Our conversation begins with an exploration of Chekhov’s unique approach to storytelling, which, despite its emotional depth, was often met with criticism during its time. His works, while profound, were often seen as reflections of the human condition rather than scandalous commentary.

The group discusses the significance of focusing on character and text without the distractions of stage production elements like lights and costumes. The enriching experience of working on a single scene for an extended period allows actors to delve into the emotional and psychological layers of their characters.

The discussions are not just about acting; they touch on the collaborative nature of theater, the importance of mentorship, and the shared passion that fuels the artistic community.

If you’re an aspiring actor, theater enthusiast, or simply curious about the intricacies of Chekhov’s work, this session is full of knowledge and inspiration!

🏁 In this session, highlights include:

Full transcript included at the bottom of this post.

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Total Running Time: 1:54:44

Check out this 60-second clip from this session with our dramaturg Allison loving how the work changes over time!

And a great quote from Jully in this week’s session…

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Our group will be working on the first half of Act 2.

Follow along with the play here. Order a copy of Libby and Allison’s translation here.

Read more about the artists here.

Catch up on our other workshops featuring lots of Shakespeare scenes, from Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Midsummer, As You Like It, and our Twelfth Night repertory extravaganza – all on the podcast and YouTube.  If you’ve missed any presentations thus far, click here to find them all.

UNCLE VANYA Final Session: “Echoes of the Past” – The Rehearsal Room

Nathan Agin: Was Chekhov ever considered, controversial, when he was doing his plays, or were they, you know.

Libby: Well, he got terrible reviews for Siegel, when it was first produced, before the Moscow Art Theater took and made a huge hit out of it. But, you know, he wasn’t controversial.

Nathan Agin: Okay. Yeah.

Libby: and Tolstoy was kind of mad at him for not taking more stands, trying to. Because Chekhov was so fair about everything scientifically, not emotionally. He was a doctor.

Howard: Yeah.

Nathan Agin: M. Interesting.

Libby: Yeah.

Nathan Agin: I know. It’s such a. Such, a novel, idea to just, you know, not. Not be scandalous or something, you know, because, that’s. That’s. That’s what a lot of people do to, you know, get attention.

Libby: It was also a very, volcanic time. The revolution was seething, and it had been for many years. And in 1905, the year after he died, was the first revolution. We only know 1917, but 1905 was a real revolution. They just couldn’t carry it through, but that political atmosphere. And he chose not to take stands and.

Alison: Interesting. Later, the Soviets kind of adopted him as like, one of their own, even though he hadn’t bought into it.

Libby: Absolutely.

Alison: They certainly carried him as though he was like a big flag bearer for ovation.

Nathan Agin: Wow, that’s fascinating. we could do a whole separate, Chekhov history class here.

Libby: Yes. Look, are you in?

Alison: I’m in.

Nathan Agin: When you allow people to nerd out in what they are, they’re just going to be like, I’m there.

Libby: It’s really scary, isn’t it?

Nathan Agin: Well, great. on that note, well, we can kick. We can get, into what we’re doing, which has been also exciting and lovely. so hello, everybody. my name is Nathan Agan. I am the, host and producer of the Working Actors Journey, that started as a podcast, and over the last year and a half, we’ve been doing these workshops, online workshops, which, have been, really wonderful and exciting. And for a number of reasons. It is able to combine professional actors with newer and younger actors. We’re able to bring in, dramaturgs and voice coaches and give everybody an opportunity to work on material in a way that they very rarely get a chance to do, especially at a professional level. You know, being able to take one scene and just look at that one scene for a month has been really exciting. And just, you’re going to see what happens, the richness of playing that scene when that’s all you have to really think about. And there’s no concern about lights. Or costumes or sets. And all of those things are wonderful when it comes to theater. but it is really nice to just be able to focus, on the text and characters and all that kind of stuff. and as you’ll discover, or you may know, what is also exciting about this is that we can be very conscious about age and gender and race in terms of casting. we can really explore that and have fun with it and do different things. And we’ve had, you know, previous workshops where people have played parts that they just figured had passed them by. and here they have an opportunity to do that. So that’s, that’s really wonderful and exciting too. and so I’ll just mention a couple other quick things. we just did, our director this evening, Libby Apple. We just did a really fun Q and A on Facebook. And you can find that on our Facebook page, and learn more about Libby’s career and a little bit more about ah, her love and enjoyment, with Chekhov. and then, we are also running a class coming up in October, where people can focus on one character. Up to now we’ve been doing one scene and now we’re going to focus on one character over the course of the play. And we’ve chosen Lady Macbeth. Professional, actress Susan Angelo, based in la, has played that part a number of times at regional theaters around the country. And she will walk you through that character. So it’s a part, as she said, it’s very feared and revered and a lot of people look up to it and think of it as a part they’d love to play. And this is something that could really give you a leg up on understanding this woman. so, yeah, that’s coming up. You can find out more. I’ll send out links to all of this stuff so that you can, check out more. But, lovely to have you here and very excited. And at this point I’ll mentally kind of go through my list. I think that’s everything I needed to do. but I’m going to turn it over to our director, Libby, Apple, and she’ll, you know, take it from there and you’ll meet the cast. if we haven’t gone through everybody at the beginning, we’ll do that at the end. but that’s it for me. So, Libby, thank you so much for being here and all yours.

Libby: Thanks, Nathan. When Nathan called me, about this, he asked me first if I would Do a Shakespeare scene because that’s what they’ve been doing. And of course, a Shakespeare scene with a voice coach and a dramaturg and actors. What could be better? But I said, I don’t know. I’m not done doing my Chekhov work yet. And I said to Nathan, I’ll do it if you let me do Chekhov. And he was so gracious and he read the plays. And, we decided together on Uncle Vanya. And I pointed toward the second act because I think it’s so ripe and full. I wanted to do the whole act, but he wouldn’t let me. I just want you to know that. And actually, I’m happy now because there. As much time as I thought there would be, there’s never enough time. I don’t know a director in the world who doesn’t say that I didn’t have enough time. but anyway, I’m very grateful, to Nathan and to the working actors.

Howard: Journey.

Libby: Working actors Journey. For, letting Alison and I, in to do the work on this play again. We had a great time translating it, and now it’s wonderful to be together again to do it. Alison set the scene for us.

Alison: Okay. so. Hi, everybody. I’m Alison Horsley. I did the literal translations from the Russian to the English with Libby. And we worked together for more than 10 years, on all of these. So, a little background on where we are in the play. The play is set in the late 1890s in, rural Russia. And we’re at a country estate, that is still a working farm. Very much a working farm. And the play starts with, a retired professor named Sera Byakov, and his younger wife Yelena Andreevna, having returned to the estate after living away for a long time. the people who normally have lived at the house are a, ah, man with the last name Voyanitsky. And, his nickname is Vanya. His niece is Sonya. And Sonia’s father is the professor Serbyakov. there is a visiting doctor in the picture who, pops by periodically to check in on Sarabyakov, or respond to his request for treatment. otherwise there is an older woman, who is, named Marina, who’s been the lifelong family nurse. Basically, she was a. A wet nurse at one point. And then transitioned to being a kind of like, you know, inhabitants of the estate. And kind of a servant type character. But more integral to the family than that. And then there’s Maria Vasilievna, who’s, the mother who’s referred to. And she’s Vanya’s mother. And she is the mother of the professor’s first late wife, Zakin Libby. Have I covered everybody who’s mentioned.

Libby: Just say. I think it’s important to know that the professor and his wife Yelena normally come for a week or two in the summer. But this year he’s retired and they’ve moved in. They’ve cut off their ties, with the city and the university where he worked. And they’ve moved in because that has caused the crash that’s happening in the household.

Alison: And they’ve been back about a month, a few weeks. Around there?

Libby: Yes. But everyone in the house knows they’re staying, so that’s a burden.

Alison: Great. So we’re starting with the top of Act 2. I’m going to just read these opening stage directions. And then we’ll get going. so, act two of Uncle Vanya. The dining room in Serebyakov’s home. Night in the garden. The watchman can be heard tapping. Serebyakov sits in an armchair before an open window and dozes. And Yelena Andreevna sits beside him and also dozes.

Alberto: Who’s there? Sonia, is that you? I’m here, you dear Notchka.

Alberto: The pain is unbearable.

Sarah: Here. Your blanket fell. I’ll shut the window.

Alberto: No, I’m suffocating. I was just nodding off. And I dreamt that my left leg was attached, to someone else. I woke up with such excruciating pain. No, this is not gout. Probably rheumatism. What time is it?

Sarah: 20 minutes after 12.

Alberto: In the morning. go look for Batyushkov in the library. I’m sure we have him.

Deidre: What?

Alberto: Look for Batyushkov in the morning. I seem to recall we have him. Why can’t I breathe?

Sarah: You’re tired. This is the second night you haven’t slept.

Alberto: they say Turgenief developed angina pectoris from gout. I’m afraid I’m getting it too. Damned, disgusting. Old age. The devil take it. Now that I’m old, I can’t stand looking at myself. And I’m sure all of you must be repulsed by me too.

Sarah: Make it sound as if it’s our fault you got old.

Alberto: But I’m most disgusting to you. Of course, you’re right. I’m not stupid. I understand. You’re young, healthy, beautiful. You want to live. And I’m an old man, almost a corpse.

Sarah: True.

Alberto: I understand all too well. And of course it’s a terrible crime I have lived this long. But, wait a little. Soon you’ll be free of me. I won’t last much longer.

Sarah: I’m exhausted. For God’s sake, be quiet.

Alberto: Yes, everyone is exhausted. All because of me. They’re bored. They’re wasting their time. They’re wasting their youth. I’m the only one who’s happy. I’m the only one having a good time. Well, yes, of course.

Sarah: Be quiet. You have worn me out.

Alberto: Yes, I have worn everyone out. of course.

Alison: This is unbearable.

Sarah: Tell me what you want from me.

Alberto: Nothing.

Sarah: Well, then be quiet. I begged you.

Alberto: It’s so strange. Ivan Petrovich talks his head off. And that old idiot Maria Vasilyevna. And it’s just fine. Everyone listens. But when I say one word, everyone suddenly feels desolate. Even my voice is offensive. Well, let’s assume I am offensive. I’m an egoist. I’m a despot. Don’t I have the right to be a despot? To be an egoist in my old age? Think about it. Haven’t I earned it? I ask you, don’t I have the right to a comfortable old age, surrounded by my admirers?

Sarah: No one is, taking away your rights. It’s very windy. I’ll close the window. It’ll rain soon. No one’s denying your rights.

Alberto: All one’s life to be dedicated to scholarship, to become accustomed to one’s study, to the classroom, to respected colleagues. And suddenly, for, no apparent reason, to find oneself buried in this tomb. Every day to deal with stupid people, to. To listen to insignificant chatter. I want to live. I love success. I love fame. I love action. But here I’m in exile. Every minute I’m longing for the past, watching the success of others, fearing death. I, cannot. I don’t have the strength. And no one can forgive me for being old.

Sarah: Wait a little. Have patience. In five or six years, I’ll be old too.

Deidre: Papa, you sent for Dr. Astro, but when he came, you refused to see him. It’s so rude. You bothered this man.

Alberto: Why do I need your Astrov? He understands as much about medicine as I do astronomy.

Deidre: He cannot send for the entire medical faculty just for your gout.

Alberto: I won’t talk to that idiot.

Corey: As, you wish.

Deidre: It’s all the same to me.

Alberto: What time is it?

Sarah: Almost one.

Alberto: It’s stifling. Sonia, give me the drops from the table.

Deidre: Of course.

Alberto: Not these. I can’t ask, for anything.

Deidre: Please, stop acting like a baby. It might be fine for others, but spare me Please. I don’t like it.

Libby: I don’t have time.

Deidre: I need to get up early tomorrow. I have the hay. Tomo.

Howard: The storm’s coming. Here we go. Helen, and Sonia, go to sleep. I came to relieve you.

Alberto: No, no, don’t leave me with him. No. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: But they’ve got to get some rest. They didn’t sleep at all last night.

Alberto: well, let them go to sleep. But you go too. Thank you. I implore you in the name of a former friendship. Just go.

Howard: Our, former friendship. Former.

Deidre: Be quiet, Uncle Vanya.

Alberto: My dear, don’t leave me with him. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: Can you believe how ludicrous this is?

Deidre: you ought to be in bed, Nanya. It’s very late.

Julie: Samovar is still boiling. You can’t exactly expect me to go to bed.

Alberto: No one is sleeping. Everybody’s exhausted. I alone am in a state of bliss.

Julie: Oh, what is it, my dear? Are you in pain? My legs ache too. They ache so. You’ve been in pain such a long time. Vera Petrovna, Sonietzka’s mother, may she rest in peace, never slept either. She nearly killed herself taking care of you. she loved you very much. Oh, yes. Old people are like children. They want someone to feel sorry for them. But no one feels sorry for the old. Let’s go to bed, my dear. let’s go, my little boy. I’ll make you some lime leaf tea. I’ll warm your legs. I’ll pray to God for you.

Alberto: Let’s go, Marina.

Julie: Legs ache too. They ache so. Vera Petrovna nearly killed herself. Always crying. You, Sonietchka, were still little then. Come, Come, my dear.

Sarah: I’m completely exhausted with him. I can barely stand on my feet.

Howard: You’re exhausted with him, and I with myself. This is the third night I haven’t slept.

Sarah: Something is wrong in this house. Your mother. Your mother hates everything except her own pamphlets. And the professor. The professor is irritated. He doesn’t trust me. He’s afraid of you. Sonia is angry with her father. Angry with me. Hasn’t talked to me for two weeks. You hate my husband and openly hold your own mother in contempt. I am short tempered, and at least 20 times today I started to cry. There is something very wrong in this house.

Howard: Should we cut the philosophy, please?

Sarah: You, Ivan Petrovitch, are educated, intelligent, and you must see that the world is not being destroyed by thieves and fires and wars, but rather by hatred, hostility from all these petty squabbles. You shouldn’t add to the noisy complaining around you. You should be helping to find peace with your own family.

Howard: Help me find peace in myself, my darling.

Libby: Stop.

Sarah: Go away.

Howard: Soon it’ll stop raining and everything in nature will be refreshed and alive. I alone will not be refreshed by the storm. Day and night I’m strangled by the idea that my life is irrevocably lost, that I’m dead, that I wasted my life, that I spent my life on trifles. Here. Take my life. Take my love. What good are they to me? What have I done with them? My feelings are dying away in vain. Like sunbeams falling into a dark pit. I’m dying.

Sarah: When you talk to me about your love, I just go numb. And I don’t know what to say. Give me. I have nothing to say to you. Good night.

Howard: If you only knew how I suffer from the thought that next to me in this very house, another life is dying. Yours. What are you waiting for? What damned righteous morality stops you?

Sarah: Don’t you see, Ivan Petrovich? You’re drunk.

Howard: Possibly. Possibly.

Sarah: Where’s the doctor?

Howard: He’s, here. He’s spending the night. Possibly. Possibly everything is possible.

Sarah: Why are you drinking so much?

Howard: Because it makes me feel alive. Don’t try to stop me, Helen.

Sarah: You never used to drink so much. And you never talked so much. Go to sleep.

Howard: I’m bored to death of you, my darling. Beautiful, marvelous.

Sarah: Leave me alone. This is just disgusting.

Howard: She’s gone. I first met you 10 years ago, my darling sisters.

Corey: Remember?

Howard: You were 17. I was 37. Why didn’t I fall in love with you and propose to you then? Would have been so easy. Today you would be my wife. Yes. Tonight both of us would be awakened by the storm. You would be afraid of the thunder. And I would take you in my arms and whisper, don’t be afraid, little darling. I’m here. Marvelous thoughts. I’m laughing, but God, I’m so mixed up. Why m. Am I old? Why doesn’t she understand me? The way she talks. Her stupid morality. Her silly prattling about making peace in the world. I hate it so much. I’ve been deceived. I worship that professor. That pathetic, gout ridden idiot. I worked for him like a slave. Sonia and I squeezed every drop out of Fist estate. We were like kulaks haggling over vegetable oil peas, starving ourselves with crumbs just so we could save a few copecks to send to him. I was so proud of him and his glorious scholarship. I lived for him, I breathed. For him, Every word he wrote or uttered seemed like genius to me. God. And now he’s retired, and it has become perfectly clear that the sum total of his life adds up to nothing. Not one word of his, not a single scholarly word, matters to anyone. A. Ah. Soap bubble. And I’ve been swindled. I see that now. Stupidly swindled.

Libby: Play.

Julie: Everyone is sleeping, sir.

Alberto: Oh.

Corey: Play. Are you alone here? No. Ladies, go to the peasant house. Go to the fire. There is no place for the master to expire. The storm woke me. Big storm. What time is it?

Howard: Who knows?

Corey: I thought I heard Yelena Andreyevna’s voice.

Howard: She was just here.

Libby: What?

Corey: A gorgeous woman. Medicines, drugs. There’s nothing missing. Kharkov, Moscow, Tulskaya. Every city is plagued with his gout. Is he really sick or faking it?

Howard: Sick?

Corey: And why are you so sad today? Pity for the professor.

Howard: Stop it.

Corey: Or maybe you’re in love with the professor’s wife?

Howard: She’s my friend.

Corey: Already.

Howard: What does that mean, already?

Corey: A woman can only be friends with a man. In this order. First an acquaintance, then a, lover. And then finally a friend.

Howard: Vulgar.

Corey: Oh, yes. I’m becoming vulgar. I’m drunk.

Libby: Usually.

Corey: I get drunk like this once a month. And when I’m drunk, I get completely vulgar and fearless. Everything seems so easy. Easy to me. I take on the most brilliant operations and do them brilliantly. I make daring plans for the future. When I’m drunk, I no longer seem like a freak. And I actually believe I’m bringing some enormous benefit to humanity. Enormous. And when I’m drunk, I see how valuable my own personal universe is. And the rest of you piddling creatures seem like insects to me. Microbes, waffles. Play.

Julie: Dear one, I would love to play for you with all my soul. But understand, everyone is sleeping.

Alberto: Play.

Corey: You need a drink.

Howard: Oh.

Corey: Oh, I see there’s some cognac left. In the morning, we’ll go to my place, right, Jar? I have a medical assistant who never says right, but, Right you are, idiot. Right you are. Pardon me, I forgot my tie.

Deidre: And you, Uncle Vanya, you got drunk again with the doctor. A couple of juveniles just hanging around. Well, he has always been like that. But what in heaven’s name is wrong with you? At your age, you should know better.

Howard: Age has nothing to do with it. You don’t have a life. You live on soap bubbles. Better than nothing.

Deidre: Our hay needs to be cutted. It rains every day. Everything is rotting. And all you can talk about is soap bubbles. You’re completely neglecting the farm. I have to work alone. I am straying to the breaking point. Uncle, do you have tears in your eyes?

Howard: Tears? Nothing. Nonsense. The way you looked at me just now, it’s like your mother.

Corey: M. Sweet.

Howard: My sister. Sweet, dear sister. Where is she now? Only she knew my family. she knew, you know.

Alberto: M. What?

Libby: Uncle?

Deidre: What?

Howard: It’s so hard.

Nathan Agin: Nothing.

Howard: Later. Nothing. I’m going.

Alison: End of scene.

Libby: That was so good. Come back, everybody. Yay. That was so good, wasn’t it? God. Kind of don’t want to do it again, but I do. I do. How do you feel about it? I want to know how you feel. Oh, come on.

Deidre: You must have definitely love another pass. You know, it’s like it takes a minute to kind of get into the. You know, I love just the feel of the evening because, you know, it’s like having the, ambient rain and sound and all of that. So just, you know, it’s. It’s like putting on a nice, blanket and sort of getting in. You got to kind of get it settled. Yeah.

Libby: Yes, of course. And, you know, it’s always difficult to start a play or, you know, to start a scene. You know, the start is always, always difficult. And this is the start of Act 2, and when you come in, it’s the start of being in the middle of something. But I just.

Deidre: I thought it was lovely. It really was so delicious.

Libby: I’m kind of sad you can’t hear me because I’m laughing all the way through. I know I’m the only one in the world who laughs at this, but I just, And you.

Sarah: Yes, I was laughing all the time.

Libby: Oh, good. I’m so glad, Ursula.

Nathan Agin: And crying.

Libby: And crying. Yes. It was very touching. Everybody, what other reactions? Anybody else have reactions?

Sarah: Well, that actually answers my reaction, because right as we finished, I went, oh, my God. I think this is still supposed to be a comedy, and I certainly don’t feel like one. And I’m certainly not acting as if I’m in one. But that’s so great to know that despite how you feel and how your character feels, the response is very different coming from the audience. And I always think that’s so fascinating, how you can feel as if you’re in a very dramatic scene, but something’s working, something is happening.

Libby: You have to trust. You have to trust the text, and you have to trust yourself in the text for it to happen. I don’t think it’s a Laugh riot. But it’s ironic. And when you know all of the characters in the situation, having had an act before this, and to see them in this state at this point, it is both funny and tragic, at the same time. And the kind of play between both of them is, funny. It just makes you laugh. Other thoughts? I have a few things for you, but I want to hear from you. Yes, you want. From the audience. Yeah, okay. No, I don’t want the audience yet, except. Oh, okay, I’m sorry, because we’re going to. Yeah. Oh, come on, Howard. You must have felt very good. You’re really getting somewhere, don’t you think?

Howard: I’m trying. it’s interesting, as sort of. We sort of have this image of sort of indolence and lethargic check off. But once it starts moving, it’s so fast, I almost couldn’t process, you know, I was like, slow down, slow down, slow down. This is going too fast.

Libby: I know exactly how you.

Howard: And I don’t know what that feeling is exactly, but it’s like, it’s like, you know, when you prepare by yourself without like, you know, you like, take all this time to like, sit in these emotions and be, you know, and then it’s like once it’s happening, you’re like, oh my God, it’s going much, much faster than I know how to.

Libby: Keep up with it.

Howard: That was, that. That was my experience.

Libby: How about you, Alberto? Oh, put your, put your, take your mood off, Alberto.

Alberto: I think the one thing that, kept coming to my mind after the fact, after I accident was the phrase the death of love. It seems not my love, but her love, totally gone. Oh my God.

Libby: Do you think that’s a great question also, Alberto? Do you think that you see that she’s dead to you, that. That you’re dead to her? Or, Uh-huh.

Alberto: Yeah, I think it’s like. So, my dear, why are you still going through the motions? You know, I mean, you. Obviously, it’s. Whatever we had, Whatever you felt for me is gone. Totally. At least from what I can see.

Libby: Do you think that you’re attempting to get it back in this scene or you’re just blaming her?

Alberto: a little tentative emotions, but I, think there’s a certain masculine pride. I don’t know, or human pride, maybe. like, I’m not gonna beg, you know, but I do anyway. I got old.

Libby: Yes. Yes. Keep looking for Alberto the positive. Trying to win her back.

Alberto: Okay.

Libby: Find any of that in There.

Alberto: All right.

Libby: don’t give up. Yeah, I have a few little notes. but, there’s a big question I don’t think we’ve ever answered. Why does Vanya think that Srebryakov’s work is worthless now? How did that happen? It’s not in the text. You have to build it, and we all have to. And why is he completely disillusioned with the professor when he has spent so many years of his life dedicating himself to it? And Yelena, you married, Sebry Yakov because he was, you know, a celebrity professor kind of thing. Do you know that his work is worthless now?

Sarah: Yeah, I have my own guess on this. At least for my character’s perspective, which is if he actually mattered, if his work mattered, when it came to him retiring, somebody, somewhere, some institution, some patron, some something would have picked up the bill and made sure this guy was taken care of for the rest of his life and continued to celebrate him. You know, great, great men don’t retire to their. To, you know, desolation in the country in isolation. And the second he was off the payroll, here we are, we’re in the middle of nowhere. And I just feel like none of that notoriety had any substance. Ultimately, that everybody’s gone.

Libby: So what does it feel like? You don’t have to answer. You just need to have the question. What does it feel like when Vanya speaks aloud? What you’ve begun to realize or have been realizing? I don’t want to put a time on it. That has to cost you. Something, that has to come in. I don’t know the answer to it, Sarah, but, it’s important. He’s not just gabbing, he’s. He’s stabbing at something that was important to you.

Deidre: Yeah.

Sarah: Yeah. It’s almost as much of an insult to me as it is to him. Because I’m aligned by being married.

Libby: Exactly. And you, who could have had anybody, you chose this older man who was the center of something that made him. For a minute. Yeah. I just wanted to mention, Alberto, maybe m rheumatism has a little bit more, worry for you. You throw it away as unimportant as gout.

Alberto: Oh, I totally misunderstood. I, was going exactly the opposite. Okay, great. All right. Thank you. All right.

Libby: And I thought your thinking process up until the pause before Batushka. I don’t know why you asked for Batushka. Are you trying to get her back? What’s your action there?

Alberto: Well, it felt like I Gave her a book of Batyushkov’s poems when she was a student, of mine. Like, here, you’ll love this. and I think I wasn’t investing it this time around. I wasn’t investing it with any of that emotionality.

Libby: That’s a great choice. And yes, you need to invest it with it.

