificent production. I am glad I had the chance to see this - Laura
27 Nov 08
Very disappointing.Thought the play grossly over rated though as I get older most Chekov characters get more irritating.Some extremely good actors had very little to do and some not so good far too much!Grrrrrrr! - Mr Bumble
21 Nov 08
I would have given 5 stars for the terrific ensemble acting in this superbly staged production by the Donmar, but I can't as it might be misconstrued as including Mr Branagh, whose performance gave him the air of being in another play. One could best describe him as a bored geography teacher who having wandered into the drama department decided to stick around and get involved. He was the only let down in an otherwise faultless production which included start turns from Lorcan Cranitch, Malcolm Sinclair, Kevin McNally and of course the wonderful Gina McKee. Tom Stoppard's witty adaptation got its fair share of laughs, particularly when it touched on the very topical subject of economics. But why has a director of Michael Grandage's undoubted brilliance allowed this to happen? It's a complete mystery to me and makes me worry about another name, Jude Law, whose Hamlet is coming up next year. - rds
08 Nov 08
I went to this production with very high expectations, but was disappointed. It is inferior Chekhov, rambling and loosely constructed. Kenneth Branagh, whose performance has been so much lauded by the critics and the public,over-acted so much that I lost all sympathy for his character. I agree that the Donmar has done well to move this play to a larger theatre - and, judging by last night's audience, it will run and run - but the seating and viewing capability at Wyndham's are less than ideal. I was in the second row of the grand circle and lost a lot of the action because I was immediately behind someone. A great let-down. - sc
29 Oct 08
Extraordinary performance from Branagh - an astonishing, insightful portrayal of the toll of "endogenous" depression, which nobody around him sees or understands (least of all, the priggish doctor - well-played by Tom Hiddleston). McNally, Cranitch, McKee et al all superb too. Fantastic Stoppard adaptation - the Best Chekhov I have ever seen. - Annette Neary
15 Oct 08
This production has enough of a run scheduled to enable all sorts of people, if they want to, to see it before it ends. Good on the Donmar for moving this play to a theatre that has many more seats and then also to charge reasonable West End prices. What a cast, what a play and production, what a treat to have seen it in its opening week in such a lovely as-if-new Wyndham's. - El Peter
06 Oct 08
They used to call 'The Seagull' his flawed masterpiece, now it's Ivanov's turn again, why bother? It is a work of genius and this production proves it. Branagh is even better than you could ever wish for and there is not a weak link in the rest of the brilliant ensemble. As for being 'accessible' the theatere was full of rudely behaved ignorant fools when I was there. - joesmith
27 Sep 08
If Ivanov the man is suffering from depression Ivanov the play seems to have a severe case of schizophrenia. Kenneth Branagh is appearing in a Chekhov tragedy whilst the rest of the cast are in a black comedy bordering on farce. Whether that was Chekhov's intention or is a decision by Tom Stoppard and Michael Grandage I don't know but the contradictions are sometimes uncomfortable. To be fair when it is played as a comedy it is very funny indeed - the drunken Act 3 and particularly Kevin McNally dealing with wailing family and friends prior to his daughter's wedding. In his own separate play I was not wholly convinced by Branagh. He seemed much too contained and self-aware for a man filled with self-loathing and black depression and his Hedda Gabler moment was more like he was off for a stroll in the garden. I cannot share the critic's rave reviews of Ivanov but there is no doubt that it is a high quality production even if I have reservations about the srtistic direction. - David Baxter
24 Sep 08
I broke my 'no more Chekhov' rule as I'm a fan of most of the cast and the production team are virtually heroes! I still don't think it's a good play - it moves from pathos to farce to melodrama to tragedy and doen't really know what it is, BUT Tom Stoppard's adaptation has excellent naturalistic dialogue, the ensemble are simply stunning and the staging is craftsmanship of the first order. The third act in particular is a masterpiece of staging and a masterclass in acting. As much as I admire the attempt at accessibility, though, I have to report that the theatre is full of the usual suspects - white middle-aged middle-class (and that incudes me!). The only audience less diverse is at the Almeida or Hampstead Theatres! It seems that the efffect of lower prices is to make it cheaper for those who would be there anyway; though I'm grateful, I don't think that was the intention. It takes more than lowering prices to make quality theatre accessible it seems. - Gareth James
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