Afterplay

Synopsis

The play revisits the lives of Audrey Prozorov, first seen in Chekhov's 'The Three Sisters', and Sonya Serebriakova, from his 'Uncle Vanya'. Afterplay takes place 20 years on and set in a run-down cafe in Moscow in the early 1920s at night-time.

Our Review:

20 September 2002

Irish playwright Brian Friel recently caused a stir with Sam Mendes' production of Uncle Vanya at the Donmar Warehouse. The Donmar programme credited that classic drama as "by Brian Friel, a version of the play by Anton Chekhov", which seemed to rather stretch the definitions of authorship and adaptation. With this West End opening following a mere two days later, Friel lays his claim not just to the existing work of his imminent Russian predecessor but also to the lifelong development of his characters.

Afterplay picks up the stories of two Chekhov characters twenty years later. A sequel then, as so loved by filmmakers onto a money-spinner, but with a significant twist. These characters have never met before and are, in fact, from two different plays. The result is the equivalent, say, of mining the works of Steven Spielberg and 'reuniting' a grown-up Elliott from E.T. with one of the kids out of Jurassic Park.

In this ca...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 21 October 2002:

I would concur with the comments of others. This is a slight piece - knowing the plays by Chekhov doesn't add that much to the enjoyment of this play. It doesn't really take things much further than Chekhov and there seems to real point to this play in the sense that there is no urgency or need for this piece of writing. Both actors turn in, as one would expect, v fine performances although, that said, they're not required to do that much. At this price - Paid £30+ for stall seats, you'd be advised to spend your money on some other play....

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