Alberto: And you know, when I mentioned her name, his name, she’s like, totally. Yeah, but you just got. Yeah, so what? You know, it’s like, I think it’s like. Don’t you remember?

Libby: Another stab in the heart. Right.

Nathan Agin: Okay.

Libby: God, you poor guy. I feel for you.

Alberto: okay.

Libby: I can’t agree. My own handwriting. Sarah, no one is taking away your life. What’s your action on that?

Sarah: let me turn to it. No one’s denying your rights. Yeah, my action on that.

Libby: Are you flattering him? Are you shedding?

Sarah: No, not at all. I feel like in that moment I am pointing out, nobody did this to you. You did this to yourself.

Libby: okay. Yeah, that’s big.

Sarah: Yeah. and that I like how she goes away from it and then comes back again. It’s like she can’t let it go of this. You have got to stop blaming other people for this. This was not me. This was not anybody else. You lost your own friends. You lost all of your own. Everything. You did this to yourself.

Sarah: But she’s not able to say it correctly.

Libby: How able are you to tell him that?

Sarah: Yeah, yeah, exactly. She’s not able to come out and say it. So she says it passively.

Libby: Right.

Sarah: It’s as far as she’s able to go.

Libby: That’s good, Sarah. That’s a very good choice. Sonia, exactly what you were saying. Deidre, I didn’t know where you were coming from. Were you just woken? I know you’re not spending the time with Astro. Astros getting, drunk in another room. So where were you coming from? Were you trying to get some sleep before. And what brought you to the room?

Deidre: Well, I think, I don’t think she’s asleep. I think she’s, you know, she’s checking in on. Checking in on everyone. I mean, it’s late. There seems to be. You, know, I’m recognizing that Dr. Astro. That he’s still awake and he’s still in the house.

Deidre: And you know, sending. And that he hasn’t, he hasn’t met. So I’ve been waiting for him to go in and meet with my father and then be on his way. So I keep thinking that that’s going to happen and it hasn’t.

Deidre: So I think I just come in to say what’s the hold up? What’s happening? It’s where, you know, this man is still here. And I’m now having to, you know, take care of yet one more person in our in.

Libby: And do you hear, do you hear that, Sebriar. Well, you know that he’s in the wrong room. They’re not in their bedroom or they’re in the dining room.

Deidre: Exactly.

Libby: So I’m just interested to know if you. It isn’t that you overheard what they were saying, but did you hear their voices? Did you know that?

Deidre: Yeah, you know, I didn’t give myself that, but yes, I mean, my feeling.

Libby: Is look at that and see how that informs your end.

Deidre: Yeah, absolutely.

Libby: Okay, Vanya, same, question. Where, where are you coming from? What brings you to the room to take over?

Howard: I’m. I think I’m. I’m coming from my bedroom and I think I must. I think I was up. I was up late drinking in bed, not able to fall asleep. And then I hear voices and I think that drew me down there. And you know, there’s just, just all this activity in the house in the middle of the night. What’s happening.

Libby: Right. And you know it. There aren’t electric lights, of course, but there’s some light going on in this room. and I just want you to build for yourself the sir. The little bit of circumstances of what did the light did. The voices did. Her voice did hit. What part did his voice play? Just the way we come into a room is because of something that brought us into the room.

Howard: Okay.

Libby: Okay. So just take a look at that and see if there’s something in that for you. the most important. Wait, Marina. Oh, yes, Marina, same question. Really, Julie, by the way, really good work. Really good work. Julie, what brought you into the room finally? I mean, you’re the last one in of this group.

Julie: Yeah, well, I have to tend to the samovar still boiling. So as a caretaker of the home, I think I’m always up at this time. I mean, since Jelena and Sarah Bracho has, you know, come right. Regularly. My last thing that I do of the day.

Libby: Yes. And of course at this hour, 12:30 at night, you should have long been asleep because you’re up so early and do the house. So is it their voices or is it the light or is it the agitation that you sense? I don’t know. And you don’t have to answer, Julie. But you need to answer it for you. That brings you into the room. Now, the biggest question of all. Why did the professor’s work go so badly for you? Vanya, what created Jekhov? Doesn’t tell us. So it’s gotta. We’ve gotta create it.

Howard: I’ve, been working a lot. Did you want me to answer that?

Libby: If you have some thoughts to share with us. I think.

Howard: I don’t know is the short answer. And I’ve really been playing around with it, like I’ve invented all kinds of different scenarios in my head. I mean, the closest thing in my own life that I can put it down to is sometimes when you are jealous of somebody or, envious. That it just becomes its own.

Libby: That.

Howard: That becomes the needle that then begins poking a hole in that person.

Libby: Uh-huh.

Howard: And, you know, I had an experience about 10 years ago I was working with.

Libby: Wait a minute. Hold it. Hold it. I. I lost. I lost my picture. How do I come back into it? Guys?

Sarah: We see you minimize.

Libby: Yeah.

Nathan Agin: You just probably want to find a zoom window.

Libby: Just try the arrow back. But that’s not getting me. Your meeting is launched. I’m, Launching meeting.

Sarah: We’re already with you.

Libby: Okay. I’m so sorry if you’re making fun of me, Deidre, you’re in deep trouble.

Deidre: I’m not. I’m not. Not at all.

Libby: Okay, finish what you were saying, Howard.

Howard: I was in my own life about 10 years ago. I was working with a writer of some renown. And there was this moment we were working together. Were many people in the room at this conversation where they displayed certain amount of vanity and human fallibility in front of everybody. And from that moment on, it colored all the work for me. Like, I just. I was. I could never hear that conversation. And so with Vanya, because he’s so not specific about it. Nobody else seems to have clocked that the professor had this fall, necessarily.

Libby: Well, you don’t know whether Yelena has clocked it. That’s something.

Howard: Yeah. I was. I finally kind of. I mean, at one point, I was like. I was like. Did reviews appear when he retired? Of people saying, of course he’s passe now, but that seemed a little on the nose. But a lot of his reasoning just seems to be very subjective. I was so proud of him, his glorious scholarship.

Libby: Yes.

Howard: Everything seemed like genius. And now it’s clear that it’s just nothing. You know, that. That. That whatever the. Whatever the, The glue that was holding it all Together. Just disappeared for Vanya. And then the whole thing just fell down.

Libby: Yes. And. And. And I think everyone in the house has to have some version of what’s going. Whether. What’s going on here? why. Why does Vanya think that the professor is so terrible? I think Yelena is on her way to. As you were saying, Sarah, before, about no celebration, you know, no big tribute.

Sarah: Yeah. But I think Yelena was out even before the retirement. I think Yelena’s been out for a while. I was kind of answering the wrong question. Now I’m realizing what you were asking. I think for Yelena, it’s been, several years that she has been utterly disillusioned by the hot air. because she doesn’t exist in the marriage. She’s. She’s not a person there. And there’s only so long you can go not being a person before you realize it’s a terrible position to be in. And I actually wonder, you know, for Vanya. Take this or leave this, Howard, if seeing Yelena’s disillusionment also, sparked Vanya’s disillusionment. Because before, he’s this great guy who has all the thoughts and has this beautiful woman. Well, if this beautiful woman has fallen out of love with him, it must not be his brain. Then there’s got to. You know, we have to reject that in order for you to get after the other thing that you want. I didn’t say that very clearly, even though it makes sense in my head.

Howard: I understand.

Libby: Yeah, I understand, too. And, of course, in a rehearsal room, we would be able to see each other eye to eye. And, you know. But I think it’s important to share these ideas, even if it’s, on Zoomy Boom.

Howard: It’s so interesting to me that Vanya. I criticize her first. The way she talks.

Libby: That’s really important, Howard. That’s really important.

Howard: And then that’s, like, too much of a nerve to touch.

Libby: Yes. It hurts too much.

Howard: Yeah.

Libby: And so you have to turn. And you turn pretty viciously in your. I mean, you were on your way, Howard, with this. And I urge you to think that way. This very personal. Setting up your dolly right in front of you to talk about would have been so great if we would have been married. You know, you’re really on your way. Well, that’s opening. That’s very vulnerable. And as we would have continued to work through this if we were going to put it on a stage in the whole play, I, would continue to urge you to Go to let that personal little dialogue between you and Yelena and then it will help you make the turn more violently about Sebryakov. You’ve just exposed your nerves. Do you understand? Yeah. Okay. I’m going to move along because we haven’t got very much time here.

Libby: Yelena, it’s just disgusting. That’s an ending for you with Vanya, of course, but that, that’s a whole evening’s worth. I just want you to find that it’s. It’s kind of a. It’s months worth, worth years, maybe that this has been going on, but it. It’s what you have to feel this moment. Astrov, do you have, Corey, do you have any bottles or cans? Can you.

Corey: Bottles.

Libby: Great. So that’s what it is. Moscow.

Corey: Oh, Moscow. Tulskaya Carpool.

Libby: We are looking at all of the different medicines. That’s right. That’s exactly right. It’s like crazy that the whole world is suffering from his gout.

Corey: Great. Okay. Yeah.

Libby: I just want to say it’s not talked about in this scene. It’s talked about in the very first scene in the play. Corey, when you and Marina are together, you talk about the dead woman, you know, on the operating table when you were operating. And that is a weight. I mean, you must have seen thousands of dead people. It is a very poverty stricken part of Russia where nobody takes care of their health or themselves. So you must have seen. But something touched a nerve there. And that is the opposite of what you’re saying. I don’t know if I’m going to say this right, what you’re saying about when I’m drunk, I feel the master of the world. I could operate on anybody. I could win. Because it’s bothering you inside here.

Corey: Yeah.

Libby: Yes. So I want you to consider as we work it through this or run it through this last time. And don’t worry, don’t push anything, but consider the idea that this master of the universe moment, he needs the liquor to inflate it. So, don’t be afraid of it.

Corey: Okay? Okay.

Libby: Okay. I don’t think you’re afraid of it, but I don’t think you’re allowing it. And I don’t think you’re allowing the thought of that dead woman to inform how you have to get over it. Does that make sense?

Corey: Definitely.

Libby: Yes.

Corey: thank you.

Libby: Great. Yes. Let yourself get high on the image of being the master of the world, you know?

Corey: Okay.

Libby: Yeah.

Corey: Yeah.

Libby: Okay. Any other. Alison, do you have any comments? And Ursula, do You have any comments? Because we’re going to do it again.

Alison: Just going off of that, the idea that Vanya might be kind of maybe pushed to fall a little more out of love with Serebyakov because of Yelena’s comments, it just made me think about the fact that in so many Chekhov plays, characters lash out at each other over things that they see within themselves, you know, and they’re kind of like, I can’t, you know, this kind of like, I can’t believe you’re so vain, when actually they’re just directing it back at themselves.

Libby: Yes, yes.

Alison: In this kind of wonderful. Little bit childish, little bit self loathing it out on the closest person available. And I feel like with this kind of cabin fever, this shows up a lot in this play in particular, so I don’t know.

Libby: And in this act in particular, this scene that we’re doing. Yes, that’s beautiful. Alison, Ursula, do you have any comments?

Sarah: All I will say is, the zoom world, our little tiny rectangles, tends.

Libby: To limit our pitch range.

Sarah: And there’s so much inside that wants to go to another octave. And I think it’s okay to let.

Libby: It go when the stakes get high.

Sarah: Your voice can, fill that.

Libby: Thank you. All right, my friends, we’re. We’re perfect timing here. let’s do it again. Okay.

Alison: Everybody good to go?

Libby: You’ll read the first stage direction, yeah? Okay.

Alison: Act two, Uncle Vanya. The dining room in Serebyakov’s home. Night in the garden. The watchman can be heard tapping. Serebyakov sits in an armchair before an open window and dozes. And Yelena Andreevna sits beside him and also dozes.

Alberto: Who’s there? Sonia, is that you?

Sarah: I, am here.

Alberto: You. The pain is unbearable.

Libby: Here.

Sarah: Your blanket fell. I’ll close the window.

Alberto: No, I’m suffocating. I was just nodding off and I dreamt that my left leg was attached to someone else. I woke up with such excruciating pain. No, this is not gout. Probably rheumatism. what time is it?

Sarah: 20 minutes after 12.

Alberto: In the morning. Go look for Batyushkov in the library. I’m sure we have him.

Libby: What?

Alberto: Look for Batyushkov in the morning. I seem to recall we have him. My cat. I breathe.

Sarah: You’re tired. This is the second night you haven’t slept.

Alberto: they say Turgenev developed angina pectoris from gout. I’m afraid I’m getting it too. Damned disgusting old age. The I will take it. Now that I’m old, I can’t stand looking at myself. And I’m sure all of you must be repulsed by me too.

Sarah: You make it sound as if it’s our fault you got old.

Alberto: But I’m most disgusting to you. Of course, you’re right. I’m not stupid. I understand. You’re young, healthy, beautiful. You want to live. And I’m an old man, almost a, corpse. True, I understand all too well. And of course it’s a terrible crime I have lived this long. But, wait a little. Soon you’ll be free of me. I won’t last much longer.

Sarah: I am exhausted. For God’s sake, just be quiet.

Alberto: Yes, everyone is exhausted. All because of me. They’re bored. They’re wasting their time. They’re wasting their youth. I’m the only one who’s happy. I’m the only one having a good, good time. Well, yes, of course.

Julie: Quiet.

Sarah: You have worn me out.

Alberto: Yes, I have worn everyone out. Of course.

Sarah: This is unbearable. Tell me what you want from me.

Alberto: Nothing.

Sarah: Well, then be quiet, I beg you.

Alberto: It’s so strange. Ivan Petrovich talks his head off, or that old idiot Maria Vasilyevna. And it’s just fine. Everyone listens. But when I say one word, everyone suddenly feels desolate. Even my voice is offensive. Well, let’s assume I’m offensive. I’m an egoist. I’m a despot. Don’t I have the right to be an egoist in my old age? Think about it. Haven’t I earned, it? I ask you, don’t I have the right to a comfortable, ah, old age, surrounded by. By my admirers?

Sarah: No one’s, taking away your rights. It’s very windy. I’ll close the window. It’ll rain soon. No one’s denying your rights.

Alberto: All one’s life to be dedicated to scholarship, to become accustomed to one’s study, to the classroom, to respected colleagues. And suddenly, for no apparent reason, to find oneself buried in this tomb. Every day to deal with stupid people, to listen to insignificant chatter. I want to live. I love success. I love fame. I love action. But here I’m in exile. Every minute I’m longing for the past, watching the success of others, fearing death. I cannot. I don’t have the strength. And no one can forgive me for being, old.

Sarah: Wait a little. Have patience. In five or six years, I’ll be old too.

Deidre: Papa, you sent for Dr. Astro, but when he came, you.

Libby: You. So rude.

Deidre: You bothered this man.

Alberto: And why do I need your astro. he understands about as much about medicine as. As I do astronomy.

Deidre: We cannot send for the entire medical faculty just for your doubt.

Alberto: I won’t talk to that idiot.

Sarah: As you wish.

Deidre: All the same to me.

Alberto: Well, what time is it?

Sarah: It’s almost one.

Alberto: It’s stifling. Sonia, give me the drops from the table. Ah, not these. I, can’t ask for anything.

Deidre: Please stop acting like a. Stop acting like a baby. It may be fine for others, but spare me, please.

Alison: I don’t like it.

Deidre: I don’t have time. I need to get up early tomorrow. I have the hay to mow, and I.

Howard: No. The storm’s coming. Here we go. Leon and Sonja, go to sleep. I came to relieve you.

Alberto: No, no. Don’t leave me with him. No. Just talk my head off.

Howard: But they’ve got to get some rest. They didn’t sleep at all last night.

Alberto: Doesn’t go to sleep. But you go too. Thank you. I implore you in the name of a former friendship. Just go. We’ll talk later.

Howard: Our, former friendship. Former.

Deidre: Be quiet, Uncle Vanya.

Libby: My dear, don’t.

Alberto: Leave me with him. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: Can you believe how ludicrous this is?

Deidre: You ought to be in bed, Nanya. It’s late. It’s very late.

Julie: Samovar is still boiling. You can’t exactly expect me to go to bed.

Alberto: No one is sleeping. Everybody is exhausted. I alone am in a state of bliss.

Julie: Oh, what is it, my dear? Are you in pain? my legs ache too. they ache. So, you’ve been in pain such a long time. Vera Petrovna, Sanotzka’s mother, may she rescue in peace. Never slept either. She nearly killed herself taking care of you. Oh, she loved you very much. Oh, yes. Old people are like children. They want someone to feel sorry for them. But no one feels sorry for the old.

Julie: Let’s go to bed, my dear. Let’s go, my little boy. I’ll make you some lime leaf tea. I’ll, warm your legs. I’ll pray God for you.

Alberto: Let’s go, Marina.

Julie: my legs ache too. They ache so navera. Petrovna nearly killed herself. Always crying. You, Sonietchka, were still little then. Come, come, my dear.

Sarah: I’m completely exhausted with him. I can barely stand on my feet.

Howard: You’re exhausted with him? I’m with myself. This is the third night I haven’t slept.

Sarah: Something is wrong with this house. Your mother hates everything except for her pamphlets and the professor. The professor’s irritated. He doesn’t trust me. He’s afraid of you. Sonia is angry with her father, angry with me, and hasn’t talked to me in two weeks. You hate my husband and openly hold your own mother in contempt. I am short tempered, and at least 20 times a day I have started to cry. Something is very wrong with this house.

Howard: Should we cut the philosophy, please?

Sarah: You, Ivan Petrovitch, are, educated, intelligent. And you must see that the world is not being destroyed by thieves and fires and wars, but rather by hatred, hostility. And from all these petty squabbles, you shouldn’t add to the noisy complaining around us. You should be helping to find peace in your own family.

Howard: Help me find peace in myself. My darling.

Libby: Stop.

Sarah: go away.

Howard: Soon it’ll stop raining. everything in nature will be refreshed and alive. I alone will not be refreshed by the storm. Day and night I’m strangled by the idea that my life is irrevocably lost, that I’m dead, that I. I wasted my life, that I spent my life on trifles. Here. Take my life. Take my love. what, good are they to me? What have I done with them? My feelings are dying away in vain. Like sunbeams falling into a dark pit. Dying.

Sarah: When you talk to me about your love, I just go numb. And I don’t know what to say. Forgive me. I have nothing to say to you.

Libby: Good night.

Howard: If you only knew how I suffer from the thought that next to me, in this very house, another life is dying. Yours. What are you waiting for? What damned righteous morality stops you?

Sarah: Don’t you see, Ivan Petrovich, you are drunk.

Howard: Possibly. Possibly.

Sarah: Where’s the doctor?

Howard: he’s here. He’s spending the night. Possibly. Possibly. Everything is possible.

Sarah: Why are you drinking so much?

Howard: Because it makes me feel alive. Don’t try to stop me, then.

Sarah: You never used to drink so much. And you never used to talk so much. Go to sleep. I am bored to death of you, my darling.

Howard: Beautiful, marvelous.

Libby: Leave me alone.

Sarah: This is just disgusting.

Howard: Scum. I first met you 10 years ago, my darling sisters. Remember? You were 17 and I was 37. Why didn’t I fall in love with you and propose to you then? It would have been so easy. And, today you would be my wife.

Libby: Yes.

Howard: Tonight both of us would be awakened by the storm. You would be afraid of the thunder. And I would take you in my arms and whisper. Don’t be afraid, little darling. I’m here. Marvelous thoughts. Wonderful. I’m laughing But my God. So mixed up. Why am I old? Why doesn’t she understand me? The way she talks. Her stupid morality. Her silly prattling about making peace in the world. Hates so much. Now I’ve been deceived. I worship that professor. That pathetic, gout ridden idiot. I work for him like a slave. Sonia and I squeezed every drop out of this estate. We were like kulaks, haggling over vegetable oil peas, starving ourselves with crumbs just so we could save a few kopecks to send to him. I was so proud of him and his glorious scholarship. I lived for him. I breathed for him. Every word he wrote or uttered seemed like genius to me now. Now he’s retired and it has become perfectly clear that the sum total of his life adds up to nothing. Not one word of his, not a single scholarly word matters to anyone. There’s a soap bubble. I’ve been swindled. She not. Ah, now. Stupidly swindled.

Libby: Play.

Julie: Everyone is sleeping, sir.

Alberto: Play.

Corey: Are you alone here? No. Ladies, Go to the peasant house. Go to the fire. There is no place for the master to expire.

Libby: No.

Corey: The storm woke me. Big storm. What time is it?

Howard: Who knows?

Corey: I thought I heard Yelena Andreevna’s voice.

Howard: She was just here.

Corey: What a gorgeous woman. Medicines. Drugs. Well, there’s nothing missing. Kharkov. Moscow, Tskaya. Every city is plagued with his gout. Is he really sick or faking it?

Howard: Sick.

Corey: Why are you so sad today? Pity for the professor.

Howard: Quit it.

Corey: Or maybe you’re in love with the professor? Professor’s wife.

Howard: She’s my friend.

Corey: Already.

Howard: What does that mean, already?

Corey: A woman can only be friends with a man. In this order. First an acquaintance, then a lover, and then finally a friend.

Howard: Vulgar.

Alberto: Oh.

Corey: Yes, it’s. It’s true. I’m becoming vulgar. I’m. I’m drunk. Usually I get drunk like this once a, month. And when I’m drunk, I get completely vulgar. And fearless. Everything seems so easy to me. I take on the most difficult operations and do them brilliantly. I make daring plans for the future. When I’m drunk, I no longer seem like a freak. And I actually believe I’m bringing some enormous benefit to humanity. Enormous. And when I’m drunk, I see how valuable my own personal universe is. And the rest of you piddling creatures seem like insects to me. Microbes.

Alberto: Waffles.

Nathan Agin: Play.

Julie: Dear one, I would love to play for you with all my soul. But understand, everyone is sleeping.

Libby: Play.

Corey: You need a drink.

Howard: Oh.

Corey: Oh, I see there’s some Cognac left. In the morning, we’ll go to my place, right, Char? I have a medical assistant that never says right, but, Right, Shar? Idiot. Right, Shar. pardon me, I forgot my tie.

Deidre: And you, Uncle Vanya, you got drunk again with the doctor. A couple of juveniles hanging around together. Well, he’s always been like that. But what in heaven’s name is wrong with you at, your age? You should know better.

Howard: Age has nothing to do with it. When you don’t have a life, you live on soap bubbles. Better than nothing.

Deidre: Our hay needs to be cut. It’s raining every day. Everything is rotting. And all you can talk about is soap bubbles. you’re completely neglecting the farm. I have to work alone. I. I’m strained. I’m strained to the breaking point. Uncle, you have tears in your eyes.

Howard: Tears? M. There’s nothing where you looked at me just now. It’s like your mother. So sweet.

Libby: Sister.

Howard: My dear, sweet sister. Where is she now.

Julie: Uncle?

Nathan Agin: What?

Howard: It’s so hard. Nothing. Later. Nothing. I’m, going.

Alison: End of scene.

Libby: Oh, gosh. Was so nice. Well, you know, I feel like you’re really starting to fill, in specifics, Alberto. That was so many specific choices there. Really, Really. I feel like you were all getting somewhere with this in a big way. and I do want to say that if anything, any transition feels unfilled, to you, not quite right. You’re probably right. It probably isn’t filled. And you must find the specific that makes that happen. This was so touching to me that for the first time I began to see a kind of sexuality between Szebryakov and Yelena. Really, Alberto, after the lenochka and you tried, I felt like on the stage you would hold onto her hand a little or try to hold onto her arm a little bit more. You know, there was a time you wooed her, and I felt that starting to develop in there. Just. And it just needs a little bit. it was wonderful. I also just want to tell you that soap bubbles is purposeful, Howard. you can play with. Because your whole life adds up to A. we all know what happens to soap bubbles. So the B and the P. The P and the B, I should say. Well, you know, but play around with that, because it’s so pathetic and horrible that his whole life adds up to that to him. And that’s the image he chooses. Well, what do you guys think? I mean, we’re kind of done. What do you think?

Sarah: I had a thought Going through this, that of each of the times we’ve run it, at least for me, with the Sarah Bryakov relationship, there’s an infinite number of places to live as far as, is there lack of love? But there’s still the natural care you have for another human being. Is there a lack of love, and actual disgust, like, can’t be around this person? Is there, you know, the love has changed. It’s just no longer romantic, you know, and then on top of that, you know, what does somebody show versus what does somebody try to hide? And I don’t have the final answer for where, you know, that lives for me, but there’s just a billion different combinations of where that could live. And there’s, you know, a whole rehearsal process to keep exploring where that might land.

Libby: Exactly. Exactly, Sarah. And maybe all of that is in there at different moments.

Libby: Because being married for 10 years is complicated. And your disappointment and your pain and you’re being admired by other men. It’s really important for you to recognize that you’ve had a lifetime of men looking at you m. And wanting you. So all of that is lost. Very, very good thinking. What other thoughts? Alberto, turn your sound back on. Sonia, turn your sound back on. Oh, come join us, everybody.

Nathan Agin: Everybody, turn your unmute and I’ll just jump in, very quickly. If people in the audience, if you have comments, a few have come in through the chat. You, can also send in questions that way, and I’ll collect those. Or if you’re feeling brave enough when we open it up, you can always come on the mic, yourself. But, I just want to let people know if there are things that you want to ask, that’ll be good way for me to collect all of that. But, but yeah, if any of the cast have, other thoughts they want to share, that’d be great. Now that I put you on the spot.

Libby: I did too. Both of us did.

Deidre: I think, Libby, that just. Just the note of, of that. She catches that. She possibly catches some of that. Because I, like, I was just following it and it’s like my feeling is maybe what brought, brought Sonia in was the banging of the window. And so the bang.

Libby: Okay.

Deidre: Why is the window open? I thought I closed it. All right, let me go in. So she’s, you know, so then she’s catching some of that. And there’s. There is the moment with Jelena that’s like, you know, there she is. And there’s this, you know, there’s this woman that’s just making my life, you know, I guess make either making my life difficult or she’s not lending a hand. You know, I’m serving her, too. And, you know, we’re, You know, I mean, because clearly we’ve been fighting for a couple of weeks.

Libby: Yes, yes, yes. And probably she has felt your mistrust for a long time. Not just the basketball.

Alberto: Two weeks.

Deidre: Yeah.

Libby: Yeah.

Deidre: But it was just something.

Libby: And it was so much more specific when you came m in. Yes. Made a big difference. It makes a big difference. You have with Chekhov. You have to fill in every blank or it’s flat. Who cares? You know, I got the message that married couples shouldn’t be together anymore, and this guy loves her and can’t get her. But, when it’s filled in with all the personal specifics, that’s when it reaches us out here in the audience, and it makes us cry and makes us laugh. It touches us. That’s when Chekhov works. It only works when you are specific and, committed to the action. Acting 101. But it really needs acting 101. It needs you to fill in every blank way. The storm is starting to come where I am. There’s, thunder, and. Which is, of course, perfect timing. And my electricity is shaking a little bit. So if I get lost. Get lost, Nathan.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, no, I. I keep. I keep hearing, the storms coming because I’m at the top of the canyon. I can. I’m seeing lightning coming down, like, at the other end of the canyon. And it’s like, oh, yeah, that storm is coming this way. I better watch out. that had a massive boom in.

Sarah: The middle of our first run.

Deidre: In the middle of. Yeah.

Libby: Oh, well, that’s kind of good. Yeah. Did you start to see the difference?

Corey: Definitely, yes. Yeah, no, I was trying to play around with it. like, I would love more rehearsal this gave me.

Libby: I know. We should be doing the whole act and the whole play, shouldn’t we?

Nathan Agin: I mean, isn’t it. Isn’t it funny? Because, as you said, Libby, at the beginning, it’s like, oh, yeah. Well, you know, four weeks will be plenty of time to work a scene, and you guys could work another six weeks on this scene.

Libby: It’s really true. It is true. I don’t know about six weeks, but we certain could do more on the scene. But, without finishing the act, without Sonia and Astro coming together and Yelena and Sonja coming together, and the cry in Yelena’s soul for the music at the end of the act. I mean, that’s what makes the act perfect, the whole arc.

Nathan Agin: well, I think it’s exciting that it makes, You know, I, think many of you hungry to continue, you know, developing these characters. And I, you know, at least for me as an audience member, hungry to see where this goes, you know, what happens with these characters, you know, and even if you’re familiar with the story, but just to see it played out, it’s really exciting. I will, I’ll just, mention a few comments that have come in. Jan said, this is such a wonderful project. So good to see Libby. Paul mentioned, that, watching and listening to this workshop, I can see the Racine in Chekhov and the Chekhov in Beckett. So he was kind of seeing, some inspirations there. Eileen says lovely work. Back in the room with Libby. Thank you. Annalisa, beautiful. I love the rawness and how the cast is able to show the complexity of the relationships and yet bring about the joy and humor of Chekhov. I love being a part of this. Thank you. So, yeah, no, it’s just, great to see those comments come in. And, again, if anyone has questions, you can send them in, or I’ll open up in just a little bit. But there’s so much we could talk about. And you guys did talk about so many things, over the weeks. one of the first things I’m curious about, and this is open to any of the cast, if there were particular things that, either coming into this or during the weeks really challenged, you about what was ahead of you or, you know, parts of, parts of the scene or understanding the character. I’d be curious to hear what, you know, how you saw that and then maybe a little bit of how you overcame that to some degree.

Julie: Yeah, Well, I had a concern because my character is so much older than I am, and I actually had a question for Ursula and how to embody an older voice. and she gave me some great advice saying, like, not to play at being old. Not to, like, fake it, you know, but to work on breath work and trying to, like, have that belabored breath, to kind of inform, what’s happening in her body physically, and. And that really helped.

Libby: You were starting to do that, weren’t you, Julie? In this last run of the scene, I felt as if you found the center a little more. Did you?

Julie: Yeah, it was interesting because he told me to come in possibly. Maybe she’s Irritated. And I was like, oh, I like that. So I came in a little more agitated, and then when Gabrielle cough was complaining, it made me so much more.

Libby: Oh.

Julie: Because I’m already in a heightened agitated state. It made me feel more like I wanted to serve him.

Libby: Yes.

Julie: And I felt myself being more physically, in service to him, which created more of a physical.

Libby: Yes, absolutely. Came through. And it made things more specific.

Howard: It also, like, the more nannying, like you. I mean, you were talking like a nanny to a child, and it was so annoying. Like, I mean, not. Not annoying. You know, I mean, it was great acting, but. But. But, like the. I, was just like, why does he.

Nathan Agin: Why.

Howard: Why. You know, why are you catering to him? And the more you did it as, like, this nursey, you know, nanny character in the nursery, it was just like. It was like, oh, God. It was just. It was kind of repulsive a little bit.

Libby: But that’s. Isn’t that great that you’re in the room to get those signals?

Julie: That’s so funny, because I’m really your nanny.

Sarah: Really?

Howard: right. Yeah. Well, then maybe it’s, like, jealous. It’s like that you get. You know, it’s like, that’s my nanny, not your nanny. You know, there’s a little. There’s a little bit of that in there, so.

Libby: And. And, there’s that little selfish streak in Vanya.

Julie: And it’s a shame that we’re not in person because I. I was kind of, clocking Yelena, trying to, like, a little bit for your benefit, what I’m saying.

Deidre: Oh, I got it.

Julie: You got it?

Sarah: Oh, yeah, I got that. Eye contact.

Libby: That’s good. Well, that’s why it’s there, I think. Julie. I think it’s there for you. And you found it reminding her who. Who was the mistress of this house before you came on the scene and how wonderful and devoted she was, because I’m sure you take in Yelena’s, indifference toward him. Whatever is the word.

Nathan Agin: I don’t know.

Howard: She’s also the first one Marina throws out. The dead sister, Right?

Libby: Yes.

Howard: Like.

Libby: Like, yes.

Howard: May she rest in peace. Never slept either. Near nearly killed it like this last go through. I really heard that very clearly, that. That everybody, for. For decades now has been taking care of him like. Like that. It’s all been. I mean, we were in sort of almost a, pact together to, like, make it work. Right?

Libby: This my absolutely true. He’s gotten the attention of everyone in this household. Not as, of course, who sees through him immediately.

Deidre: But the thing is, those moments, I think there was probably a different intention in taking care of him because he wasn’t around for that period of time. So it was like, we’ll lavish him for. You know, so he’s going to be here for two weeks, you know, two weeks in the summer or just one month, you know, in the summer we can lavish all of that, and then we can get back to our real life.

Libby: Yes.

Deidre: Now knowing that we have the pressure of his. Never be. He’s never going to be satisfied. Everybody’s tired because he’s up. everybody’s up.

Libby: Yes.

Deidre: The pressure is just on and, like, things are rotting in the field. I mean, it’s just too much.

Libby: Yes, that’s exactly right. And it’s interesting carrying the scene through. Deidre. This also becomes this irritation, this impossibility, this exhaustion. And yet it also is the beginning of your expression of your love. You. You never talk to anybody about that. This before. Yeah. So this night is bringing about this ultra irritation and misery. What’s going on in that. In this house, as Yelena would say, brings about really raw feelings, really opening hearts. That’s why it’s so great.

Deidre: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The pressure and the agitation is weeding out all of the stuff to get to the core of what’s really going on.

Libby: Yes, exactly. Yes.

Nathan Agin: there were a couple other comments that, came in, and there was one that, I want to jump off of. But, Ursula wrote that her husband, Jamie Newcomb, or many, on this call, know. And others listening may know he’s a great actor. and he’s directed scenes here as well. But he said, bravo. really enjoyed it. Would like to see the production. and the comment that comes to mind, Libby, brought this up, and then I actually heard it from another audience member who, said, you know, watching these rehearsals, they said if I went to go see this play, I think I’d be disappointed if it weren’t these actors, because I think they, you know, they. They’d kind of gotten so used, to, you know, hearing all of you guys work on these parts and. And Libby, I know you. You made a comment that you felt like, you know, the casting was just so. So perfect. And. And, as much as I’d love to take credit for that, a lot of it is just logistics. And m. You know, like any. Any producer, you’re just trying to make sure you get everybody, you know, every. Every part filled. But the comment. I wanted to make, and I’m curious if any of the actors wanted to speak to this, is that. I think that feeling from the audience and what Libby brought up, that having this kind of time to drop into these parts, it seems like it allows each of you to really connect on a very deep, genuine level with these characters. So that it becomes so seamless that, you are these players. And so when it seems so perfect, I think what people are speaking to is that you guys have had the time to really connect on very personal levels with each of these people. So that you’re not playing anything. You’ve had the time to really think about where these people are coming from. So I’m curious if any of the actors, wanted to speak to that point at all. Did this. That. This process allow you to, you know, kind of drop in in a different way or, you know, connect in a different way?

Howard: Well, it’s interesting, you know, living near the. I think at our very first rehearsal, maybe she said, it’s hard to reveal things about yourself and doing this playwright and this particular character. For me, it’s. It’s almost kind of a striptease. Like a personal striptease. Like. Like, I felt. I felt, you know, like. Because I’ve been here doing Shakespeare all summer, which is like you’re sort of trying to bring your emotions up to the level of the thing, you know? And this. It’s like I just found. The more I took away and took away and took away until it was just exposing myself more and more and more that it. That was where it started to kind of work, for me, at least. And I think that’s been one of the things I’ve always struggled with, with Chekhov, is that it doesn’t really. There’s nowhere to hide in some of this. You know, it’s like you’re just putting yourself on display a little bit. And, without feeling like you’re on stage, like, whatever that thing is, you know, I’m on display and not on display at the same time. I’d be really curious to try this with an audience. Just because I’m like, what would you do the first time they laughed? And you’re in this so enclosed, hermetically sealed world. And it’s like, who’s out there? Who’s out there laughing at this? Like, who are those people? You know?

Libby: Oh, I think you’d get. You’d love the laughter. You’d love it.

Howard: I think I would take to it pretty quickly, but, it’d be the nights where they didn’t laugh. I’d be like, what’s wrong?

Libby: Oh, well, that’s true. That always happens, you know. Has there ever been a time when. When you haven’t walked off stage and said, the audience is great tonight, or the audience is dead. It’s always their fault.

Howard: They didn’t show up. It wasn’t.

Libby: They didn’t show up. By the way, I want to tell you, I saw. I don’t. I haven’t seen Vanya on stage in a long time, but I saw the pbs, film. They didn’t film it, but they produced the film, from the. I think the National Theater did it somewhere. Somewhere in England. It was just recently. It was past six months. Look it up, Uncle Vanya, pbs. It’s a really good production, and I don’t say that very often. Did you see it, Allison? Did you. Did you catch it?

Howard: I saw it.

Libby: Well, didn’t you think it was good?

Howard: I thought it was extraordinary.

Libby: Yeah.

Howard: I’ve watched it a couple times.

Libby: Yeah, I agree. Extraordinary. It was very special. I’d actually like. You know, I feel like I’ve taken the bait. I’d like to watch it again now.

Howard: You can rent it on itunes. Available.

Nathan Agin: Oh, a lot of times in the theater, they, you know, people have the idea of, you know, steal what isn’t nailed down. You know, if you. If you see a good idea, it’s always something you can use later or try out and try your own work. a few other comments that have come in. see, Paul said, it was a most interesting interpretive comment that in a marriage quote, when you are no one, it just can’t go on. And, that’s really, really good. Yeah. Gail says, I found the first round of the scene bittersweet. I didn’t feel like laughing out loud, but I found a lot of it funny. And then I’d find a lot of other parts moving and sad, but not tragic. I enjoyed it very much. Bravo. Brava. Thank you. That, was from Gail. And then Annalisa said, thank you so much. Have, to take a child to work. So. But isn’t that nice that, you know, we live in the virtual world where people can drop in, see some checkups, see some rehearsal, and then, ah, and then get somebody off to work. I’ll open up to comments in a second if anyone has any other, comments, either from the audience or the actors. But, I just want to ask, for example, Corey. You know, I Don’t know how much you’ve had an opportunity to do this kind of work or certainly in this format. So I would just love to hear your experience of being able to spend, this much time on a character and work not only with Libby and Allison and Ursula in the room, but just all the other actors and hearing everything. So I would just love to hear, your experience.

Corey: Yeah, this is the first zoom thing that I’ve ever done. It was, Very, very scary for me to walk into here, honestly. And, Yeah. And I guess having heard that, the atmosphere.

Corey: I’ve only read Chekhov a couple times. I’ve done a scene in school, and that’s about it. But hearing how the atmosphere really plays a huge, huge role in this play, and probably all of Chekhov in particular in any play, really. But to not be in the room with the other actors was kind of daunting for me to take on that atmospheric challenge. But it’s all in the writing. It’s all in the ensemble. And I really felt from everybody that that helped me a lot. So I just want to say thank you to everybody. And it was a really, really wonderful process, and I had a great time working with everybody.

Libby: Yes. Right.

Nathan Agin: I’m glad to hear it. And, yeah, I mean, that’s one. That’s one of the wonderful things about this, is that we have the time where it can be so collaborative that, you know, anyone, you know, even if they’re not on stage during a scene, that they might have an idea or a thought or whatever, that we can. You know, the good ideas can come from anywhere, really. and so that’s really wonderful that, you guys have the time to explore the scene, in that way. And, Alison, I’m curious. You know, I know for a lot of dramaturgs, if you’re lucky enough to work on a production, maybe you have the first day, and then it’s, you know, talk to this actor for 20 minutes and then talk to that actor for 20 minutes. So what was it like for you to have a little bit more time, really, and dive into some of the things probably you never get a chance to talk about?

Sarah: Oh, yeah.

Alison: I mean, table work is. I mean, obviously, that table work is the part of the process that I’m the most involved in, usually. And it’s cool to be able to evolve along with the process and be able to keep participating in that way, because I love even just, like, what we did today, just talking about. Just having that conversation about character and about why somebody is doing something right now and what it means. That’s something as a dramaturg. It’s a version of dramaturgy that you don’t get to do all the time unless you’re in table work with a trusted group of people. And that was a wonderful thing to experience. And, I mean, the whole process has been so bizarre because Libby and I, you know, we’ve been, going down this road since, like, 2004, I think.

Libby: No, the 2000. Was it four?

Alison: I started on the Cherry Orchard stuff in the fall of 04. yeah, so I was working on it for the time before.

Nathan Agin: So you’ve birthed a teenager who can drive, basically.

Alison: Yeah, certainly that’s the m. Length of.

Nathan Agin: Time you’ve been working on it.

Libby: Yeah.

Alison: And so I feel like my understanding of Chekhov has changed so much, and yet. And it just continues to grow so much deeper. And working with this group of actors and seeing your observations and how you’ve played with it, and being able to see Libby working with this amazing group, you know, 10 years later, all these years later, as an older human being who’s been through more of this stuff, it’s so extraordinary. It’s wonderful. and just to constantly be revisiting it at different stages.

Nathan Agin: That’s great, wonderful. Wonderful to hear. you know, just to honor everybody’s time, we’ll probably wrap things up shortly. the whole Vanya crew. You guys can just stay put. I’ll, put everybody back into the. All the audience back in the waiting room in a second. if there’s any final comments or questions, you know, anything burning that people really want to, you know, bring up, I’ll give you a chance in a second. There is one more comment. Another comment from, Jamie, Ursula’s husband. He says, whenever I watch Chekhov, I’m reminded of the line from the film the Sixth Sense. I see dead people.

Deidre: Oh, dear.

Libby: So.

Nathan Agin: Probably, It seems like a very Jacobian line that there’s a lot. There’s a lot in there. but, But, But, yeah. So thank you, Jamie, for that. any, Any final things, Anything from the actors or the audience. If not, we’ll. We’ll kind of have a. You know, Mark, an official wrap on, on the Vanya work. So well. Yes, Sarah.

Sarah: I just want to, you know, props to Libby. Obviously, you don’t need props from me, Libby, but props from the world with your career and experience. But, you know, I came into this very intimidated because I, Yelen. Is a very intimidating character to me. But also Chekhov is in general, there’s this. I was like, I don’t know how to play this. And, all you did was ask questions. But you’re so good at asking questions that the questions just created all of the character and all of this scene. and that. It’s pretty.

Libby: You created it. You created it.

Sarah: Yeah. I mean, yes. And I mean, it was so. It was remarkable, the experience with you. and, you know, it makes me want to do that with every rehearsal process I go to of just. God, how can I get better at, thinking of those detailed questions? The way you, you know, like, I do my own pass and I come up with maybe 10% of the questions that, that you thought to ask. And so it’s just, it’s cool to learn through that and, a very rich way to dig into something very quickly the way you’ve done it.

Libby: Thank you. Appreciate that. I do want to say that this whole four week period is two hours a week. It’s like doing table work when we’re together in a rehearsal room. But it’s also your work. This is, this is, I feel like this is a process class in doing the work on the scene that we’re helping to strengthen the actors journey. Process, in all of this, you know, you might not have a director who has. No director, has eight hours to spend on 10 pages. No, no director. You know, so this is all what you have to do. You have to ask yourself every. Why does she say this? What’s she holding on to, what she’s letting go, what, you know, you have to do. Of course, you know that. But I hope that this is a spur you to recognize that this is the way to work. Always.

Sarah: It is.

Nathan Agin: Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Thank you. and so, yes, one more comment that came in. People were curious, you know, well, how do I get involved in future scenes? by, you know, if you register to watch this, you’ll be part of our email list. So we can definitely let you know about future opportunities to get involved. Like I said, we have a class coming up with Lady Macbeth to focus on that role. And again, it’s, as Libby just so, eloquently said, it’s about the process. That’s what, I love about these projects, is that we can really make it about what is the work that goes into doing this stuff. So thank you all so much for the audience, for attending and thank you so much to the, creative team and cast and again, the Vanya group. You guys can stay put, and I will, move everybody else into, the waiting room. The attendees. but thank you again so much for being here, everybody. Hope you had a great night. Enjoyed, the scene from Chekhov, and, yeah, hopefully we’ll see you for another one.

The post UNCLE VANYA Final Session: “Echoes of the Past” – Chekhov – Act 2 – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions] appeared first on The Working Actor's Journey.

As we dissect the given circumstances of the play, we find ourselves in a humid, stormy night that serves as a backdrop to the characters’ turmoil. The tension is palpable as each character grapples with exhaustion and frustration, having not slept for two nights due to the ailing professor. This exhaustion manifests not only in their physical state but also in their emotional interactions, leading to blame and irritation among family members.

One of the highlights of our discussion is the character analysis of Vanya himself, who feels swindled by the professor he once idolized. His journey from admiration to disillusionment resonates with anyone who has faced the harsh realities of life and relationships.

You’re invited to reflect on your own family dynamics and the underlying tensions that often go unspoken. The group also emphasizes the importance of recognizing the clues that Chekhov provides through his characters, urging actors and audiences alike to engage deeply with the text.

🏁 In this session, highlights include:

Full transcript included at the bottom of this post.

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Total Running Time: 1:54:05

Check out this 80-second clip from this session with Libby and Deidrie discussion Sonya’s feelings about her father’s new wife.

And a great quote from Howard in this week’s session…

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Thank you to our current patrons at the Co-Star level or higher: Ivar, Joan, Michele, Jim, Magdalen, Claudia, Clif and Jeff!

Our group will be working on the first half of Act 2.

Follow along with the play here. Order a copy of Libby and Allison’s translation here.

Read more about the artists here.

Catch up on our other workshops featuring lots of Shakespeare scenes, from Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Midsummer, As You Like It, and our Twelfth Night repertory extravaganza – all on the podcast and YouTube.  If you’ve missed any presentations thus far, click here to find them all.

UNCLE VANYA Week 3 Session: “The Weight of Regret” – The Rehearsal Room

Libby: This is the way I thought we might proceed tonight. I think we’ll finish the read and stopping and talking, and then we’ll plan on, you know, once again running it, in the last half hour. I really want to continue to pick through it a little faster than we, because we only got a page and a half done yesterday, I mean, last week. so we’ll go a little bit faster. But I think that’s what this little class is about, which is figuring out how you go about working out given circumstances, motivation and how you play this work and the way the playwright is giving you clues. I’m always looking for the clues that the playwright gives us. I wanted to just for a minute, go over the given circumstances that we’ve already discussed, just to have it as a. As a kind of backbone for what we’re doing. It’s a midsummer stormy night with humid and, ah, electrons in the air.

Libby: And it’s windy, but the wind is not giving relief. The important idea is that it’s a storm that is not giving relief. And it makes you more edgy when you’re up and not asleep on a night like that. These people have not slept for at least two nights because of, the ailing professor. everybody’s exhausted. Everything is exhausted. The samovar is exhausted. they’re irritable and they’re blaming the others, for their situation. That’s it. And we’ve all been through that. We all know what that’s like. And, you can’t have had every family gathering all cheery and joyous without underneath, irritations and anger going on somewhere in your life. I can’t believe that, and this is something we talked about, but I think kind of briefly, Ser Bryakov and Yelena are there permanently. That’s what the given circumstance of the play is. They have left St. Petersburg or Moscow and they have sold their place there. We don’t know that they’ve sold it, but they’ve said goodbye to the. To the city life, and they’re going to live in the country. And while they have come to the country before, to their summer house, this estate or this farm that they’re living on now, they’ve never permanently come there. So. So that adds just heaps of psychological, torment and irritation, to. And I can imagine for Sonia, you know, feeling joyous that her father is there and feeling not so joyous that Yelena is there. There’s all kinds of things that happened that are happening now. That have to do with this summer and this night. Given what the environmental conditions are. The personal and physical conditions. Because of the exhaustion. And, the fact that they know they’re never going to get rid of Serbyakov and Yelena. Or so they think. We know. The play goes somewhere else. But at this point, that’s what’s happening to these people. what else? Is there anything else that you think that you want to add to this kind of given circumstance? Anybody else have any thoughts about that? Okay. All right. Let’s dig in. I thought we would go. You know what? What the hell. Let’s read the first page again. I promise not to stop. Alison, you do the stage direction. I mean, I promise not to stop for the first page and a half. But I promise you I will stop. as we move along. So. Okay. Cool.

Alison: Act two. The dining room and Sarah Byakov’s home. Night in the garden. The watchman can be heard tapping. Serebyakov sits in an armchair before an open window and dozes. And Yelena Andreevna sits beside him and also dozes.

Alberto: Who’s there? Sonia, is that you?

Sarah: I’m here.

Alberto: Are, you here? Notchka, the pain is unbearable.

Libby: Here.

Sarah: Your blanket fell.

Alison: She rocked all the gloves.

Sarah: I’ll shut the window.

Alberto: No, I’m suffocating. I was just nodding off. And I dreamt that my leg was attached to someone else. I woke up in such excruciating pain. No, this is not gout. Probably rheumatism. What time is it?

Sarah: 20 minutes after 12.

Alberto: In the morning. Go look for Batyushkov in the library. I’m sure we have him.

Sarah: What?

Alberto: Look for Batyushkov in the morning. I seem to recall we have him. Why can’t I breathe?

Sarah: You’re tired. This is the second night you haven’t slept.

Alberto: You say Turgenev developed angina pectoris from gout. I’m afraid I’m getting it too.

Libby: Era. do you want him to doze? Back off or you want to have a conversation? What do you want when you say you’re tired?

Sarah: Oh, I desperately want him to doze off again. Sorry, what did you say? Libby.

Libby: Then help him.

Sarah: Okay.

Libby: Let’S go. From look for Batushkov.

Alberto: Look for Batyushkov in the morning. I seem to recall we have him. Why can’t I breathe?

Sarah: You’re tired. This is the second night you haven’t slept.

Alberto: They say Turgenev developed angina pectoris from gout. I’m afraid I’m getting it Too damn, Disgusting. Old age. The devil take it. Now that I’m old, I can’t stand looking at myself. And I’m sure all of you must be repulsed by me too.

Sarah: You make it sound as if it’s our fault you got old.

Alberto: And I’m most disgusting to you.

Alison: Walks away and sits at some distance.

Alberto: Of course, you’re right. I’m not stupid. I understand. You’re young, healthy, beautiful, you want to live. And I’m an old man, almost a corpse. True, I understand all too well. And of course it’s a terrible crime I have lived this long. But wait a little. Soon you’ll be free of me. I won’t last much longer.

Sarah: I’m exhausted.

Libby: Alberto.

Alberto: Yes?

Libby: Do you think that true is there with a question mark?

Alberto: Don’t you agree, my dear? Or please say something to contradict what I’m saying.

Libby: Maybe. And then. And she doesn’t. I’m not telling you to leave space forward.

Alberto: I understand.

Libby: For you to get other tactics. Right. All right, let’s go back from, Let’s say. Let’s go back from the Turgenia line. And angina pectoris, of course, is very serious. It leads to a heart attack.

Alberto: So.

Libby: Right, Alberto?

Alberto: Oh, yeah, yeah. They say t developed angina pectoris from gal.

Alberto: I’m afraid I’m getting it too. Damn disgusting. Old age. The devil take it. Now that I’m old, I can’t stand looking at myself. And I’m sure all of you must be repulsed by me too.

Sarah: You make it sound as if it’s our fault you got old.

Alberto: But I’m most disgusting to you.

Alison: She walks away and sits at some distance.

Alberto: Of course, you’re right. I’m not stupid. I understand. You’re young, healthy, beautiful, you want to live. And I’m an old man, almost a corpse. True, I understand all too well. And of course it’s a terrible crime I have lived this long. But wait a little. Soon you’ll be free of me. I won’t last much longer.

Sarah: I’m exhausted. For God’s sake, be quiet.

Alberto: Yes, everyone is exhausted because of me. They’re bored. They’re wasting their time. They’re wasting their youth. I’m the only one who’s happy. I’m the only one having a good time. Well, yes, of course.

Sarah: Be quiet. You’ve worn me out.

Alberto: Yes, you’ve worn everyone out. of course.

Libby: Stop one second, Sarah. Yeah? You see how you earned that? Yelling, at him in that moment. That was great.

Sarah: Oh, good.

Libby: Yeah. But you understand what I mean? You earned it by trying your best before.

Sarah: Yeah, yeah. Thank you.

Libby: Yeah. Good. Sorry, Alberto.

Alberto: No, of course I’m fine. From where?

Libby: Yes, yes, that’s good, Alberto. Go From. yes, everyone is exhausted.

Alberto: Yes, everyone is exhausted. All because of me. They’re bored. They’re wasting their time, wasting their youth. I’m the only one who’s happy. I’m the only one having a good time. Well, yes, of course.

Sarah: Be quiet. You’ve worn me out.

Alberto: Yes, I have worn everyone out.

Deidre: this is unbearable.

Sarah: Sorry. Cut you off. This is unbearable. What do you want of me? Tell me what you want from me.

Alberto: Nothing.

Sarah: Well, then be quiet. I beg you.

Alberto: It’s so strange. Ivan Petrovich talks his head off, or that old idiot Maria. Vasilyevna. And it’s just fine. Everyone listens. But when I say one word, everyone suddenly feels desolate. Even my voice is offensive.

Libby: I’m running past. Just, wanted to ask you what a word. Desolate. What do you think? Why would he choose that word, do you think, Alberto?

Alberto: gosh.

Alberto: Desolate implies, loneliness, being trapped all in a desert island somehow. That’s what the word means to me.

Libby: Yeah, yeah.

Alberto: There.

Libby: And it’s extreme. It’s an extreme state. To be desolate is to be bereft of everything, to lose everything. Right? As you say, on a desert island.

Alberto: Yeah, that’s something.

Libby: but I’m asking why you? Why you think. Let’s go back to the beginning of that speech again. And I want you to think of why you would choose that word. It’s a big word. Big word is wrong. It’s. It’s a powerful word.

Alberto: It’s like I, My, My effect. My effect on them is so powerful.

Libby: Yes, yes, yes. For them poor. These young, beautiful creatures.

Alberto: Is it Petrovich or Petrovich.

Alison: Sorry, Ivan Petrovich.

Alberto: Petrovich. I was saying it.

Howard: Right.

Alberto: Okay.

Libby: And. And. Maria, Give, give hers too.

Alberto: Vasily.

Alison: That’s correct, Maria Vasilievna.

Libby: Vasily. I only know these a million times, and I still can’t get them. Okay, go back to that. Serov. It’s so strange.

Alberto: It’s so strange. Ivan Petrovich docks his head off, that old idiot Maria. Vasilyevna. And it’s just fine. Everyone listens. But when I say one word, everyone suddenly feels desolate. Even my voice is offensive. Well, let’s assume I am offensive. I’m an egoist. I’m a despot. Don’t I have the right to Be an egoist in my old age. Think about it. Haven’t I earned it? I ask you, don’t I have the right to a, comfortable old age, surrounded by my admirers?

Sarah: No one is taking away your rights.

Alison: The window bangs from the wind.

Sarah: It’s very windy. I’ll close the window.

Alison: She closes it.

Libby: Yeah. And I just want you to go back and do that again. Alberto, Very good. I just wanted to say, because I’m not far from his position in life, you know, retired, let go of all the in quotes, glories. I know that this really hurts. I just want you to recognize where you can find that.

Alberto: Yes, okay. I guess I was covering it too much.

Libby: Covering is good. Covering is excellent. But I want you to also recognize the position when you say, haven’t I earned the right to, you know, being an egoist. you have, you’ve. You’ve, you’ve had a, in your view, a very important career, right?

Alberto: Mm, Yeah. Yes. Thank you.

Libby: So start from. It’s so strange. Again, Alberto.

Alberto: It’s so strange. Ivan Petrovich talks his head off. Or that old idiot Maria, Vasilyevna. And it’s just fine. Everyone listens. But when I say one word, everyone suddenly feels desolate. Even my voice is offensive. Let’s assume I’m offensive. I’m an egoist. I’m a despot. Don’t I have the right to be an egoist in my old age? Think about it. Haven’t I earned, it, I ask you, don’t I have the right to a comfortable, old age? Be surrounded by admirers.

Sarah: No one is taking away your rights.

Alison: The window bangs from the wind.

Sarah: It’s very windy. I’ll close the window.

Alison: She closes it.

Sarah: It’ll rain soon. No one’s denying your rights.

Alberto: All one’s life to be. Oh, do we need. We do. We want that. We want that. Stage directions, right?

Libby: Yes, yes.

Alison: pause. The watchman in the garden taps and sings a song.

Alberto: All one’s life to be dedicated to scholarship, to become accustomed to one’s study.

Libby: I just want to ask everybody, what do you think of the watchman? We know he needs to tap to say everything’s okay there, but what about his singing the song? What do you think, is going on there in terms of the atmosphere, what we’ve been witnessing in the room and the watchmen? Anybody have any thoughts on that?

Corey: it feels like a sharp contrast to what’s going on completely. Like something happy versus something very Very sad and, heartbreaking.

Libby: That’s the way it feels to me too.

Sarah: There’s also, just, like. At least from Yelena’s perspective, there’s hope that this will change that. Like, okay, thank God. There’s something different, and we’re going to stay on something different. And the fact that he then slides back into things is so utterly defeating.

Libby: Yes. Great. Mounting the evidence. Yes. Okay. M. I’m just pointing it out because I told you. Even his stage directions are giving you clues to what’s happening inside you, inside the scene. Okay, let’s go back to, It’s very windy. I’ll close the window.

Sarah: It’s very windy. I’ll, close the window.

Alison: She closes it, it’ll rain.

Sarah: No one’s denying your rights.

Alison: The watchman in the garden taps and sings a song.

Alberto: All one’s life to be dedicated to scholarship. To become accustomed to one’s study, to the classroom, to respected colleagues. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, to find oneself buried in this tomb. Every day to deal with stupid people, to listen to insignificant chatter. I want to live. I love success. I love fame. I love action. But here I’m in exile. every minute longing for the past, watching the success of others, fearing death.

Libby: I cannot.

Alberto: I, don’t have the strength. And no one can forgive me for being old.

Libby: Wait a little.

Sarah: Have patience. In five or six years, I’ll be old too.

Alison: Sonia enters.

Deidre: Papayou sent for Dastro, but when he came, you refused to see him. That’s so rude. You bothered this man.

Alberto: Why do I need your Astroth?

Libby: Hold on.

Alberto: He understands this.

Libby: Hold on one second.

Deidre: Deidre.

Libby: would you use Papa?

Deidre: Papa?

Libby: Yeah. And the reason I wanted to do that is that it’s plainer than Papa. And Vanya is the only one who uses the French. Helene. And we’ll talk about that when we get to that. But I wanted this to be simpler for her.

Deidre: Yeah, okay.

Alberto: while we’re stopped.

Libby: Yes.

Alberto: Does. Is he making a little weak pun with Ostrov’s name and astronomy?

Libby: Oh, I don’t know. That’s a great choice. I hadn’t thought of that myself. Honestly. That’s great. Yes.

Alberto: It’s not a good one, but,

Libby: Good. I think I like him better than you do. Alberto.

Alison: Half past midnight. You know, give him some credit.

Libby: Definitely. I think that’s. I think it’s funny.

Deidre: Funny.

Alberto: Okay.

Libby: Okay. Let’s go back to,

Alberto: Sonia enters.

Libby: Yes. Sonia’s entrance.

Alison: Sonia enters.

Deidre: Papa, you sent for Dr. Astro, but when he came, you refused to see Him? That’s so rude. You bothered this man.

Alberto: Why do I need your Astroff? He understands about medicine as I do astronomy.

Deidre: We cannot send for the entire medical faculty just for your gout.

Alberto: I won’t talk to that idiot.

Alison: Jewish, she said.

Libby: Okay, hold on for a second, Deidre. You not only came because you heard that Papa still up, right? Came into the room. But did you have a reason for coming in? Not just.

Alberto: M.

Deidre: I mean, I think it’s hearing him and coming to check in to see if anybody was in here with him.

Libby: Yeah. That’s good. Then why do you bring up Astro right away?

Deidre: That. The fact that. That Astrov has been. He’s been hanging out at the house, you know, and he hasn’t been in. You know. My assumption well before is he hasn’t had a chance to see him. He’s been turned away.

Libby: He’s been turned away, and it’s the middle of the night. And he still hasn’t seen him. And Astrop still wandering around the house. Yeah. Right.

Deidre: And that, means that I have to m. I have to be aware of that. So it’s like, you know, If Astrov is there, then, you know.

Libby: Well, so. Yes, yes, but you don’t dare say that to yourself yet. No, you’re not there yet. I mean, you are. No, she’s not.

Deidre: She’s. Well, she. You know, I mean, that’s.

Alberto: It’s.

Deidre: It’s in there somewhere. But nonetheless, it’s. It’s a guest in her house that.

Libby: She has someone that, you know, is. You, Know, doesn’t hang out here. He does this summer. That’s what the effect of the summer is. But he doesn’t. He. He’s a busy man. He’s. He’s a doctor, for God’s sake. Kind of thing. Do you know what I mean? Right.

Deidre: Yes. Yes.

Libby: So maybe put that in your reasoning for coming in too. To get him to see Astro. Yeah. Let’s. Let’s go. Go back to your entrance, Dade.

Sarah: Okay.

Alison: Sonia enters.

Deidre: Papa. you sent for that to. For Dr. Astrop, but when he came, you refused to see him. That’s so rude. You bothered this man who’s.

Alberto: Why do I need your Astro? He understands about medicine as I do astronomy.

Deidre: We cannot send for the entire medical faculty just for your gout.

Alberto: I won’t talk to that idiot.

Deidre: As you wish.

Alison: She sits.

Deidre: It’s all the same to me.

Alberto: What time is it?

Sarah: Almost one.

Alberto: It’s stifling. Sonia, give me the drops from the table.

Deidre: Yes, of course.

Alberto: not These. I can’t ask for anything.

Deidre: Oh, please stop acting like a baby. It may be fine for others, but spare me, please. I don’t like it. I don’t have time. I need to get up early tomorrow. I have the hay to mow.

Alison: Enter Voynitsky in a dressing gown and with a candle.

Howard: The storm’s coming.

Libby: One second, one second. Deidre, this. Hm? Isn’t this speech about stop acting like a baby?

Libby: Is that the way you normally speak to him?

Deidre: You know, No, I think she’s just tired, and it’s been relentless. It’s just been relentless.

Libby: Yes. She’s normally an extremely nice person, right?

Deidre: Yes.

Libby: Yes. So there’s a fight in her. All I’m saying is I want you to be aware that, it’s costing you something to talk this way to him. Okay, let’s just go back and do that, and then you’re coming in. Okay? Let’s go from asking for the drops. Alberto, please.

Alberto: Sonia, give me the drops from the table.

Deidre: yes, of course.

Alberto: Not these. I can’t ask for anything.

Deidre: Please stop acting like a baby. It may be fine for others, but spare me, please. I don’t like it. I don’t have time. I need to get up early tomorrow.

Julie: I have to.

Deidre: Hey.

Alison: Timo Intervoynitsky in a dressing gown and with a candle.

Howard: The storm’s coming.

Alison: Lightning.

Howard: Here we go. Helene. and Sonia, go to sleep. I came to relieve you.

Alberto: No, no, don’t.

Libby: I’m sorry. You know, it’s hard. I’m sorry. To be so hard on you to stop like this. It’s a little harder in the zoom, because in the room, you can see me a little easier. But, this is only our chance to do this. Vanya, why do you. Wait? I’m going back for a second. I just realized something. Sonia is not in pajamas, is she? She’s not in a nightgown because Astrup is in the house.

Corey: Yeah.

Libby: Not only to look nice, but also, you would never be undressed in front.

Deidre: Of a gossip right now.

Libby: Not settled down? I. I guess I started in my head thinking that she was in jammies, but, I don’t think so. That makes a difference. It’s just how vulnerable you are, how exposed you are. Is in pajamas. Because Chekhov asked him to come in in a dressing gown and with a candle. So he’s tried. He hasn’t been with. With the Doctor the whole time. Right, Howard? What do you think?

Howard: No, it seems like he’s gone to, It seems like he’s gone to bed and maybe couldn’t fall asleep and was self medicating to try to get himself to fall asleep and then just gave up.

Libby: It’s not me. Yeah, that’s not me.

Sarah: Who’s Alberto? He’s muted.

Libby: Okay, fine. Wait. Say what you were just saying, please.

Howard: it seems like Vanya went to bed, and was like. I want to say self medicating in bed, was drinking in bed almost. And, just gave up at some point. I mean, I do this where I can’t fall asleep, and then finally, I’m just like. And I just get up and wander around the house and make noise.

Libby: Yeah.

Howard: draw as much attention to myself as possible. so it just seems like he’s like, well, let me go see if anyone wants to pay attention to me. I was wondering, is he contradicting when she’s. Does he hear her say, I have the hey to mo? And is he saying, the storm’s coming. You’re not going to mow the hay?

Libby: That’s an interesting.

Howard: I don’t know what the Russian says, but, if he overhears her, he could be like, the storm’s coming. Like, almost contradicting Sonia a little bit.

Libby: What does it give you? What does it get you? Just a reason to come in.

Howard: Maybe a little, Well, yeah, maybe, but also, like, a little bit of. A little bit of nudgey, know it allness, maybe, you know, you’re not going to mow the hay. The storm’s coming.

Libby: I see. Okay, let’s try that. That’s. That’s a great choice. Let’s see what that’s like. Howard. so to do that this time, don’t read the stage direction there. Enter Vanya. Allison. Okay, so we can see how that plays. Go from, Sonia, can you go from stop acting like a baby. Please stop.

Deidre: Please stop acting like a baby. It may be fine for others, but spare me, please. I don’t like it. I don’t have time. I need to get up early tomorrow. I have the, hay to mow.

Howard: No, the storm’s coming. Here we go. Helen and Sonia, go to sleep. I came to relieve you.

Libby: Okay. That’s a great choice. It’s a good entrance line, Howard. You’ll keep trying, see what you get from it. I wanted to ask you about the Helene. Using the French for her name. No one else in the playground.

Alberto: Helene.

Howard: Uh-huh.

Libby: You got a thought about that?

Howard: well, the m. Mother. my mother, she calls. She calls me Jean. Several times. Right. so maybe it’s just like a kind of leftover family affectation. Is it a pet name?

Libby: I don’t know.

Howard: Elaine and Sonia.

Libby: I need you to be aware, to be able to make a choice from it.

Howard: Yeah.

Libby: Because it is different than anything else. I will say this. This is not a regular farm family. These people have been educated, and Vanya has read a great deal. And knowing French, is a mark of education and class. Societal class.

Howard: Well, it also seems like it’s, something I picked up reading at this last time. It seems like Vanya and the mother and my sister had traveled to St. Petersburg to see them when they were there. And in St. Petersburg. Correct me if I’m wrong, but. But there’s a lot. At this time, there was a lot more French, but, like, it was. It was a metropolitan, cosmopolitan thing. So maybe it’s a leftover from, like, knowing her in a more cultured place.

Libby: could be.

Howard: somewhere. I think it’s in Act 1. It’s implied that he had been they. When they first met her, it was in St. Petersburg. Right. He knew her from the city as opposed to.

Libby: You have to make the reason for it. That’s the guess. Yes.

Howard: And then. So she’s more from this other world. Right?

Libby: Yes. She certainly doesn’t belong on a farm.

Howard: Right.

Alison: And Yelena is the Russian version of Helen in the way that Ivan is the Russian version of John or Jean.

Howard: Right. Right.

Libby: And, But the fact that he chooses to use the little bit of French, it’s slightly romantic, too. It’s. You know, he changes when he talks to her. We’re going to see the real him very soon. When he’s alone and he talks, we’ll. We’ll see him really revealed. But, his attitude with her, he’s trying to get to first base. Okay, let’s do that again. Sonia, please stop acting.

Howard: He’s trying to just get a hit. He’s not.

Libby: Not even. Can’t even get onto the bases yet. Okay.

Howard: He’s just getting all strikes.

Libby: But wait a minute. I do want to say we have every indication that there is a real friendship between the two of you. I think that’s really important because Yelena would not. She is a gorgeous woman, and she has had lots of admirers in her life, and she wouldn’t be able to talk to you and swat you away the way she does if she didn’t know you as well as she did. Does that make sense to you, too, Sarah?

Sarah: 100%. Yeah.

Libby: Okay.

Howard: From where?

Deidre: Please stop acting like a baby.

Libby: Mm.

Deidre: Please stop acting like a baby. It may be fine for others, but spare me, please. I don’t like it. I don’t have time. I need to get up early tomorrow. I have the hay to mow.

Howard: No, the storm’s coming.

Alison: Lightning.

Howard: Here we go. Here we go. Helene and Sonia, go to sleep. I came to relieve you.

Alberto: No, no, don’t leave me with him. no. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: But they’ve got to get some rest. They didn’t sleep at all last night.

Alberto: Let them go to sleep. But you go, too. Thank you. I implore you in the name of a former friendship. Just go. We’ll talk later.

Howard: Our, former friendship. Former.

Deidre: Be quiet, Uncle.

Libby: What do you think that grin is? Howard with a grin?

Howard: I took it as he’s, like, almost trying to entertain. He’s, like, trying to josh through it a little bit for the benefit of Sonia and Yelena.

Libby: Well, that’s a good point.

Howard: Like. Oh, did you hear that? Our former friendship.

Libby: Yeah. Hm. That’s. That’s a great choice. Let’s go back to, Let them go to sleep.

Alberto: Well, let them go to sleep, but you go too. Thank you. I implore you in. In the name of a former friendship. Just go. Talk later.

Howard: Our, former friendship. Former.

Deidre: Be quiet, Uncle.

Alberto: Vanya, my dear. Don’t leave me with him. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: Can you believe how ludicrous this is?

Deidre: You ought to be in. Oh, sorry.

Alison: Barina enters with a candle.

Deidre: You ought to be in bed, Nanya, Very late.

Julie: The samovar is still boiling. You can’t exactly expect me to go to bed.

Alberto: No one. M. Is sleeping. Everybody is exhausted. I alone am in a state of bliss.

Alison: He goes over to Sarah Bikov, tenderly.

Julie: What is it, my dear? Are you in pain? My legs ache too.

Libby: One second. Can you see how all this leads up to this soothing nurse? It’s very fractious in the air. It’s. Don’t leave me with them. Oh, my God. Get out of here. Get. And it’s all leading up to her calming the atmosphere down. Finally calming the atmosphere down. So let’s go back and let’s build and see what that feels like, because it’s a little piece of music here. All leading to Nanya. but let’s go from here we go. Helene and Sonia. Or Helen. Sonia, go to sleep. Anya.

Howard: Here we go. Helene and Sonia go to sleep. I came to relieve you.

Alberto: No, no, don’t leave me with Him?

Libby: No.

Alberto: We’ll talk my head off.

Howard: But they’ve got to get some rest. They didn’t sleep at all last night.

Alberto: Let them go to sleep. But you go too. Thank you. I implore you in the name of a form of friendship. Just go. We’ll talk later.

Howard: Our, former friendship. Former.

Deidre: Be quiet, Uncle Vanya.

Alberto: My dear, don’t leave me with him. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: Can you believe how ludicrous this is?

Alison: Irina enters with a candle.

Deidre: Oh, you ought to be in bed, Nanya. It’s very late.

Julie: Samovar is still boiling. Can’t exactly expect me to go to bed.

Alberto: No, no one is sleeping. Everybody’s exhausted. I alone am, in a state of bliss.

Libby: Oh, God.

Alison: He goes to Serebyakov.

Julie: What is it, my dear? Are you in pain?

Deidre: Mm.

Julie: My legs ache too. They ache so.

Alison: She adjusts the blanket.

Julie: You’ve been in pain such a long time. Vera Petrovna, Sonia’s mother, may she rest in peace, never slept either. She nearly killed herself taking care of you. She loved you very much. Oh, yes. Old people are like children. They want someone to feel sorry for them. But no one feels sorry for the old.

Alison: Kisses him on the shoulder.

Julie: Let’s go to bed, my dear. Let’s go, my little boy. I’ll make you limelife tea. I’ll warm your legs. I’ll pray to God for you.

Alberto: Let’s go, Marina.

Julie: My legs ache too. They ache.

Alison: So she leads him together with Sonia.

Julie: Vera Petrovna nearly killed herself. Always crying. You, Sonietzka, were still little then. Come, my dear.

Libby: Very, very, very good. And, you can see how everything changes because of the way she speaks to him. Julie, I wanted to ask you something. what do you think about this? talking about the wife that died? In front of the wife, that is. I mean, I don’t know that she thinks about that, but. What do you think about that?

Julie: Oh, I think her main audience is Yelena.

Libby: Oh, interesting. I like that.

Julie: But. But Marina’s very sly. It’s very covered with all these other things. I’m talking to you, Sonichka. You know.

Libby: Well, that. It’s pretty daring. That’s a. That’s a really daring choice. That’s very interesting. I love it. Let’s go back. Let’s. Let’s do that again. Let’s go. Let’s go from. What is it, my dear? Are you in pain? Okay. That’s Julie.

Julie: Oh, what is it, my dear? Are you in pain? My legs ache too. They ache so,

Alison: She adjusts the blanket.

Julie: You’ve been in pain such a long time. Vera Petrovna, Sonichka’s mother, may she rest in peace, never slept either. She nearly killed herself taking care of you.

Libby: Uh?

Julie: She loved you very much. Oh yes. Old people are like children. They want someone to feel sorry for them. But no one feels sorry for the old.

Alison: She kisses him on the shoulder.

Julie: Let’s go to bed, my dear. Let’s go, my little boy. I’ll make you some limelife tea. I’ll warm your legs. I’ll pray to God for you.

Alberto: Let’s go, Marina.

Julie: M. My legs ache too. They ache.

Libby: So.

Alison: She leads him together with Sonia.

Julie: Vera Petrovna nearly killed herself. Always crying. You Sonietchka. We’re still little then.

Libby: Come.

Julie: Come, my dear.

Libby: Wonderful.

Alison: Serebyakov. Sonia and Marina exit.

Sarah: I’m completely exhausted with him. I can barely stand on my feet.

Howard: You’re exhausted with him and I with myself. This is the third night I haven’t slept.

Sarah: Something is wrong in this house. Your mother hates everything except for her own pamphlets. And the professor. The professor is irritated. He doesn’t trust me. He’s afraid of you. Sonia is angry with her father, angry with me, and hasn’t talked to me for two weeks. You hate my husband and openly hold your own mother in contempt. I am short tempered and have at least 20 times today started to cry. There is something very wrong in this house.

Howard: Shall we cut the stop for a second?

Libby: That’s really good. Sarah, let me ask Yelena and Sonia, why have you been, Sonia, why have you been cool and not loving towards Yelena? Two weeks, by the way, that tells us that they’ve been here already two weeks.

Deidre: Already two weeks. I think, because I see that this woman doesn’t really love my father. M is, you know, she’s not the help that I would love for her to be. She’s not.

Libby: M. Devoted like your mother.

Deidre: She’s not devoted like my mother. so I think there’s, you know, I think even though they’ve been married for a while, I think she’s still suspect.

Libby: Mm hm.

Deidre: And. And you know what. What is the. You know what. What will she be walking away with? You know, here’s this young woman. I think there’s a question as to why. Why did you marry him? Because you couldn’t love. I mean, it wasn’t. It couldn’t have been love.

Deidre: Right. Because they, you know, they had the conversation later. So what’s in the will? You know, is she a gold digger?

Libby: Mm.

Libby: That’s great. And you, are you aware of Astro’s attraction to her or not yet?

Deidre: I. I think that, my feeling is. Because he’s been coming. The fact that he’s hanging around.

Libby: Yes.

Deidre: You know, it’s like. My feeling is he’s a busy man, you know, and you’ve never hung around before, so now you’re hanging around, you know, you came and it’s like, don’t you have somewhere else to go? You know? And my feeling is you can’t not. You know, this is. I don’t. I don’t know if this is the first time he’s come out, but he’s hanging around.

Libby: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, let me just say that Yelena is the kind of woman who absolutely attracts every man in the room. And, I cannot. I had a couple of friends like that and I adored them. But sometimes it was difficult because there was no real chance to, you know, get to know somebody because they’re so attracted to this unbelievably gorgeous. And I don’t want to push that right now, but that has to be somewhere in the. You just. Women like this are clear to both women and men.

Deidre: Yeah. Oh, yeah, Absolutely.

Libby: That she’s a flirt or a slut or anything like that. She’s just. No, it’s just that attractive people.

Deidre: And there’s. And there’s, you know, I think there’s. There’s awe and jealousy, you know?

Libby: Yes, there.

Deidre: I mean, you know, it’s like you’re not. You’re not immune from, you know, I think even as a woman, not being immune from another woman’s beauty, you’re seeing all the things that you don’t have.

Libby: Exactly. Exactly. Yes. And, we have to be careful with that because Sonia is not a jealous girl by nature. She’s not, There isn’t a mean, spirit, spirited bone in her body. It costs her to have to tell her father just to lay off.

Deidre: Right.

Libby: It costs her because that’s not the way she thinks or does things. You know, I mean, she’s got an incredible heart, but something pushes a button with Jelena. I wish we were doing the scene between the two of you because, it’s so rich with layering so many feelings from each of you. Do you know.

Sarah: Could I just say, too, it’s interesting because Sonia’s 24, right. Or around 24. So we’ve been married for 10 years. I’ve known her since she was a young teenager, which Means, you know, being a young teenager with, you know, a woman who’s in her upper 20s, I can see there is the potential for a very different bond than the difference between two adult women. And so it’s very possible there was a loving, you know, the potential, if Yelena tried, and Sonia is so sweet, for a loving relationship. And it’s only as this woman has grown up to being a proper adult who loves men, that this tension would have appeared. So it is. It’s probably not just the return of Yelena and the professor, but it’s the fact that she’s in a very different place than when these two first met and got to know each other.

Libby: That’s excellent, Sarah.

Deidre: That’s great.

Libby: Okay, where were we?

Sarah: Uncle Vanya, shall we cut the philosophy, please?

Libby: Yeah, yeah, that’s right. and I also wanted to say, Sarah, that you. You were. I thought you were discovering and I’m giving you props for this. that you were discovering and letting that speech about something is wrong in this house, letting it happen rather than being sure in advance of what you were going to say. It’s like it’s happening now.

Sarah: Good. Okay, great.

Libby: Very, very good.

Sarah: it was your note last week.

Libby: So I’m glad I took that.

Sarah: Props to you, Libby.

Libby: Shut her up. Shut her up. Okay, okay. let’s go from, Let’s go from something is wrong in this house. What’s worse than somebody getting a compliment and then you have to do it?

Howard: I know, I know.

Sarah: Now I’m stressed.

Libby: Sorry about that.

Sarah: Oh, it’s all right. Something is wrong in this house. Your mother hates everything except her own pamphlets. And the professor. The professor is irritated. he doesn’t trust me. He’s afraid of you. Sonia is angry with her father, angry with me, and hasn’t talked to me for two weeks. You hate my husband and openly hold your own mother in contempt. I am short tempered, and at least 20 times today I have started to cry. There is something very wrong in this house.

Howard: Should we cut the philosophy, please?

Sarah: You, Ivan Petrovitch, are educated, intelligent, and you must see that the world is not being destroyed by thieves and fires and wars, but rather by hatred and hostility from all these petty squabbles. You shouldn’t add to the noisy complaining around us. You should be helping us find peace in your own family.

Howard: Help me find peace in myself, my darling.

Alison: He presses her hand to himself.

Libby: Stop.

Alison: She takes away her hand.

Libby: Okay, let’s get that again. Do you mean it, Howard? Help me find. Is that an end for you to make a. Yeah. Are we going to use metaphor all the way through? Yeah. So go for it. Go for these opportunities. So, let’s go from, you, Yvonne. Petrovich.

Sarah: Petrovich. Petrovich. Okay.

Libby: Oh, is it.

Sarah: No, no, no, I’m confirming. I couldn’t remember, but I wrote it, down. Petrovich. I have Petrovich in my brain forever. Okay. You, Ivan Petrovitch, are educated, intelligent, and you must see that the world is not being destroyed by thieves and fires and wars, but rather by hatred, hostility. from all these petty squabbles, you shouldn’t add to the noisy complaining around us. You should be helping to find peace in your own family.

Howard: Help me find peace in myself.

Libby: Try. Wait. Just try that again, Howard. Go for it. There’s an opening. Do you see?

Julie: She.

Libby: She gave you an opening. You should be finding peace in your own path. Go for it.

Corey: Okay.

Libby: If you pause, she’ll never let you.

Howard: Oh. Okay. I thought I, It might. I. I think there might be a lot of lag in my Internet. It felt like I. Okay, I’m in a. I’m in a hotel. Oh, wow.

Libby: That’s very mysterious.

Howard: I’ve been banished to a hotel. Now, can you give me. Can you just give me that line and I’ll try to come in.

Sarah: I’ll leave you in. And feel free to risk cutting me off. Howard, that’s totally fine. You shouldn’t be adding to the noisy complaining around us. You should be helping to find peace in your own family.

Howard: Help me find peace in myself, my darling.

Alison: He presses her hand to himself.

Libby: Stop.

Alison: She takes away her hand.

Sarah: Go away.

Howard: Soon it’ll stop raining, and everything in nature will be refreshed and alive. I alone will not be refreshed by the storm. Day and night, I’m strangled by the idea that my, life is irrevocably lost, that I’m dead, that I wasted my life, that I spent my life on trifles. Here, Take my life. Take my love. What good are they to me? What have I done with them? My feelings are dying away in vain. Like sunbeams falling into a dark pit. I’m dying.

Libby: Okay, wait. Good. Let’s just go back on that. Howard. it switches from I alone will not be. Where was it that I wanted to put point out to you? Day and night, I’m strangled by the idea that my life. Yes, it’s interesting. In trying to reach her, you begin to talk about your own problems.

Howard: Right.

Libby: Just. I just don’t Want you to gloss over. I’m sorry.

Nathan Agin: Uh-huh.

Libby: I’m stopping. I just. This is my only chance to tell you these things. Okay. All right. So let’s go from, Go away. Just from the. Go away, Sarah. To get.

Howard: So can I ask them? Is there, like. Is there a change in there? Soon it’ll stop raining and everything in nature will be refreshed and alive. Tiny little bi alone will not be refreshed by the storm.

Libby: I don’t know. I don’t know why there would be a pause there. You can try it. But, I think it’s all coming out of him.

Howard: Uh-huh.

Libby: He’s in a real midlife crisis. You understand that, right?

Howard: Yeah.

Libby: He feels everything in his life is ruined. Everything. And he’s making a play for her as fast as he can.

Howard: Right. Okay.

Alison: Would it help Sarah if I don’t do the stage directions there?

Sarah: It might, if that’s all right. Is that okay with you, Libby?

Libby: The reason I wanted the stage directions read through this time. We’re not going to do it when we do the scene, you know. again, I wanted you to know that that’s part of the fabric of the whole thing. That’s all. Okay, let’s go from Stop.

Howard: Go.

Libby: Wait. I know that’s an awful place, but how about.

Sarah: You should add, to the noisy complaining.

Libby: Yeah.

Sarah: You shouldn’t add to the noisy complaining around us. You should be helping to find peace in your own family.

Howard: Help me find peace in myself, my darling.

Libby: Stop.

Sarah: Go away.

Howard: Soon it’ll stop raining and everything in nature will be refreshed and alive. I alone will not be refreshed by the storm. Day and night, I’m strangled by the idea that my life is irrevocably lost, that I’m dead, that I wasted my life, that I spent my life on trifles. Here. Take my life. Take my love. What good are they to me? What have I done with them? My feelings are dying away in vain. Like sunbeams falling into a dark pit. I’m dying.

Sarah: When you talk to me about your love, I just go numb. And I don’t know what to say. Forgive me. I have nothing to say to you. Good night.

Libby: This is just pretty. Pretty wonderful, isn’t it? He just been talking to you about his wasting his life. And you take it that he’s talking to you. He is talking to you about his love, but he’s not directly. What I’m saying is these two people are on two different planes.

Sarah: It’s the second man in 10 minutes who is talking to me about his life wasting away without any awareness of what my situation might be.

Libby: Yes.

Sarah: That’s horrifying.

Libby: Wonderful, Sarah. That’s wonderful. Yes. All right.

Libby: Howard, I’d like you to take the soon it’ll stop raining speech again. I think I may have sent you down the wrong path. If I’m telling you to rush. I’m not telling you to rush. I don’t want you to rush over those words. Ideas.

Sarah: Want me to lead you in again, Howard?

Howard: Sure.

Libby: Okay.

Sarah: You shouldn’t add to the noisy complaining around us. you should be helping to find peace in your own family.

Howard: Help, me find peace in myself. My darling.

Libby: Stop.

Sarah: Go away.

Howard: Soon it’ll stop raining and everything in nature will be refreshed and alive. I alone will not be refreshed by this storm. Day and night I’m strangled by the idea that my life is irrevocably lost. That I’m dead, that I wasted my life, that I spent my life on trifles. Here. Take my life. Take my love. What good are they to me? What have I done with them? My feelings are dying away in vain. Like sunbeams falling into a dark pit. I’m dying.

Sarah: When you talk to me about your love, I just go numb and don’t know what to say.

Sarah: Forgive me. I have nothing to say to you. Good night.

Howard: If you only knew how I suffer from the thought that next to me, in this very house, another life is dying. Yours. What are you waiting for? What damn righteous morality stops you? Don’t you see, Yvonne?

Sarah: Petrovich.

Libby: Petrovich.

Sarah: Petrovich, you are drunk.

Libby: Yeah. That’s really good, you guys. It’s good, Howard.

Howard: Possibly poss. Possibly.

Libby: Oh, no. We can’t just throw that away. We have to go back to. If you only knew how I suffered.

Howard: If you only knew how I suffer from the thought that next to me in this very house, another life is dying. Yours. What are you waiting for? What damned righteous morality stops you?

Sarah: Don’t you see, Ivan Petrovich. Petrovich, you’re drunk.

Howard: Possibly. Possibly.

Sarah: Where’s the doctor?

Howard: He’s here. He’s spending the night. Possibly. Possibly. Everything is possible.

Sarah: Why are you drinking so much?

Howard: Because it makes me feel alive. Don’t try to stop me, Helene.

Sarah: You never used to drink so much. And you never talked so much. Go to sleep. I’m bored to death of you.

Howard: My darling. Beautiful. Marvelous.

Sarah: Leave me alone. This is just disgusting.

Alison: She exits.

Libby: You know, this is interesting. She says you never Used to talk so much. Now Vanya is a talker. he has been since the beginning of the play. what do you think that is? Is it true that he’s talking more? What do you think, Howard? What do you think, Sarah? Anybody?

Sarah: I don’t think he used to talk about his love for me like this.

Libby: No.

Sarah: And I wonder if that’s what she means.

Libby: That’s a good point. That’s a good point.

Sarah: And it’s also possible it’s emotional. when he wasn’t talking about his love for me, it was. It was an amount of talking that I could tolerate because we’re friends. And now because it’s an unbearable topic.

Howard: It is too.

Sarah: Too much to listen to.

Libby: Yes. And he’s not never made a pass at you before, has he, Elena?

Sarah: I don’t know. I don’t know. Is there an answer in the play, or is that a choice that we make?

Libby: It’s a choice.

Sarah: I mean, I definitely think it’s been going on this whole trip. This is certainly not the first night. But I don’t know about, like, previous trips. My choice, unless we change it, is that the passing is this trip so far. This is new for us, moving in, but it’s not the first night that it’s happened.

Libby: Great.

Howard: I wonder.

Libby: No, I was just gonna say in the first act, he certainly tries to get you also, but it’s hotter if it’s all happening this summer, isn’t it?

Sarah: Yeah.

Libby: Howard, I’m sorry. What were you starting to say?

Howard: Yeah, I think just picking up off what you just said, I was wondering is. Is this the first time they’ve spent this much time alone together?

Libby: Right. Good. That’s a great question.

Howard: Like, previous. Previous visits maybe was a little more Shop Around. I, don’t know if that’s the right word, but.

Libby: So you were here. You. You are the farm manager.

Howard: Yeah.

Libby: This is. This is the first time, probably since the beginning of, you know, all your life maybe, that you took off this. You’re taking off this time, and you’re drinking. And, it’s all because everything’s happening this summer. And it’s happening you and outside you. So I have a feeling that you and Yelena have had a very different relationship than what’s happening to you now.

Howard: Yeah. And I wonder if in previous times, the professor was just more present. Could be who I was a little more in awe of. if I wasn’t. I mean, just taking off of. You never talked so much. Maybe it was just because, the professor was There more.

Libby: And I want to. Yes, and I want to also stress that you’re a hard worker. That’s why it’s so hard for Sonya to figure out, what to do about you, because you’re. It’s topsy turvy. You’re not working, you’re not helping. She’s got to do everything. And while she’s a very hard worker, the world is shattering for. And you usually do your jobs. Yeah, I think that’s implied in the play, that it’s off base.

Howard: Okay, so I had a question about, Are the parts possibly. Is it like you’re drunk? And is. Is it like. Like, is it is by saying it over and over, Is it like I can’t get it out? Is it like when you’re drunk and you’re like, over, Possibly. Like, is he trying to say. Say it? I don’t quite know how to play that moment.

Libby: I know exactly what you mean. Is it drunken behavior or is possibly.

Howard: Possibly, like it comes out wrong? Possibly.

Libby: Possibly.

Howard: Possibly.

Libby: Yes. You can definitely try that when we read through. Try that again. Okay, I want to proceed because big speech is coming up now.

Sarah: Can I ask a quick question, Libby?

Libby: Yes, ma’am.

Sarah: About the where’s the doctor? Line.

Libby: Yes.

Sarah: I’m wondering whether this is just an attempt at a distraction or whether this is a. To help with his drunkenness, because I don’t know how common it is for men to be this drunk. I think it’s common to be this. I don’t know. I don’t know.

Libby: They’re drunk. Yes. But, you know, you’re usually in. You’re not up and around a house in which men are getting drunk.

Sarah: Uh-huh. So this is like a health question. Like, let’s find the doctor to sober you up.

Libby: I don’t know. Okay. I don’t know. That is a terrific question to be asking, and that’s something that you have to find. I don’t know the answer to it. I honestly don’t. But it’s a terrific question. Okay, before you get started now on this speech, I’m just a little worried about time. So, I’m pushing ahead a little faster. Howard, I want to point out to you that. And it’s all my fault. I did this. Chekhov did not do this. I’ve put this first part of the speech, the first half of the speech with you talking to her, an image of her rather than just expressing your feelings. Do you understand what I mean? Uh-huh. So you. You’re. You’re the unlucky guy who has to find out how to do that and why you’re doing that.

Howard: Okay.

Libby: Okay.

Howard: It’s usually in the third person, Is that what you’re saying?

Libby: Yes. the way he talks about the professor, it’s usually which is in the third person.

Howard: Right.

Libby: But here he talks directly to her. An image of her.

Howard: I first met you 10 years ago at My Darling Sisters, remember? You were 17 and I was 37. Why didn’t I fall in love with you and propose to you then? It would have been so easy. And today you would be my wife. Yes. Tonight both of us would be awakened by the storm. You would be afraid of the thunder. And I would take you in my arms and whisper, don’t be afraid, little darling. I’m here. Marlowe’s M thoughts. Wonderful. I’m laughing, but my God, I’m so mixed up. Why am I old? Why doesn’t she understand me? The way she talks. Her stupid morality. Her stupid, silly prattling about making peace in the world. I hate it so much. I’ve been deceived. I worshiped that professor. That pathetic, gout ridden idiot. I worked for him like a slave. Sonia and I squeezed every drop out of this estate. We were like kulaks haggling over vegetable oil peas, starving ourselves with crumbs just so we could save a few copics to send to him. I was so proud of him and his glorious scholarship. I lived for him. I breathed for him. Every word he wrote or uttered seemed like genius to me. God. And now, now he’s retired and it has become perfectly clear that the sum total of his life adds up to nothing. Not one word of his, not a single scholarly word matters to anyone. A soap bubble. And I’ve been swindled. I see that now. Stupidly swindled.

Libby: Okay, I’m going to want you to do it all again. Good, good, good. Start on it, Howard. It’s very deep and it’s very rich, isn’t it? I think so. the section, the first section in which you, you know, put her right out there and, you know, imagine leads to. And today you would be my wife. Right? I mean, that’s. I just want you to find that. I want you to let yourself really find an image of her out there for you, whoever her is for you, and really see her and make love to her with this. Find it. And the other thing I wanted to point out is in the pause after. I hate it so much because everything is just crumbling around. This is his big Falling apart speech. We don’t get this from him again until the fourth act when he’s defeated. Defeated. So this is this whole sequence, Howard, is him finding, discovering, secretly talking of his love and his hate. And in that pause is the turnaround from I hate it so much to and oh, how I’ve been deceived. So what I guess I’m asking is we can’t, we won’t get there tonight. But I’d like you to try the whole, whole speech again. And I’d like you to, as you work on it this week, recognize how present it is, how these thoughts are rushing through you and you’re seeing and feeling all of this. I don’t know if I’m saying anything that’s helpful, but this is a nervous breakdown.

Howard: Yeah, she’s gone. I first met you 10 years ago at My Darling Sisters, remember? You were 17 and I was 37. Why didn’t I fall in love with you and propose to you then? It would have been so easy. Today you would be my wife. Yes. Tonight both of us would be awakened by the storm. You would be afraid of the thunder. And I would take you in my arms and whisper. Don’t be afraid, little darling. I’m, here. Marvelous thoughts. How wonderful. I’m laughing. Oh my God. I’m so mixed up. Why am I old? Why doesn’t she understand me? The way she talks. Her stupid morality. Her silly proudly about making peace in the world. I hate it so much. I’ve, been deceived. I worship that professor. I worship that professor. That pathetic, doubt ridden idiot. I worked for him like a slave. Sonia and I squeezed every drop out of this state. we were like kulaks haggling over vegetable oil peas, starving ourselves with crumbs just so we could save a few copics to send to him. I was so proud of him and his glorious scholarship. I lived for him, I breathed for him. Every word he wrote or uttered seemed like genius to me. And now, now he’s retired and it’s become perfectly clear that the sum total of his life adds up to nothing. Not one word of his, not a single scholarly word matters to anyone. A soap bubble. And I’ve been swindled. I see that now. Stupidly swindled.

Alison: Enter Astrov. In a frock coat, without a waistcoat and without a tie. He is tipsy. Behind him is Tiliegin with a guitar.

Alberto: Play.

Julie: Everyone is sleeping, sir.

Alison: Play Tilyagin quietly strums Are you alone here?

Corey: No. Ladies?

Corey: Go to the peasant house. Go to the fire. There is no place for the master to expire. the storm woke me. Big storm. What time is it?

Howard: Who knows?

Corey: I thought I heard Yelena Andrevna’s voice.

Howard: She was just here.

Corey: What a gorgeous woman. Medicines, Drugs. There’s nothing missing. Kharkov, Moscow, Tuskaya. Every city is plagued with his gout.

Libby: So each one of the, medicine, bottles is from a different place. Yes.

Howard: Okay.

Corey: Yes. Okay.

Libby: That’s where the city are coming from.

Corey: Okay, great. Medicines, drugs. There’s nothing missing. Kharkov, Moscow, Tulskaya. Every city is plagued with his gout. Is he really sick or is he faking it?

Howard: Sick.

Corey: Why are you so sad today? Pity for the professor.

Howard: Quit it.

Corey: Or maybe you’re in love with the professor’s wife.

Howard: She’s my friend already. What does that mean, already?

Corey: A, woman can only be friends with a man in this order. First an acquaintance, then a, lover, and then finally a friend.

Libby: Yes, that’s good. Astro, have. Are you aware of your attraction to Yelena by this point?

Corey: Definitely.

Libby: Uh-huh.

Corey: I would. I would say so. I’ve seen her a couple times and I know that I’m definitely interested.

Libby: Yes.

Corey: In her beauty. I don’t know much about her personally yet, but that she’s. Yeah, it is.

Libby: It is wonderful that he is so moved by beauty. Beauty of the forest, beauty of a woman. Yes. I think if we were to continue to work this. It would be important for you to know. Just, you know, you’re teasing Vanya because you recognize that Vanya’s got a crush on her. So the question is, have you yet. Do you discover it when you talk to Sonia in the next scene? When you. When? I, don’t know. I honestly don’t know. But you would need to find that out. Does that make sense to you, Corey?

Corey: Definitely, yes.

Libby: Because I can be moved by beauty. your stepmother would, you know, move me if. Is that a discovery? Or is it here? Or where is this. In this teasing of Vanya?

Corey: I think it’s trying to see if. If he’s like. He’s teasing him because he thinks he’s interested, but it’s like, why is he interested in this woman? Because I know that, like, astronauts, very, very attracted to beautiful things, but he also is attracted to substance as well.

Libby: Yes.

Corey: So I think it’s. It’s trying to discover if there’s more to her.

Libby: Yes. That’s great. Looking for clues. Okay, let’s. Let’s go back on this a little bit.

Howard: do I See his. Attract. Do I see his attraction?

Libby: I don’t know. Do you?

Howard: Or the flirting?

Libby: I don’t think he’s begun to flirt with her yet.

Howard: Okay.

Libby: I’m talking about, Astro. Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know where things are at this point in people’s, You know, we would need to discover that in rehearsal. And you would do lots of thinking about that. But he is teasing you, right?

Howard: No. Yeah. Yeah.

Libby: Okay, so let’s go from, I thought I heard, Yelena Andreevna’s voice. Corey.

Corey: Oh, okay. I thought I heard Yelena Andrea’s voice.

Howard: She was just here.

Corey: What a gorgeous woman. Woman? medicines, drugs, there’s nothing missing. Kharkov, Moscow, Tulskaya. Every city is plagued with his gout. Is he really sick or faking it?

Howard: Sick.

Corey: Why are you so sad today? Pity for the professor.

Howard: Quit it.

Corey: Or maybe you’re in love with the professor’s wife.

Howard: She’s my friend.

Corey: Already.

Howard: What does that mean, already?

Corey: A, man can only be friends with a woman in this. A woman can only be friends with a man in this order. First an acquaintance, then a lover, and then finally a friend.

Howard: Vulgar. Oh.

Corey: Yeah, this is true. I’m becoming vulgar. I’m drunk. Usually I get drunk like this once a month. And when I’m drunk, I get completely vulgar and fearless. Everything seems so easy to me. I take on the most difficult operations and do them brilliantly. I make daring plans for the future. When I’m drunk, I no longer seem like a freak. And I actually believe I’m bringing some enormous benefit to humanity. Enormous. And when I’m drunk, I see how valuable my own personal universe is. And the rest of you piddling creatures seem like insects, microbes, waffles.

Julie: Play, dear one, I would love to play for you with all my soul, but understand, everyone is sleeping.

Alison: Play, Talia again. Quietly strums.

Corey: You need a drink.

Libby: Oh,

Corey: Oh, yeah. I see there’s some cognac left. In the morning, we’ll go to my place, right, Char? I have a medical assistant who never says right, but right. Shar88.

Alison: Seeing Sonja enter.

Corey: pardon me, I forgot my tie.

Alison: Quickly, he exits. Tully again follows.

Deidre: And you, Uncle Vanya, you got drunk again with the doctor? A couple of juveniles hanging around together. Well, he has always been like that. But what in heaven’s name is wrong with you? At your age, you should know better.

Howard: Age has nothing to do with it. When you don’t have a life, you live on soap bubbles. It’s better than nothing.

Deidre: Our hay needs to be cut. It rains every day. Everything is rotting. And all you talk about is soap bubbles. You’re completely neglecting the farm. I have to work alone. I’m strained to the breaking point.

Deidre: Uncle, you have tears in your eyes.

Howard: Tears? It’s nothing. Nonsense. The way you looked at me just now. Just like your mother.

Alison: Sweet, greedily kisses her hands and face.

Howard: My sister. My sweet, dear sister. Where is she now? If only she knew. If only she knew what?

Deidre: Uncle?

Libby: What?

Howard: It’s so hard. Nothing. Later. Nothing. I’m going.

Alison: He exits.

Libby: Yeah. that ends our scene. I would love to try to, run it all together now. Just give this nearly as much attention as I wanted to. It’s Copex, Howard, not Copex.

Howard: Oh, okay. Copex. Uh-huh.

Libby: Yeah. Corey, where does the right jar come from? The first time you say it, I think.

Corey: I think it’s like. Because I feel like I play with him, my, medical assistant. Like, we’re friends, we have fun, we drink together and we have a good time. So I say it too, but.

Libby: Okay, that’s great. I just didn’t. It’s. I didn’t know where it came from.

Corey: Okay, I’ll try that.

Libby: Okay. Howard, you know this last time when you said soap bubbles, that was wonderful. Because that image of soap bubble with a P and a V, is so unlike Vanya. He would never describe his life as a soap bubble. Unless. Do you know what I’m saying? Just the words alone M happen for him. And let me just tell you, in general, you’re not picking up your cue. And that’s the danger in Chekhov, when he says pause, he means pause. Yes, but cues are really important to build these sequences. So just in general, pick up the cues. Okay. All right. There’s just so much to say, but we’re not going to say it now. Let’s run the scene.

Nathan Agin: Libby, do you mind if I jump in? I’m sorry to interrupt.

Alberto: I just had.

Nathan Agin: I wanted to suggest something, and this is totally, your. Your call.

Howard: But,

Nathan Agin: And some of the actors might be familiar with this, this kind of going off stage by turning off their cameras. If you prefer to have everybody on, you know, in full view the whole time.

Libby: Yeah, but, I’m so unpracticed with. That’s okay on zoom. So that’s.

Nathan Agin: That’s why I’m here.

Libby: I never thought about that.

Nathan Agin: So. So, yeah, people can kind of can turn off their camera. Like, for example, If I. Now I’m off stage, you know, for you to hear me. But like. And then before I come on for my scene, I turn on my camera and here I. Here I go. So you can. You can use that for this next run through. And if you’d like. but there’s. Again, there’s. You don’t have to do it. It’s just kind of what you would like.

Libby: I. I see what you mean. What do you guys think? I’m sure you have more experience with this than me.

Deidre: Let’s try it.

Julie: I like it. Yeah, let’s try it.

Libby: Don’t come on late for your entrances, so that you’ll have to figure out. Okay, I’m going off. Let’s go.

Alison: Act two, the dining room in Sarah Bikoff’s home.

Libby: Yes, we read Alison. Yes, yes. Stay off camera and, only give, like this opening stage directions. Great.

Alison: And none of the others.

Libby: Right.

Alison: Awesome.

Alberto: Cool.

Alison: Act two, the dining room and Sarah Berkov’s home. Night in the garden. The watchman can be heard tapping. Sarabukhov sits in an armchair before an open window and dozes. And Yelena Andreevna sits beside him and also dozes.

Alberto: Who’s there? Sonia, is that you?

Sarah: I’m here.

Alberto: You. The pain is unbearable.

Libby: Here.

Sarah: Your blankets fell. I’ll shut the window.

Alberto: No, I’m, Suffocating. I was just nodding off and I dreamt that my left leg was attached to someone else. I woke up with such excruciating pain. No, this is not gout. Probably rheumatism. What time is it?

Sarah: 20 minutes past 12.

Alberto: In the morning. Go look for Batyushkov in the library. I’m sure we have him. What look for but Yushkov in the morning? I seem to recall we have him. Why can’t I breathe?

Sarah: You’re tired. This is the second night you haven’t slept.

Alberto: They say Turgenev developed angina pectoris. Pectoral stories from gout. I’m afraid I’m getting it too. Turned disgusting. Old age. The devil take it. Now that I’m old, I can’t stand looking at myself. And I’m sure all of you must be repulsed by me too.

Sarah: You make it sound as if it’s our fault you got old.

Alberto: But I’m most disgusting to you. Of course, you’re right. I’m not stupid. I understand. You’re young, healthy, beautiful. You want to live. And I’m an old man, almost a corpse. True, I understand all too well. And of course it’s a terrible Crime. I have lived this long. But wait a little. Soon you’ll be free of me. I, won’t last much longer.

Sarah: I’m exhausted. For God’s sakes, just be quiet.

Alberto: Yes, everyone is exhausted. All because of me. They’re bored. They’re wasting their time. They’re wasting their youth. I’m the only one who’s happy. I’m the only one having a good time. Well, yes, of, Course.

Sarah: Be quiet. You have worn me out.

Alberto: Yes, I have worn everyone out. Of course.

Sarah: This is unbearable. Tell me what you want from me.

Alberto: Nothing.

Sarah: Well, then be quiet, I beg you.

Alberto: It’s so strange. Ivan Petrovich talks his head off, or that old idiot Maria, Vasilyevna. And it’s just fine. Everyone listens. But when I say one word, everyone suddenly feels isolate. Even my voice is offensive. Well, let’s assume I am offensive. I’m an egoist. I’m a despot. Don’t I have the right to be an egoist in my old age? Think about it. Haven’t I earned it? I ask you, don’t I have the right to a comfortable old age, surrounded by my admirers?

Sarah: No one is taking away your rights. It’s very windy. I’ll close the window. It’ll rain soon. No one is taking away your rights.

Alberto: All one’s life to be dedicated to scholarship, to become accustomed to one’s study, to the classroom, to respected colleagues. And suddenly, for no apparent reason, To find oneself buried in this tomb. Every day to deal with stupid people, to listen to insignificant chatter. I want to live. I love success. I love fame. I love action. But here I’m in exile. Every minute I’m longing for the. The past, watching the success of others, fearing death. I cannot. I don’t have the strength. And no one can forgive me for being old.

Sarah: Wait a little. Have patience. In five or six years, I’ll be old too.

Deidre: Papa, you sent for Dr. Astroff, but when he came, you refused to see him. That’s so rude. You bothered this man.

Alberto: Why do I need your Astroff? He understands about as much about medicine as I do astronomy.

Deidre: Well, we cannot send for the entire medical faculty just for your gouts.

Alberto: I don’t want to talk to that idiot.

Deidre: As you wish. It’s all the same to me.

Alberto: What time is it?

Sarah: Almost one.

Alberto: It’s stifling. Sonia, give me the drops on the table.

Deidre: Yes, of course.

Alberto: Not these. I, can’t ask for anything.

Deidre: Please, stop acting like a baby. It may be fine for others, but spare me Please. I don’t like it. I don’t have time. I need to get up early tomorrow. I have the hay to mow.

Howard: No. The storm’s coming. Here we go. Elaine and Sonya, go to sleep. I came to relieve you.

Alberto: No, no. Don’t leave me with him. No. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: But they’ve got to get some rest. They didn’t sleep at all last night.

Alberto: Let them go to sleep. But you go too. Thank you. I implore you in the name of our former friendship. Just go.

Howard: Our, former friendship?

Libby: Former.

Deidre: Be quiet, Uncle Vanya.

Alberto: I do. Don’t leave me with him. You’ll talk my head off.

Howard: Can you believe how ludicrous this is?

Deidre: You ought to go to bed, Nanya. It’s very late.

Julie: Samovar is still boiling. You can’t exactly expect me to go to bed.

Alberto: No one is sleeping. Everybody is exhausted. I alone am in a state of bliss.

Libby: Oh.

Julie: What is it, my dear? Are you in pain? My legs ache too. The ache. So you’ve been in pain a long time. Vera Petrovna, Sonyachika’s mother, may she rest in peace, never slept either. She nearly killed herself taking care of you. She loved you very much. Oh, yes. Old people are like children. They want someone to feel sorry for them. But no one feels sorry for the old. Let’s go to bed, my dear. Let’s go, my little boy. I’ll make you some limelife tea. Lime leaf tea. I’ll, warm m your legs. I’ll pray to God for you.

Alberto: Lets go, Marina.

Julie: My legs ache too. Ache? So Evara Petrovna nearly killed herself. Always crying. You, Sonietchka, were little then. Still little then. Come, come, my dear.

Sarah: I’m completely exhausted with him. I can barely stand on my feet.

Howard: You’re exhausted with him, and I with myself. This is the third night I haven’t slept.

Sarah: Something is wrong, in this house. Your mother hates everything except her own pamphlet from the professor. The professor is irritated. He doesn’t trust me. He’s afraid of you. Sonia is angry with her father, angry with me, and hasn’t talked to me in two weeks. You hate my husband and openly hold your own mother in contempt. I am short tempered, and at least 20 times today I started to cry. There is something very wrong in this house.

Howard: Shall we cut the philosophy, please?

Sarah: You, Ivan Petrovitch, are educated, intelligent, and you must see the world is not being destroyed by thieves and fires and wars, but rather by hatred, hostility. From all these petty squabbles. You shouldn’t add to the noisy and complaining about us. You should be helping us find peace in your own family.

Howard: Help me find peace in myself, my darling.

Libby: Stop.

Sarah: Go away.

Howard: Soon it’ll be raining and everything in nature will be refreshed and alive. I alone will not be refreshed by the storm. Day and night I’m strangled by the idea that my life is irrevocably lost, that I’m dead, that I wasted my life, that I spent my life on trifles. Here, take my life, Take my love. What good are they to me? What have I done with them? My feelings are dying away in vain. Like sunbeams falling into a dark pit. I’m dying.

Sarah: When you talk to me about your love, I just go numb inside. And I don’t know what to say. Forgive me. I have nothing to say to you. Good night.

Howard: If you only knew how I suffer from the thought that next to me in this very house, another life is dying. Yours. What are you waiting for? What damn righteous morality stops you?

Sarah: Don’t you see, Ivan Petrovich? You’re drunk.

Howard: Possibly. Possibly.

Sarah: Where’s the doctor?

Howard: He’s here. He’s spending the night. Possibly, Possibly. Everything is possible.

Sarah: Why are, ah, you drinking so much?

Howard: Because it makes me feel alive. Don’t try to stop me.

Sarah: Never used to work. You never used to drink so much. And you never talked so much. Go to sleep. I’m, bored to death of you.

Howard: My darling. Beautiful, Marvelous.

Sarah: Leave me alone. This is just disgusting.

Howard: She’s gone. I first met you ten years ago at, My darling sisters, remember? You were 17 and I was 37. Why didn’t I fall in love with you and propose to you then? It would have been so easy. And today you would be my wife. Yes. Tonight both of us would be awakened by the storm. You would be afraid of the thunder. And I would take you in my arms and whisper. Don’t be afraid, little darling, I’m here. What marvelous thought. Hearts. How wonderful. I’m laughing, but my God, I’m so mixed up. Why am I old? Why doesn’t she understand me? The way she talks. Her stupid morality. Her silly prattling about making peace in the world. I hate it so much. I’ve been deceived. I worship that professor. That pathetic, doubt ridden idiot. I worked for him like a slave. Sonia and I squeezed every drop out of this estate. We were like kulaks, haggling over vegetable oil peas, starving ourselves with crumbs just so we could save a few kopecks to send to him. I was so proud of him and his glorious scholarship. I lived for him. I breathed for him. Every word he wrote or uttered seemed like genius to me now.

Libby: How?

Howard: Now he’s retired, and it has become perfectly clear that the sum total of his life adds up to nothing. Not one word of his, not a single scholarly word, matters to anyone. A soap bubble. I’ve been swindled. I see that now. Stupidly swindled.

Libby: Play.

Julie: Everyone is sleeping, sir.

Corey: Play. Are you alone here? No. Ladies, go to the peasant house. Go to the fire. There is no place for the master to expire. The storm woke me. Big storm. What time is it?

Howard: Who knows?

Corey: I thought I heard Yelena Andreyevna’s voice.

Howard: She was just here.

Corey: What a gorgeous woman. Medicines, Drugs. There’s nothing missing. Kharkov, Moscow, Tulskaya. Every city is plagued with his gout. Is he really sick, or is he faking it?

Howard: Sick, huh?

Corey: Why are you so sad today? Pity for the professor.

Howard: Quit it.

Corey: Or maybe you’re in love with the professor’s wife.

Howard: She’s my friend.

Corey: Already.

Howard: What does that mean, already?

Corey: A woman can only be friends with a man. In this order. First an acquaintance, then a lover, and then finally. A friend.

Howard: Vulgar.

Corey: Oh, yes, it’s true. I’m becoming vulgar. I’m drunk. Usually. I get drunk like this once a month. And when I’m drunk, I get completely vulgar and fearless. Everything seems so easy to me. I take on the most difficult operations and do them brilliantly. I make daring plans for the future. When I’m drunk, I no longer seem like a freak. And I actually believe I’m bringing some enormous benefit to humanity. Enormous. And when I’m drunk, I see how valuable my own personal universe is. And the rest of you piddling creatures seem like insects, microbes, waffles.

Libby: Play.

Julie: Dear one, I would love to play for you with all my soul. But understand, everyone is sleeping.

Corey: Play. You need a drink.

Alberto: Oh.

Corey: Oh, I see there’s some cognac left. In the morning, we’ll go to my place, right? I have a medical assistant who never says right, but right. Sure.

Howard: Idiot.

Corey: Right jar. Oh, pardon me. I forgot my tie.

Deidre: And you, Uncle Vanya, you got drunk again with the doctor. A couple of juveniles hanging around together. Well, he’s always been like that. But what in heaven’s name is wrong with you? At your age, you should know better.

Howard: Age has nothing to do with it. When you don’t have a life, you live on soap bubbles. It’s better than nothing.

Deidre: Our, hay needs to be Cut. It rains every day. Everything is rotting, and all you can talk about is soap bubbles. You’re completely neglecting the farm. I have to work alone. I. I’m strained to the breaking point. Uncle, you have tears in your eyes.

Howard: Tears? There’s nothing. Nonsense. The way you looked at me just now. Just like your mother. My sweet. My sister. Sweet, dear sister. Where is she now? If only she knew. Oh, If only she knew.

Deidre: Knew what, Uncle?

Libby: What.

Howard: So hard? Nothing. later. Nothing. I’m going.

Libby: Great. Really good. Really good. Corey, can you. Can you. When you go to black, when you take off your video, is there a way that you don’t have to have your, picture?

Corey: Yes, yes. I tried to change it right now, but I’m gonna have to go into the settings.

Libby: Oh, no, you can do it for next week. That would be great.

Corey: Of course.

Libby: Thanks for the suggestion, Nathan. That was a very good idea. I’d never be thinking about that right now.

Nathan Agin: You’re welcome, Libby. And actually, what. What you may. Libby, what you may have turned on is there’s a zoom setting where you can hide what is called non video participants. And, you and I can walk through that if we need to. But essentially, you don’t see all the blank black boxes. You only see the picture of the people on screen.

Libby: Yeah. What you mean? Well, do I have to manipulate that?

Nathan Agin: Yeah, please. I think. I think if.

Howard: Let’s see. What is it?

Nathan Agin: Oh, here, I’ll go. I’ll go off camera. I’ll go off camera. And then if you let me just.

Libby: Give them a cup.

Alberto: Just.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, sorry, sorry, sorry. Go ahead.

Libby: it was very good reading today, everybody. You’re really at a good place. I wish we would continue forever. Vanya. Here. Take my love, Take my life. You’re rushing through that. I know it’s part of a build, Howard, but I don’t want you to lose. You’re. You’re offering everything to her, and you mean it in that moment. No. Ladies, you, know, he purposely kind of. Anybody here? Peek a boo kind of thing. Yeah.

Howard: Okay.

Libby: Yeah. Are there any girls around? piddling creatures leading up to that? Corey, I want you to look at that speech this week. I’m so sorry we don’t have time to look it through, but, I want you to see that imagery and see where it takes it. Not throw so much of that away.

Corey: Okay.

Libby: What happens to you when you have power in you because you drink vodka?

Corey: Oh, I see. Okay. Like, almost a God complex.

Libby: Yeah. And those moments my God. You see the world. Yes. Okay, take a look at that and see where it goes in that. Very, very well done, everybody. okay, Nathan, great, great work.

Nathan Agin: it’s just so much enjoy. It’s so enjoyable. Not only the scene, which is coming along very nicely, but just. Just to listen to the discussion. And I so appreciate and enjoy everybody’s, involvement and commitment to that part of it as well. It’s really paying off quite nicely. So thank you all for being part of this.

Libby: Yes, thank you. All is right.

Corey: Thank you, everybody.

Nathan Agin: Great, great work.

Alberto: Bye.

Sarah: great work, everyone.

The post UNCLE VANYA Week 3 Session: “The Weight of Regret” – Chekhov – Act 2 – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions] appeared first on The Working Actor's Journey.

Our session begins with an engaging discussion about the unique structure of the play, highlighting how Chekhov’s characters grapple with their desires and disappointments. Libby emphasizes the luxury of having extended time to dissect a scene, which allows actors to explore the material in a way that reveals its hidden layers.

One of the key themes discussed is the pervasive sense of frustration and longing that permeates the play. Characters express their dissatisfaction with life, each trapped in their own existential dilemmas. The atmosphere of the scene reflects this tension, as the characters deal with sleepless nights, emotional turmoil, and the weight of aging.

Libby’s insights into the significance of stage directions and sound add another layer to our understanding of Chekhov’s work. The tapping of the watchman serves as a reminder of the outside world, contrasting the internal struggles of the characters. This attention to detail enriches the audience’s experience, allowing them to appreciate the subtleties of Chekhov’s writing.

Tune in and join us as we continue to explore the rich human emotion woven throughout Chekhov’s masterful writing!

🏁 In this session, highlights include:

Full transcript included at the bottom of this post.

Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session!

Total Running Time: 1:51:52

Check out this 80-second clip from this session with Libby discussing Chekhov’s love for music and stage directions!

And a great quote from Alberto in this week’s session…

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Thank you to our current patrons at the Co-Star level or higher: Ivar, Joan, Michele, Jim, Magdalen, Claudia, Clif and Jeff!

Our group will be working on the first half of Act 2.

Follow along with the play here. Order a copy of Libby and Allison’s translation here.

Read more about the artists here.

Catch up on our other workshops featuring lots of Shakespeare scenes, from Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Midsummer, As You Like It, and our Twelfth Night repertory extravaganza – all on the podcast and YouTube.  If you’ve missed any presentations thus far, click here to find them all.

UNCLE VANYA Week 2 Session: “Conflict and Desire” – The Rehearsal Room

Libby: Okay. Hi everybody. How are you doing? You ready for a gloomy night in Russia? It’s a gloomy night ahead of ah, us. Yeah. did everybody have a good week since we were together? You know, it’s hard to ask that question or even get an answer for that these days because you’re either stuck inside or you’re wearing a mask somewhere or, you know, getting through the week is a lot different than it was two years ago, I think. Don’t you think? Okay, I, can see nobody wants to chit chat with me, so let’s get started working.

Sarah: Oh, no, we all want to chitchat with you, Libby.

Libby: Okay.

Sarah: We’re all shy.

Libby: Okay, let me tell you how I want to proceed. Actually for the next couple of sessions, we only have three more, but I consider this. When Nathan told me how this works, I was just knocked out by the generosity of it, of having two hours, four times to do one scene. I’ve never had that, that amount of time to examine something. And it just feels, like such a luxury. And it feels to me like it’s so possible for us all to get a real, get our hands around a, ah, way of working this material. Because the material is deceivingly simple, as you probably already noticed. and it has a deep underneath. And we’re going to use the next few sessions to find out what’s underneath. I want to say in advance that, yes, I know this play probably much better than you do. Yes, I will admit, but every actor brings total new truth to me and I know it, but I don’t know it. So when I ask you a question, it’ll be sincere. I’m going to want what’s going through you and what’s your imagination and your take on, on anything. So here’s how I’d like to proceed. I definitely want us to read the scene first, which we’ll do in a couple minutes. And then at the end of the session, the last half hour or so, we’ll read it again. And as soon as we read it the first time, we’ll go into examining it, literally, period. By comma, by word, by thought. And it’s going to make you crazy. I’m just telling you because I ask a lot of questions. But I need us to get a grip on what’s really going on with these people. And we’ll pretend that we’re going to do that. We’re going to rehearse this play for a year and then we’re going to do the whole play somewhere. Wouldn’t that be nice? To do the whole play? I think so. So I want to give you the method in advance so that you’re, you have, some idea of how. How we’re heading and why we’re heading the way we’re doing it. We’re really examining a process to get underneath this material. Does that sound okay to you guys? Okay, so let’s read the scene. read it aloud. and Jully, will you do, not just Marina, but you’ll also do waffles for me and for us in the. Will you read Waffles? Yes. Good. Okay. Yes. I wanted to just say in advance, you’ve got the role. You’re not auditioning for me or for Alison. You’ve got the roles, so read it. Just to find out what it’s about. Don’t try to make yourself heard as an actor, if that makes any sense. let’s make some sense out of the scene and find out what it’s about, rather than trying to show how well cast you are. Okay. All right, let’s take a look at it. I work from the book. I don’t know how to do these things on computer. Put them side by side with you. So I work from the book, but I think we’re on the same page, figuratively and literally. And I also need, Allison, are you there?

Alison: Yes, I am. Okay, I’m assembling the standing desk.

Libby: Yeah, okay, listen, I need you, if you would, to read the stage directions.

Alison: Yeah, absolutely.

Libby: Would you do that? Because they’re very important and I’ll explain all about that when we start into the scene. Yeah, for sure. Okay. That’s you, Alison, the dining room.

Alison: And Sera, Bakov’s home. Night in the garden. The watchman can be heard tapping. Serebyakov sits in an armchair before an open window and dozes. And Yelena Andreevna sits beside him and also dozes.

Alberto: Who’s there? Sonia, is that you?

Sarah: Oh, I could barely hear you. Alberto.

Alberto: One second.

Sarah: Let me try to put on the headphones.

Libby: Yeah, I was just putting my volume up too. Okay, let’s start again.

Alberto: How about this? Is that better? Can you.

Libby: That’s better.

Alberto: Is this better?

Libby: Oh, it’s a little.

Alison: Do you want me to start again at the top?

Libby: No, no, we’ll start with, Serov. Is it Serov?

Alison: It’s the hardest name in Chekhov. It’s Serebyakov.

Libby: Oh, the accent on the last syllable.

Alison: On the last syllable. So it’s like a. Yeah, it’s the toughest one, I think, in Chekhov.

Libby: okay.

Alberto: Well, does anybody actually say my name in the play?

Libby: No, they don’t. But it’s nice for us to. Don’t you want your name to be known?

Alberto: Say it three times. His name. Sonia, is that you?

Libby: I’m,

Speaker E: Here.

Alberto: You? Janotchka. The pain is unbearable.

Sarah: Here. Your blanket fell. He wrapped up his legs. I’ll shut the window.

Alberto: No, I’m suffocating. I was just starting off, and I dreamt that my left leg was attached to someone else. Yes, I woke up in such excruciating pain. No, this is not gout. Probably rheumatism. What time is it?

Sarah: 20 minutes after 12.

Alberto: In the morning. Go look for Batyushkov in the library. I’m sure we have him.

Libby: What?

Alberto: Look for Batyushkov in the morning. I seem to recall we have him. Why can’t I breathe?

Sarah: You’re tired. This is the second night you, haven’t slept.

Alberto: They say Turgenya have developed angina pectoris from gout. I’m afraid I’m getting it too. Damned disgusting. Old. H. The devil take it. Now that I’m old, I can’t stand, looking at myself. And I’m sure all of you must be repulsed by me too.

Sarah: You make it sound as if it’s our fault you got old.

Alberto: But I’m most disgusting to you.

Alison: Then Andreyevna walks away and sits at some distance.

Alberto: Of course, you’re right. I’m not stupid. I understand. You’re young, healthy, beautiful. You want to live. And I’m an old man, almost a corpse.

Libby: True.

Alberto: I understand all too well. And of course it’s a terrible crime I have lived this long. But, wait a little. Soon you’ll be free of me. I won’t last much longer.

Sarah: I’m exhausted. For God’s sake, be quiet.

Alberto: Yes, everyone is exhausted. All because of me. They’re bored. They’re wasting their time. They’re wasting their youth. I’m the only one who’s happy. I’m the only one having a good time. Well, yes, of course.

Libby: Quiet.

Sarah: You have worn me out.

Alberto: Yes, I have worn everyone out. of, Course.

Jully: This is unbearable.

Sarah: Tell me what you want from me.

Alberto: Nothing.

Sarah: Well, then be quiet, I beg you.

Alberto: It’s so strange. Ivan Petrovich. Yes? Are we stopping?

Libby: No.

Alberto: It’s so strange. Ivan Petrovich talks his head off. And that old idiot Maya. Vasilyevna. And it’s just fine. Everyone listens but, When I say one word. When I say one word, everyone suddenly feels desolate. Even my voice is offensive. Well, let’s assume I’m offensive. I’m an egoist. I’m a despot. Don’t I have the right to be an egoist in my old age? Think about it. Haven’t I earned it? I ask you, don’t I have the right to be. To a, Comfortable old age? Surrounded by. By my admirers?

Sarah: No one is taking away your right.

Alison: The window bangs from the wind.

Sarah: It’s very windy. I’ll close the window.

Alison: Closes it.

Sarah: It’ll rain soon. No one’s denying your rights.

Alison: The watchman taps. The watchman in the garden taps and sings a song.

Alberto: All one’s life to be dedicated to scholarship. To become accustomed to one’s study, to the classroom, to respective colleagues. And suddenly, for no apparent reason, to find oneself buried in this tomb. Every day to deal with stupid people, to listen to insignificant chatter. I want to live. I love success. I love fame. I, love action. But here I’m in exile. Every minute I’m longing for the past, Watching the success of others, fearing death. I cannot. I don’t have the strength. And no one can forgive me for being old.

Sarah: Wait a little. Have patience. In five or six years, I’ll be old too.

Alison: Sonia and Papa.

Speaker E: you sent for Dr. Astruff, but when he came, you refused to see him.

Libby: That’s so rude.

Speaker E: You bothered this man.

Alberto: Why do I need Astro? He understands about, He understands as much about medicine I do astronomy.

Speaker E: Well, we cannot send for the entire medical faculty just for your gouts.

Alberto: I won’t talk to that idiot.

Speaker E: As you wish.

Alison: She says all the same to me.

Alberto: What time is it?

Sarah: Almost one.

Alberto: It’s stifling. Sonia, give me the drops from the table.

Libby: Yes, of course.

Alison: Give some of the drops, not these.

Alberto: I can’t ask for anything.

Libby: Oh, please.

Speaker E: Stop acting like a baby. It may be fine for others, but spare me, please. I don’t like it. I don’t have time. I need to get up early tomorrow. I have the. The hay to mow.

Alison: Intervoy Nitsky in a dressing gown and with a candle.

Howard: The storm’s coming.

Alison: Lightning.

Howard: Here we go. Helene and Sonja, go to sleep. I came to relieve you.

Alberto: No, no, no. Don’t leave me with him. No. You’ll talk my hand off.

Howard: But they’ve got to get some rest. They didn’t sleep at all last night.

Alberto: Let them go to sleep. But you go too. Thank you. I implore you in the name of a former friendship. Go. We’ll talk later.

Howard: Our, former friendship.

Libby: Former. Be quiet, Uncle Ythonia, my dear, don’t.

Alberto: Leave me with him. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: Can you believe how ludicrous this is?

Alison: Marina enters with a candle.

Speaker E: You ought to be in bed, Nanya. It’s very late.

Jully: The samovar is still boiling. You can’t exactly expect me to go to bed.

Alberto: Is sleeping. Everybody is exhausted. I alone am in a state of bliss.

Alison: She goes over to Serabyakov.

Jully: What is it, my dear? Are you in pain? My legs ache too. They ache so. Oh, you’ve been in pain such a long time. Vera Petrovna, Sonietzka’s mother, may she rest in peace, never slept either. She nearly killed herself taking care of you. she loved you very much. Oh, yes. Old people are like children. They want someone to feel sorry for them. But no one feels sorry for the old.

Alison: This is her mama’s shoulder.

Jully: Let’s go to bed, my dear. Let’s go, my little boy. I’ll make you some lime leaf tea. I’ll warm your legs. I’ll pray to God for you.

Alberto: Let’s go, Marina.

Jully: My legs ache too. They ache so.

Alison: He leads him together with Sonia.

Jully: Avera Petrovna nearly killed herself. Always crying. You, Sonichka, were still little then.

Libby: Come,

Jully: Come, my dear Serbyakov.

Alison: Sonia and Marina exit.

Sarah: I’m, completely exhausted with him. I can barely stand on my feet.

Howard: You’re exhausted with him and I with myself. This is the third night I haven’t slept.

Sarah: Something is wrong with this house. Your mother hates everything except for her own pamphlets. And the professor? The professor is irritated. He doesn’t trust me. He’s afraid of you. Sonia is angry with her father, angry with me and hasn’t talked to me for two weeks. You hate my husband and openly hold your own mother in contempt. And I am short tempered. And at least 20 times today I started to cry. There is something very wrong with this house.

Howard: Shall we cut the philosophy, please?

Sarah: You, Ivan Petrovich, are educated, intelligent, and you must see the world as not being destroyed by thieves and fires and wars, but rather by hatred, hostility. From all these petty squabbles. You shouldn’t add, noisy, complaining around us. You should be helping to find peace in your own family.

Howard: Help me find peace in myself, my darling.

Alison: He presses her hand to himself.

Libby: Stop.

Alison: Takes her hand away.

Sarah: Go away.

Howard: Soon it’ll stop raining and everything in nature will be refreshed and alive. I alone will not be refreshed by the storm. Day and night I’m strangled by the idea that my life is irrevocably lost. That I’m dead. That I wasted my life, that I spent my life on trifles. Here. Take my life, take my love. What good are they to me? What have I done with them? My feelings are dying away in vain. Like sunbeams falling into a dark pit. I’m dying.

Sarah: When you talk to me about your love, I just go numb and don’t know what to say. Forgive me. I have nothing to say to you.

Alison: Tries to go good night. Locking her way.

Howard: If you only knew how I suffer from the thought that next to me in this very house, another life is dying. Yours. What are you waiting for? What damned righteous morality stops you?

Sarah: Don’t you see, Ivan Petrovich?

Jully: You’re drunk.

Howard: Possibly. Possibly.

Sarah: Where’s the doctor?

Howard: He’s here, spending the night. Possibly. Possibly. Everything is possible.

Sarah: Why are, you drinking so much?

Howard: Because it makes me feel alive. Don’t try to stop me, Ellen.

Sarah: You never used to drink so much. And you never talked so much. Go to sleep. I’m bored to death of you.

Howard: My darling, beautiful, marvelous.

Sarah: Leave me alone. This is just disgusting.

Alison: She exits.

Howard: She’s gone. I first met you 10 years ago at My Darling Sisters, remember? You were 17 and I was 37. Why didn’t I fall in love with you and propose to then? It would have been so easy. And today you would be my wife. Tonight both of us would be awakened by the storm. You would be afraid of the thunder. And I would take you in my arms and whisper. Don’t be afraid, little darling. I’m here. Marvelous thoughts. Wonderful. I’m laughing, but my God, I’m so mixed up. Why am I old? Why doesn’t she understand me? The way she talks. Her stupid morality. Silly prattling about making peace in the world I hate so much. I’ve been deceived. I worshiped that professor. That pathetic, gout ridden idiot. I worked for him like a slave. Sonia and I squeezed every drop out of this estate. We were like kulaks haggling over vegetable oil peas, Starving ourselves with crumbs just so we could save a few copecks to send to him. I was so proud of him. He and his glorious scholarship. I lived for him. I breathed for him. Every word he wrote or uttered seemed like genius to me. And now he’s retired and it has become perfectly clear that the sum total of his life adds up to nothing. Not one word. Of his. Not a single scholarly word matters to anyone. A soap bubble. And I’ve been swindled. I see that now. Stupidly swindled.

Alison: Enter Astrov in a frock coat, without a waistcoat and without a tie. He’s tipsy. Behind him is Tiliagin with a guitar.

Corey: Play.

Jully: Everyone is sleeping, sir.

Alison: Play till ygin strums.

Corey: Are you alone here?

Alberto: No.

Corey: Ladies, go to the peasant house. Go to the fire. There is no place for the master to expire. The storm woke me. It’s a big storm. What time is it?

Howard: No. Who knows?

Corey: I thought I heard Yelena Andreyevna’s voice.

Howard: She was just here.

Corey: What a gorgeous woman.

Alison: Seeing the bottles on the table.

Corey: Medicines, drugs. There’s nothing missing. Kharkov, Moscow, Tulskaya. Every city is plagued with his gout. Is he really sick or is he faking it?

Howard: Sick.

Corey: Why are you so sad today? Pity for the professor.

Alberto: Quit it.

Corey: Or maybe you’re in love with the professor’s wife?

Howard: She’s my friend.

Corey: Already.

Howard: What does that mean, already?

Corey: A woman can only be friends with a man. In this order. First an acquaintance, then a lover, and then finally a friend.

Howard: Vulgar.

Corey: Oh, yes, it’s true. I’m becoming vulgar. I’m drunk. Usually I get drunk like this once a month. And when I’m drunk, I get completely vulgar and fearless. Everything seems so easy to me. I take on the most difficult operations and do them brilliantly. I make daring plans for the future. And when I’m drunk, I no longer seem like a freak. And I actually believe I’m bringing some enormous benefit to humanity. Enormous. And when I’m drunk, I see how valuable my own personal universe is. And the rest of you piddling creatures seem like insects, microbes, waffles.

Libby: Play, dear one.

Jully: I would love to play for you with all my soul. But understand, everyone is sleeping.

Libby: Play.

Alison: Deliegin. Quietly Strums.

Corey: You need a drink. Oh, I see there’s some cognac left. In the morning we’ll go to my place. Raichar. I have a medical assistant who never says right, but. Raichar. Idiot. Right. Char.

Alison: Seeing Sonja enter.

Alberto: Pardon?

Corey: me, I forgot my tie.

Alison: Quickly he exits. Tillie again follows.

Speaker E: And you, Uncle Vanya, you got drunk again with the doctor?

Speaker E: A couple of juveniles hanging around together. Well, he’s always been like that. But what in heaven’s name is wrong with you? At your age, you should know better.

Howard: Age has nothing to do with it. When you don’t have a life, you live on Soap bubbles. It’s better than nothing.

Speaker E: Our hay needs to be cut. It rains every day. Everything is rotting and all you talk about is soap bubbles. You’re completely neglecting the farm. I have to work alone. I’m strained to the breaking point. Uncle, you have tears in your eyes.

Howard: Tears? It’s nothing. Nonsense. The way you looked at me just now. Just like your mother. How sweet.

Alison: Greedily he kisses her grump in the face.

Howard: My sister. My sweet dear sister. Where is she now? If only she knew. If only she knew.

Libby: Knew what? Uncle,

Howard: What? It’s so hard. Nothing. Later. Nothing. I’m going.

Alison: He exits.

Libby: Good. Gosh. It’s a great, great piece of the play, isn’t it? Just beautiful. Thank you. Well, read. Where, where, where’s Alberto? Does everybody see Alberto except me? Nobody does.

Alberto: No, no.

Jully: Nathan still logged in? Yes.

Sarah: His camera turned off. But he is here.

Alberto: Oh.

Libby: But, Oh, there he is.

Alberto: Yeah.

Libby: We need to see you. Okay, here I am.

Alberto: Right.

Libby: Okay. All right. Being about ready to start into it in minute detail. what’s your general impression about the scene? Any overall feelings about. It’s more than one scene, of course. It’s a couple of scenes in there. But any, Any thoughts? Anybody have any feelings about.

Speaker E: Just seems to be filled with just frustrated longing. You know what I mean? Like everybody. Like frustrated desperation of not getting what you want, not even knowing what they want. But just a general sense of just frustration. Like at the. The apex of frustration.

Libby: Yeah. Edginess, dissatisfaction.

Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody seems edgy.

Libby: Yes.

Alberto: And the sense of, A bit. Everybody seems to have insomnia. it’s Everybody’s tired, but. And irritable and it’s late at night and there’s a storm brewing. So I can. It feels like, the atmosphere is lowering and is pressing on all of us or something.

Libby: Yes, yes. Does feel that way. Yeah.

Sarah: Between the exhaustion and the alcohol, everybody seems to be in some sort of altered state.

Libby: I’m glad you brought up the alcohol too. It seems to be a. A regular part of the Russian diet. Right. Yeah. A little out. Certainly. Vanya is drunk again.

Libby: Any other thoughts about the overall quality of. Of the world that it’s in?

Corey: Yeah.

Jully: Oh, sorry.

Corey: No, go. Go ahead, Jully.

Jully: Well, I was just gonna say that it feels that people want to escape, but there’s no escape.

Libby: Yeah.

Jully: They’re just stuck and they want to leave.

Libby: This duck is a great word too.

Speaker E: And it’s. It’s even and. And jumping on to that. Jully. It’s like they’re stuck not just in the space and not just in the environment, but stuck in their minds in a way. You know, stuck in their. In their thoughts and in their. It keeps thinking just desperation that it doesn’t seem like there can even be any relief for the desperation. It’s just like they’re languishing in that.

Sarah: There’S no politeness keeping folks from truth telling here. everybody is completely open.

Speaker E: But do you think that.

Libby: Well, of course it’s two or three in the morning, so being right isn’t too surprising. Right.

Speaker E: So they’re drunk, they’re tired, nobody slept, they’re tipsy, they’re exhausted. yeah, they’re in pain.

Libby: Just a few things.

Alberto: And their thoughts seem to be circling around, coming to the same spot. Right.

Libby: Like what?

Alberto: Yeah.

Libby: Ah.

Alberto: There’S an ide fix or something that each one has. I’m going to die. I’m too old. he’s in love with her. She’s so bored. Sonia is exasperated that everybody’s. I mean, here she is, overworked, in love and frustrated. Yeah.

Libby: Yeah.

Corey: It’s funny because it seems like everybody’s talking about them being so old, but there seems to be this sort of younger, energy, like a childlike energy, where it’s like, I need to get this. This is my last chance to get it. And tonight’s the night that this is gonna happen.

Libby: You, know, I’m the oldest one amongst us, and I would say it’s not just childlike. Corey. I find various times in my life saying, is this what it is? Is this what it’s about? I think that follows you always, and especially when you reach a midpoint in your Life. I see 47. I know 47 probably doesn’t sound too old, but it was getting on to being old in Chekhov’s time. As I told you, he died at 40, 44. Of course, he was very ill, but still, 47, you should have found yourself already, buddy. Kind of thing, you know, what do you think about, the fact that a storm is coming? What’s your. What’s your feeling about that?

Corey: It storms to be kind of romantic, but that’s good in a way.

Libby: I think that’s true.

Alison: For me.

Speaker E: It feels.

Jully: Go ahead, Deidre.

Speaker E: No, no, no, you go ahead, Sarah.

Sarah: I think the storm affects people in different ways. There’s individual responses to the storm. You know, when you’re an old guy with pain in your bones, a storm ends up bringing on extra pain. If you’re Sonia you’re thinking about the hay that needs to be mowed. Your vanya, you’re thinking about. This could be very romantic. You know, there seems to be very different individual responses to what it represents.

Libby: That’s great. That’s absolutely wonderful.

Speaker E: Yeah, there’s. There’s a sense that. That with the. With. With the storm comes urgency. The barometric pressure is lowering, so it’s creating pressure, sort of. It’s pressurizing this already. You know, I mean, I just get the sense of like, sort of a sticky feeling, you know, so. So it feeds into the irritability. It feeds into the lack of being able to sleep, the barometric pressure.

Libby: So. So there’s.

Speaker E: So there’s probably pressure in the head and this feeling like, I gotta get out. I gotta just, you know, I need some fresh, clean air. And with the storm coming, it just sort of encapsulates that feeling of being trapped, you know, sort of being trapped in this. In all of the stuff, you know, the sticky stuff that exists.

Libby: That’s great. Allison, talk about the weather in Mellichovo, and in the summertime.

Alison: Oh, yeah. It’s just a place of extremes. I mean, it gets down. It doesn’t get. It’s funny, I was looking at the. At the different temperatures, and it doesn’t get crazy, crazy hot. But I think the humidity.

Libby: Humidity, yeah.

Alison: And the saturatedness of it is what’s going to add to that stickiness. It’s like the American south or, like, you know, or parts of the Mid Atlantic or New England where you’re like, you wake up and you need to take a shower. And when you go to bed, you also need to take a shower, and maybe one in the middle as well.

Libby: but, you know, air conditioning.

Alison: Yeah, no air conditioning. You got windows open. But then you open the windows, and then, like, it’s more damp coming in. yeah. And it’s a very fertile place. And so everything is growing and alive and holding that wetness as well. You know what I mean? So it’s. There’s a wildness to it. and there’s this sense that, like, having spent a summer in Russia, I was struck by the fact that nobody ever mows their lawns. Or at least in the country they don’t. So there’s this wildness happening, you know, like, the hay gets mown and stuff, but otherwise there’s the sense that, like, you know, you live the whole winter with things just died back and all of that. And then once the spring and summer come, everything just goes crazy. M so there’s a. There’s a wildness and a fecundity to it. like a. Yeah, like a fertile.

Libby: Yeah, like it’s pulsing.

Alison: Yeah, like it’s pulsing.

Alberto: Yeah. Yeah.

Alison: It’s like a pulsing vivacity to it.

Alberto: That’s.

Alison: And. And it’s got to be. So when you witness it year after year. And yet your own life doesn’t change with the seasons.

Alberto: Yeah.

Alison: I can only imagine what that does.

Libby: Yeah. I spent my youth in New York. I was born in New York. And, there was no air conditioning when I was a kid. And those humid New York summers were death. Absolutely horrible. And I want to tell you, I did the scene when I was, in an acting class with Lloyd Richards. Do you know the name of Lloyd Richards? The great Lloyd Richards, who was not only one of the great directors of the world, was a, marvelous acting teacher. I was lucky enough to take a class with him. And I was doing the, Yelena Sonja scene. I was playing Yelena. And, just for scene work. And we start. I. We’re standing together, and I’m entering to talk to, Sonia, who is in a state over Astro. And I said, the storm is over. Or whatever is that first line. And he stopped me and he said, where’s the storm? I said, the storm is outside. You know, I started. I was giving him realistic answers. He asked me maybe 12 times where the storm was until I finally understood that the storm was inside of me. And I didn’t. And I didn’t get that until he pushed me into a place where I could find the storm inside of me. Me was, It’s something I’ll remember. I have remembered all of my life. as a turning point for me in understanding this work, as well, I wanted to say to you that I’m asking for Alison to read the stage directions. Because every stage direction. When we’re examining the work right now, every stage, direction, is Chekhovs. And he’ll say through tears or tenderly or. And it isn’t that I’m looking, or any director is looking for a result because of what the, stage direction is. It’s to give you a clue as to what is going on. what’s going on inside the person and what’s going on in the environment, which is tremendously important to him. Also very important is sound. And we’ll talk about it in a second. But you notice he notates the sound. The sound of the watchman tapping. And what the. What the watchman is doing is he’s tapping to say, all’s well over here. All’s well over here. All’s well over here. Not that close together, of course, but that adds to the musicality of the scene. Chekhov is an extremely musical, writer. And that’s not always thought about. It’s very lyric. And, he brings all of that in. A director can choose not to have that, but you just need to understand what’s part of the environment.

Libby: Does that make any sense? Okay, let’s start again. and I’m going to stop you every minute, so don’t be mad at me. Let’s start with Allison. With you.

Alison: Great. And Libby, would you like me to read every single one?

Libby: No. no. what do you guys think? What do you guys think, like, when he gives the actor, a director? I think actually, this time through, we should do it so that we see what Chekhov is after. Yeah. Okay, so leave space for Allison to do that.

Alison: Act two, the dining room and Sarah Bryakov’s home. Night in the garden. The watchman can be heard tapping.

Libby: Okay. In the dining room. Any thoughts about that?

Alberto: 3:00. Why did we not go to bed?

Libby: Yeah, great.

Alberto: did I. Did I have a glass of wine or two or three, you know? But then why is my wife here keeping me company?

Libby: Yeah. yeah. Why.

Libby: Why didn’t you go to bed? Let’s start with that.

Alberto: Okay. The bedroom’s hot. the, This dining room seems to be the largest room in the house. I’m speculating.

Libby: That’s a very good choice.

Alberto: Yeah. And, so even if I have the master bedroom, which I do, of course, it still is smaller than this dining room. If I am in pain with rheumatism. Yes.

Libby: Ah.

Alberto: I keep my movements at a minimum. After dinner is like, Oh, I’ve got a, I’ve got an attack of, the misery. And I rather not move now and then. I doze off instead after a fairly good dinner. Heavy dinner. Also, contrariness. I don’t know. I’m just being. I don’t want to go to bed. I don’t know. The childlike. No, not yet. I don’t want to go to. I don’t know.

Libby: Yeah, yeah, that’s. That’s probably there. but there’s probably good reason for him to feel like he wants some attention.

Alberto: Yes. Yes. I’m. I’m not sure how aware he is of, How all the, How A couple. How the two men are circling his wife with their tongues hanging out. I’m not sure. He can’t be that oblivious to it. But he does. Yeah. Yes.

Libby: Yeah. I think that’s a good way to think that he can’t be completely oblivious to the fact that she is. It can’t just be Vanya and Astrov. I mean, this is an extraordinarily beautiful woman.

Alberto: But there seems to be a certain complacency to him, like, well, of course she’s not going to stray. She’s my wife.

Libby: Yes. Your wife. Mine? Yes.

Alberto: how could she possibly. Even though I say, you know, I’m disgusting to her, but it’s like. But there’s duty. And I don’t know, when I say those lines, one thing that struck me afterwards was I was going, the first time we met. Such a contrast to now. This what I’m feeling. I think I haven’t constructed anything about our first meeting, but it feels to me like there’s this wonderful, maybe even romanticized memory in the back of my, head. And here’s my wife barely able to keep her gorge down when she looks at me, you know?

Libby: That must feel terrible.

Alberto: So yeah, if I go to bed, then she’ll be forced to sleep, to lie down beside me. And I know how she hates that.

Libby: Oh, that’s a very interesting idea, Alberto. Yeah. Yeah.

Alberto: Whoa.

Libby: Is that, this is, this is all in the dining room. Not in a bedroom where it should be. The house is kind of turned upside down. Right.

Alberto: And besides, I, do stay up later. Marina, was complaining about, my asking for whatever at ah, odd hours. We eat late.

Libby: Eat very late and hard to digest. Especially as you get older, when you eat late. And as Marina says right from the beginning in her first, speeches with Astra, she says that the samovar has been boiling all day. And you know, they have to turn the samovar on normally early and turn it off at a certain time. In other words, things are upside down in the house. Right.

Alberto: And mainly my doing.

Libby: Yes, I would say that’s probably true. But let’s just take it slow now for just recognizing that in the very first words of the, of the stage direction, he’s telling us something’s wrong because they’re in the dining room middle of the night. Okay. And we know it’s the middle of the night because we hear the watchman tapping. So he’s created for you, for us, an atmosphere that you’re in, you’re not just in the bedroom complaining. You’re in the public room of the dining room where everybody is. I don’t know how big this house is.

Alberto: I, seem to. There’s a lot of rooms, it seems. I complain about the labyrinth.

Libby: Yes. Yes. That’s excellent.

Alberto: So this is a country house, which could be large, I suppose. Yeah.

Libby: Yeah. I think it’s modeled after Melekhovo, don’t you, Allison?

Alison: Yeah, yeah. It’s where he was living when he wrote this. And certainly his best understanding of country life. And he was the doctor. He was the country doctor there.

Libby: Yes, he was.

Alison: Yeah. So several bedrooms. Yeah. Good enough. a big enough family house that it, can accommodate a family and some extended family.

Libby: And I would. I would probably think that because of Alberto, your comments about the rooms being, you know, a labyrinth and hard to find your way around here. I think it’s telling us that it’s big. It’s not an estate. It’s not like. It’s not an aristocratic estate like Cherry Orchard. It’s a country house. It’s a dacha.

Alberto: It’s, a little more utilitarian. Right? Yeah. There’s no fancy furnishings.

Libby: That’s right.

Alberto: Yeah.

Libby: Right.

Alison: Yeah. And there’s a sense that probably over time, it’s maybe been added onto, leading to that labyrinthian feel.

Libby: that’s a very good idea. I like that.

Alberto: So.

Libby: I have a question.

Alberto: Sorry. Go ahead, Deidre.

Speaker E: I was just having a question about. Can you tell me the watchman. Who is the watchman? what is the function of the watchman? He’s in the garden, and the watchman can be heard tapping. What is he tapping on?

Libby: He’s tapping with a stick on the wood of the house. And each time he taps, he’s saying, it’s safe here. There are no animals coming. There’s no people coming to rob. It’s. It’s just a technique. It’s a. It’s an alarm system. That’s what it is. And.

Speaker E: Okay.

Alberto: Basically going, 3:00 and all is well.

Libby: That’s right. It’s like that. That’s exactly what it is.

Alison: And it’s also alerting anyone who would come.

Sarah: Ah.

Alison: That there’s a watchman.

Alberto: Yeah. Yeah, I see. So, okay.

Alison: Stuff like that. so it’s not that they’re that wealthy, but also, at this time in Russia, there was just enough poverty and starvation happening in some areas that it wouldn’t be the craziest idea that somebody could come and steal food. From property. Especially if you were a working farm.

Libby: And he’s probably, like, in several of the plays, a workman. He’s a workman for the estate. He probably helps with the farm. Now, the word estate, and that conjures up grand, hundreds, thousands of acres. I don’t think it’s that, but it is a working farm. And I like what you said, Allison, that this gives, Gives, people or any predator the idea not to come near.

Speaker E: Got it.

Libby: Got it.

Speaker E: Okay.

Alberto: Now, somehow, I’m obsessing on the watchman tapping, so this should ordinarily be a comforting sound. I, mean, yes, the security guards are at work. but if I’ve been asleep and I hear the tapping, is it too much of a leap that this wakes me up? It’s the tapping that wakes me up. And it’s been almost like the end of fate.

Libby: I think that’s a perfectly good choice. And I think were we on our feet and working it, we would try that, I like that idea, that it gets you out of a snooze.

Alberto: Okay.

Libby: Okay. All right. Allison Serbiakov sits.

Alison: Serebyakov sits in an armchair before an open window and dozes. And Yelena Andreevna sits beside him and also dozes, waking up.

Alberto: Sonia, is that you?

Libby: Well, now, why would it be Sonia?

Alberto: because she’s always waiting on me. She’s the, The. The person who is always. She’s the handmaiden. She’s, She’s always helpful. She’s, On the other hand. Am I alarmed that it could possibly be Sonia? I don’t know why Sonia? That’s a good question. Now, we’re really. I didn’t think about it, Libby, to be honest.

Libby: Well, that’s why we’re doing this.

Alberto: I expect Sonia to be there.

Libby: And anybody else have any ideas about it?

Jully: She’s loyal. She’s like a lap dog, kind of like she’s always there working for him.

Sarah: She’s.

Jully: I mean, her existence is kind of to serve him.

Libby: Yes, but why did.

Speaker E: Why doesn’t he call his wife? I mean, if he wakes up and he’s like, does he. Does he know where he is? It’s just strange. Does he know where he is? And if he. You know, if he. If he thinks he’s in his bedroom, as opposed to. Because he’s like, you know, who’s. Who’s there?

Alberto: The.

Speaker E: Who’s there? That wouldn’t be a question that I think you would ask in a dining room. You know what I mean?

Libby: Uh-huh.

Speaker E: If you. You’re waking up out of a. You know, out of a doze, it feels like you’re waking up out of a dream, maybe, or waking up out of a. You know. Yeah. I mean, I don’t have an answer. I’m just like. It’s just interesting that he calls on Sonia. Not, you know.

Alberto: Yeah. Sorry.

Howard: it also. It’s often felt to me like. Because Vanya comes in and he says Yelena and Sonia have been watching all night for three nights. That when he fell asleep, Sonia was there and that they switched while he. He’s been asleep so long that the. That the nurse has rotated maybe m.

Libby: Yes, that’s an extremely good point, Howard. How many shifts have already gone on since dinner? I mean, we are talking middle of the night here. So. Ah, he’s. And it’s a question. Is he in his night clothes or is he still in. You know, these are good, things to examine. It would make a difference if you’re in your night clothes. Wouldn’t you feel more vulnerable if you’re in a dining room in your night clothes? I would. Which. I wear my nightgown all the time. But that’s another.

Jully: I had a question about meal times, because in the play it says that they’re having, lunch at 6 or 7 o’clock now.

Libby: Yeah.

Jully: Lunch still means the midday meal, right?

Libby: Right. That’s right. Everything is topsy turvy, Jully. Yes.

Alberto: Yeah.

Jully: So then. So dinner would have been around maybe around midnight?

Libby: Well, then, yes. But it should have been seven, Right? That’s a long way away. Seven to midnight. Yeah. Okay, let’s. Let’s, Okay, let’s, take that again. Alberto. The. Who’s there?

Alberto: Who’s there? Sonia, is that you?

Sarah: I’m here.

Alberto: You Janotchka? Is that a surprise?

Libby: Okay, let me stop you there. What do you think about the Lenochka?

Alberto: Well, it’s very. It’s a pet name. It’s, a very affectionate nickname. Yes. So this has come out in spite of me. It’s almost like, you know, or, in my half dreamy state. yeah, it. It just feels so affectionate. Here. Leonochka.

Libby: That’s a tremendously important idea, Alberto. Most of the time he’s played just that there’s nothing between them.

Alberto: So there’s.

Libby: The first time he uses her name in the play, he calls her Lenochka. I don’t remember whether he talks to her in the first act. I don’t think he does.

Alberto: Yeah, no, he goes in she comes later. So I don’t think so. So. Or does he. Does he come back in the first. No, I think he.

Libby: No, he doesn’t come back. He goes to the study and leaves them. I also think it’s interesting that he’s not in his study room that they use as his study. here. he’s in the dining room. I kind of can’t get over that really, that they are set up in the dining room. Probably, probably in night clothes. And the reason that I’m harping on that is you’re vulnerable, when you’re, when you’re not in a vest and a suit and, you know, completely.

Alberto: So a certain comfort that I’m here.

Libby: Yes.

Alberto: You know.

Libby: Yes, yes.

Alberto: I, don’t know. It, I, I guess I’m flashing on Astro going, oh, I’m not dressed because he doesn’t have his vest on.

Libby: Yes, yes, yes.

Alberto: So I don’t know how comfortable I am with, you know, being in question.

Libby: Yeah, yeah.

Alberto: is it because I’ve taken over the dining room. Ah. And has made it my dining room slash study?

Libby: Could be. Well, no, you have a study because you’re going to send her to the library. The house study slash library. so there is another place.

Sarah: It’s, it’s interesting because later when Marina comes in, she says, let’s go to bed. Let’s take you to bed. Which does seem to me indicate that this is a little bit more unusual for him to have. Or at least it’s not the, the end game that he’s stayed in the dining room. It, because she takes him to bed. It seems to me this is more of a post dinner, he fell asleep here. So now we’ve got to check, shift our routine and watch him here until. Either until the morning or until he wakes up again. It’s kind of like whatever happens to this guy, we just have to stop and make that the new normal for this moment.

Libby: Yes. I think that’s really.

Howard: My. My dad does this. He’ll sit at the table so long after dinner that he falls asleep. And then everybody has to, like, it’s super disruptive. You know, it’s like at my brother’s house with two kids, and here’s this nonagenarian asleep at the table and everybody has to kind of shape themselves around him for that hour or two.

Libby: Please don’t let that happen to me. yeah. And, I’m partial to the idea that they are in nightgowns of whatever sort, because Vanya and Sonia comes in still in. In night. They’ve been trying. Everybody’s been trying to sleep. And he’s so restless and in pain that he’s moved out and. And Yelena had to follow, you know, that kind of scenario. In any case, that’s my scenario. You find your scenario.

Libby: Okay. What I’m trying to get at is that it’s important because you got to know what brought you to this moment. Like you would in any play. Of course. But there’s a lot of stuff here so far. The watchmen tapping, faraway storm. Maybe there’s lightning, I don’t know. Which makes electricity in the air. I mean, there’s a lot happening. and you can’t skip by it. The other thing I wanted to say, as we’re going to continue, I promise we’re going to continue. The punctuation is very deliberate. It is always in anything with language. But this punctuation is very deliberate. What do you think the ellipses are? The dot, dot, dots. And there are many of them. And they’re not all Chekhovs. I admit to adding myself into this. So. What do you think? What do they do for you, the ellipses?

Alberto: Well, they give me some prompts as to what subtext is happening here. before the next line. what happens in between. In the space between. Affectionately Notchka. And the next line. The pain is unbearable.

Libby: Yeah.

Alberto: Am I making a pun? Is the pain physical or the pain of, lost love and dead love?

Libby: You know, or maybe just to get her attention. I don’t. I don’t know.

Alberto: Or, you know, or poor little me.

Libby: Sweetheart, there’s that too. And there’s also real pain.

Alberto: Yeah.

Libby: Howard, your 90s, father would be able to tell you there’s real pain as you get old. It really, really. All your joints hurt at night when you finally get into bed. okay, what about the dashes? What do the dashes give people? People.

Alberto: To me they’re, New thought. or, interrupting myself or.

Libby: Yes, yes, yes. And the kind of the lipses gives. Gives it. I’m not looking for pauses. The only pauses in this play are where Chekhov puts them. Okay, so it’s not pausing, but it’s the way we think. We. It dribbles off or it. Wait a minute. That’s the dash, you know, that it creates something that’s going on in the thinking. So I want. I’m just asking you to be aware of the punctuation and don’t run by it. See if it gives you anything. Everything is what it means to the actor and how it makes you understand what’s going on here. And that you make an emotional map. And punctuation is as important as word choice.

Alberto: Thank you.

Libby: Okay, Let’s go back. Let’s go back. We haven’t gone very far. But let’s start with. Who’s there? Sonia, is that you?

Alberto: Who’s there? Sonia?

Sarah: I’m here.

Alberto: You, Janotchka, the pain is unbearable.

Libby: Let me just ask you, Yelena, were you awakened with the, Sonia, is that you?

Sarah: I believe so, because the directions say she sits besides him and also dozes.

Libby: Yes. So let’s try that again with you being in quotes. Awakened by.

Jully: Okay.

Libby: Alberto.

Alberto: Who’s there? Sonia, is that you?

Sarah: I’m here.

Alberto: You, Leonotchka, the pain is unbearable.

Sarah: Here. Your blanket fell.

Alison: Props up his legs.

Sarah: I’ll shut the window.

Alberto: Oh, I’m suffocating.

Libby: Why do you want to shut the window, do you think, Yelena?

Sarah: the storm is coming. It’s probably a bit windy. a bit uncomfortable. Chilly breeze coming through, maybe?

Libby: Chilly breeze would be nice. That’s true. I don’t think you get that relief.

Sarah: That’s true.

Libby: Definitely a hot wind. M. That’s good. And, Electricity in the air. Humid electricity in the air.

Alberto: Was I reading? maybe.

Libby: Let’s go from here. You know, I want to go from you, Lenochka, the pain is unbearable.

Alberto: You. You, Lenotchka, the pain is unbearable.

Sarah: Here. Your blanket fell. I’ll shut the window.

Alberto: Oh, I’m suffocating. I was just nodding off and dreamt that my left leg was attached to someone else. I woke up with such excruciating pain. No, this is not gout. Probably rheumatism. What time is it?

Libby: Wait, let’s. Let’s deal with this. What’s going on here?

Alberto: I, was taking it literally. yeah. Don’t close the window. There’s a little bit of air at least. though not much.

Libby: Yes.

Alberto: And, I’m having trouble breathing anyway. Or I think I am. Or I have convinced myself I am.

Libby: Yes. Or you want to convince you.

Alberto: Her.

Libby: You are.

Alberto: Right.

Libby: A little bit of all of it. Right.

Alberto: Yeah.

Sarah: There’s this perceived objection that I have, as if I’m about to say it’s your gout. Some sort of previous conversation in there where we have thought about gout versus rheumatism. And I must confess, I don’t know the difference between them as far as how it Affects you one way or the other.

Alberto: Gout is, mainly in the lower extremities, I think.

Libby: Toes and feet. Yeah.

Alberto: they swell up.

Libby: It’s considered a rich man’s disease. And it’s trivialized, but it’s very, very painful.

Alberto: Oh, yes.

Libby: And it’s considered a rich man. Of course it’s not. It can happen to anyone. But it’s because, from the wine that you drink and the foods that you eat, the rich foods create a kind of acid that goes to those joints and creates that. So it’s a little bit of, an insult if you’ve really only got gout.

Alberto: that. Is that what Dr. Astro has diagnosed me as having gout.

Libby: Well, he says it in the scene.

Alberto: And, Sonia sent for him saying his gout’s acting up or something.

Libby: Or just said that he’s in terrible pain and he’s not sleeping.

Alberto: Okay. So I’m self aware.

Howard: It’s also. Gout’s also like a first line of defense that doctors use often. Like if you go in complaining of some kind of pain, they’re like, it’s gout. It’s a way of like, kind of putting you off.

Libby: I didn’t know that.

Howard: They’ll give you. They’re like, it sounds like you have gout. No matter what it is wrong with you. They’ll kind of be like, it’s gout.

Libby: But you have gout. Right?

Howard: Yeah. And m. Me and kind of implying that you did it to yourself a little bit. Like what you were saying about the wine.

Libby: Exactly. That’s the answer, Howard.

Howard: That’s right.

Alberto: Thank you much. You eat too much.

Libby: that’s right. And all the wrong foods and. And drink too much wine. Yes. So it. You’re. She’s trying to comfort you by putting your blanket around you, right?

Alberto: Mm,

Libby: Just want you to notice that and see how it. If it registers. Maybe it doesn’t.

Libby: Let’s go back from here. Your blanket fell.

Sarah: Here. Your blanket fell.

Alison: She wraps up his legs.

Sarah: I’ll close the window.

Alberto: No, I’m suffocating. I was just nodding off and I, trapped that my left leg was attached to someone else. I woke up in such excruciating pain. no, this is not gau. Probably rheumatism. What time is it?

Sarah: 20 minutes past 12.

Libby: Oh, okay. I remembered it later. Yeah.

Alberto: In the morning. Go look for Batyushkov in the library. I’m sure we have him.

Libby: Okay. Alison, tell us about batushka.

Alison: Okay.

Alberto: May 1767. To July, 1865. Whoa. Good job, Constantine. But Yushkov, went a little insane in his old age, or, middle age, and was. Yeah.

Libby: What was he known for?

Alberto: Poetry? He was. Yeah. Here’s, one of his lines. I only wake to fall asleep, and sleep to awake without end, which is very apt for the player.

Libby: Very. Now I think it’s time for us to. Why would he want a volume of Batiuszka? And what is he clear planning to do? What. What’s. Why would he ask for it in the middle of the night?

Alberto: Well, he’s like a precursor of romanticism, I guess. big influence on, Pushkin. okay. That’s precursor of Pushkin. Anyway, why would s want his today? I thought he was going to write a paper, but of course, he’s probably dried up and he’s got writer’s block. I, don’t know.

Libby: Don’t be so hard on him, Alberto. Don’t be so hard on him. You’re very nasty about him. He’s not. He’s not a comic villain. He’s. He’s. He’s in pain.

Alberto: Yeah. It’s like it feels like a young man’s, poet, from what I’ve read. So I don’t know. Maybe it’s comforting to him.

Libby: Okay, that’s great. That gives you a reason to ask for it. you know, something that you feel like you need. You just need to read a little of his work. Now, also, what you said before about I’m going to write a paper on it or it’s going to influence something I’m writing already. In other words, he still feels part of the academic world.

Alberto: Still working, still useful.

Libby: Still working. Mine’s still going. I’m still important.

Howard: He says it. Oh, sorry.

Libby: Yeah.

Howard: He says in Act 1 when he just enters very briefly with Yelena and Sonia, and he says, my friends, bring my tea to the study, if you please. I still have work to do. So, he’s still, He’s trying to stay in the game or something?

Libby: Yeah, absolutely. Even though we know he’s retired now. That’s the whole point. Let’s talk for an instant. Sorry that we’re taking so long on these first five lines, but, it sets up a kind of vocabulary for us. when did they come? Yelena and, Sebria. When did they come and why are they here?

Sarah: Didn’t they come about a month ago?

Libby: It’s not. I, It doesn’t say exactly.

Sarah: It doesn’t Say, okay, I made that up, Mario.

Libby: Scenario, Sarah.

Alberto: And I’m sorry, what was the second part of the question?

Libby: Why are they there?

Alberto: Ah.

Libby: Take a shot, Somebody question.

Jully: What kind of benefits do you get as a, renowned professor? Do you get housing?

Libby: There were no benefits like any kind of.

Jully: Any kind of. Kind of housing or anything like that. Because, I mean, once he’s retired, there’s no reason for him to stay in the city in a bustling town, so.

Libby: And in fact, we hear that, later in the play, of course, the big climactic scene, he’s talking about selling this place. But they must have sold their place in town at the university, probably St. Petersburg or something. they must have. In other words, they left the housing whether it was given by the university or not. I don’t think we should think in terms of anybody getting any benefits. It’s just an entirely different world. but, he’s probably. They probably signed off in St. Petersburg or Moscow. I don’t remember. Do they say whether, they come from Moscow? I don’t remember.

Alison: I don’t remember. I feel like it’s St. Petersburg, but I don’t know.

Libby: I feel like it. Well, that’s where she went to the conservatory.

Alison: Yeah.

Libby: Yeah. I feel like it’s St. Peter because it’s more elegant city. anyway, they probably sold their digs in the. At the university, and now they’ve come here for what purpose, do you think?

Alberto: to save on rent for one.

Libby: Yes. Yeah.

Alberto: if they sold it, where’s he going to stay? He can’t afford to buy a new place.

Jully: Right.

Libby: In the city if he’s retired. Right. And she doesn’t work. Of course she doesn’t work. So they’ve come to stay. They. Probably because it’s a summer dacha for them. A summer house like somebody would have at a lake or.

Sarah: Or.

Libby: Or, ah, on the beach. they probably come every summer. but this is different. Why is this different?

Alberto: they’ve been here longer.

Libby: Yes. And planning to stay longer. Right.

Alberto: and they haven’t said anything about, oh, when the summer’s over, we’re going back to wherever. Moscow slash St. Petersburg. Yeah. So it seems like they, gave the impression that they’re here to stay.

Libby: They’re here to stay. Write that down across your foreheads. They’re here to stay. What could be worse than having them here to stay? For Vanya, for Sonia, Even though she, loves her father. And she loves her father. So. but it’s. It’s It’s a true. And for Marina.

Jully: Oh, yeah.

Libby: It’s a tremendous upheaval to have. Not only is the samovar still boiling and they have meals at the wrong time, but they are stuck at the will of these people.

Alberto: M.

Libby: And we get that right away because they’re in the dining room in the middle of the night in bed clothes, and, everybody in the house is running in attendance to him. Okay, let’s go back. Let’s go from, La Nochka. Tell me how to say that. Alison Lenochka.

Alison: Yeah, yeah. So usually with all the ochkas encas, all that stuff, usually the stress stays on what the original syllable would have been as part of the name because it’s Jelena. Her nickname would be Lena and then Janochka. So, it always stays with the original part of the name. It doesn’t move to the. To the ochka or anchor.

Libby: Got it. That’s a terrifically helpful comment. Okay. Okay. Sebriako.

Alberto: You. Oh, you’re not Leonard.

Libby: That’s great.

Alberto: Your pain is unbearable.

Sarah: Here. Your blanket fell. I’ll close the window.

Alberto: No, no, I’m suffocating. I was just nodding off, and I dreamt that my left leg was attached to someone else. I woke up with such excruciating pain. No, this is not gout. Probably rheumatism. What time is it?

Sarah: 20 minutes after 12.

Alberto: In the morning. Go look for Batyushkov in the library. I’m sure we have him.

Sarah: What?

Alberto: Look for Batyushkov in the morning. I seem to recall we have him. Why can’t I breathe?

Sarah: You’re tired. This is the second night you haven’t slept.

Alberto: I say Turgenev developed angina pectoris from gout.

Libby: I think it’s angina pectoris. Is that wrong?

Alberto: I’m, going. Well, anyway.

Libby: It’s a heart.

Alberto: Okay. shall I go with a church Latin pronunciation picture.

Libby: Since I’ve never spoken Latin in a church, you decide.

Alberto: Okay. But I will say angina, right?

Libby: Yes.

Alberto: Okay. All right. I say Turgenev developed angina pictoris from gout. I’m afraid I’m getting it too.

Libby: So you’re admitting you have gout, huh?

Alberto: Caught busted. Damp gust. Old age. The, devil take it. Now that I’m old, I can’t stand looking at myself. I’m sure all of you must be repulsed by me too.

Sarah: You make it sound as if it’s our fault you’re getting old.

Alberto: M. But I’m most disgusting to you.

Libby: Yes. Now now, let’s take a moment and, Sarah, what do you think attracted you to begin with, in this relationship, and where is it now?

Sarah: I think his. His talent and his mind attracted me completely. and where it is now?

Sarah: The.

Libby: The.

Sarah: The shine of the mind has worn completely off because the mind is circular. I feel as if I hear him say the same thing over and over and over again. And it is no longer fascinating. It’s mostly just wearisome at this point.

Libby: What do you think about his desire to continue his work by asking you to get that book from the library?

Sarah: Man, this is all so personal to me. Caretaking my father, who is this character right now? So I’m trying to answer for you, Lana, and not for Sarah. I.

Libby: Well, it’s probably a mixture of both, Sarah.

Sarah: It probably is. I think I, play along. But I don’t think I in any way believe in it anymore. So there’s. There’s just, like sometimes you have the energy to play along. So you do, because that’s easier.

Libby: I don’t know about you guys, but I had crushes on different teachers in my life, especially at university. I think it comes with the territory, of growing up and maturing and seeing these idols, absolute idols. you know, your professor knows everything. And if he’s not 105 and he’s kind of important to the university at that time, you give over. And what did you wind up with?

Sarah: Yeah, it didn’t, He hasn’t come of anything. And, you know, it’s possible I can still somewhat respect his mind, but the reality is I don’t. I don’t think I’m really part of this relationship. I’m an accessory to my own relationship. And you can admire somebody’s brain all you want, but at a certain point, when you don’t have space, you don’t belong in your own space. It’s. It becomes suffocating.

Libby: Very good. Suffocating is such an important word. and idea in this. In the whole play and certainly in this scene. Suffocating from the humidity and his gap.

Sarah: And I do. Yeah. And I do think that there. There must be, you know, a difference between the man who he was 10 years ago, where you can feasibly, you know, feel sexy feelings about him, versus when it becomes too much of an age difference. You know, there. There’s too much of a difference in where you are in life. And I, I can only imagine at a certain point you. You with that much of an age Gap. You stop feeling the same way that you did before. At the very least, you.

Libby: You.

Sarah: You switch from being a wife to a nurse.

Libby: Yes. Which is pretty awful for a talented, beautiful woman. And stuck in the country. In the country as a possibility. I want you both to realize that you put your. You’re giving your life over to living with Vanya and Sonia in this country house. I mean, after the thrill of the cities and, the life that you must have had some other contact with. I’m so sorry we didn’t get any further. I want to read the whole scene again. I want us to do it twice today. Okay. But next Monday we’ll continue with this. But we’re just laying a groundwork, guys. If we don’t get it all finished, I think we will. But don’t be impatient if you feel we didn’t get to your scene or anything like that. We’re just laying a groundwork of the kinds of questions to ask and things that seem trivial aren’t. They’re just clues. Like Shakespeare, whose language tells you everything. Shakespeare was the best director in the world and best stage manager. He knew exactly how to move you around and what. What you needed to sound like and when you needed to make emphasis on. On a, certain word in an idea. Yes. His. His map is incredibly out there. Once you learn how to navigate through the. Through the language. Chekhov gives you the same kind of map. No, Chekhov gives you a map. It’s harder to decipher. Except that you have to answer all of these questions for yourself. You have to ask yourself all of these things. Nothing is thrown away. The movement of, a blanket on his legs is an attempt to comfort. I don’t know what it is, or to shut him up or help him go to sleep or whatever, but it has to be understood in the context of who this person is and what’s been going on.

Libby: Okay, let’s read the whole thing because we need pretty close to a half hour for it. Yeah, cool.

Alison: And Libby with the stage directions. Just things that actors can’t.

Libby: Yeah, yeah. Don’t give the actor ones. cool.

Alison: Okay. the dining room and Serabyakov’s home. Night in the garden. The watchman can be heard tapping. Sarabukov sits in an armchair before an open window and dozes. And Yelena Andreyevna sits beside him and also dozes.

Alberto: Who’s there? Sonia, is that you?

Sarah: I’m here.

Alberto: You know, the pain is unbearable.

Sarah: Here. Your blanket fell.

Alison: He wraps his legs.

Sarah: I’ll shut the Window?

Alberto: No, I’m suffocating. I was just nodding off and I dreamt that my left leg was attached to someone else. I woke up with such excruciating pain.

Sarah: It’s probably your gout.

Alberto: No, this is not gout. Probably rheumatism. What time is it?

Sarah: 20 minutes after 12.

Alberto: In the morning. Go look for Batyushkov in the library. I’m sure we have him.

Sarah: What?

Alberto: Look for Batyushkov in the morning. I seem to recall we have him. Why can’t I breathe?

Sarah: You’re tired. This is the second night you haven’t slept.

Alberto: They say to Gene you have developed angina pectoris from gout. I’m afraid I’m getting it too. Damn disgusting old age. The devil take it. Now that I’m old, I can’t stand looking at myself. And I’m sure all of you must be reborn false by me too.

Sarah: You make it sound as if it’s our fault you got old.

Alberto: But I’m most disgusting to you.

Alison: She walks away and sits at a distance.

Alberto: of course, you’re right. I’m not stupid. I understand. You’re young, healthy, beautiful. You want to live. And I’m an old man, almost a corpse. True, I understand all too well. And of course it’s a terrible crime. I have lived this long. But wait a little. Soon you’ll be free of me. I won’t last much longer.

Sarah: I am exhausted. For God’s sake, be quiet.

Alberto: Yes, everyone is exhausted. All because of me. They’re bored. They’re wasting their time, they’re wasting their youth. I’m the only one who’s happy. I’m the only one having a good time. Well, yes, of course.

Sarah: Be quiet. You’ve worn me out.

Alberto: Yes, I have worn everyone out.

Sarah: This is unbearable. Tell me what you want from me.

Alberto: Nothing.

Sarah: Well, then be quiet, I beg you.

Alberto: It’s so strange. Ivan Petrovich talks his head off and that old idiot Maria Vasilyevnow and it’s just fine. Everyone listens. But when I say one word, everyone suddenly feels desolate. Even my voice is offensive. Well, let’s assume I’m offensive. I’m an egoist. I’m a despot. Don’t I have the right to be an egoist in my old age? Think about it. Haven’t I earned it? I ask you, don’t I have the right to a comfortable old age, surrounded by my admirers?

Sarah: No one is taking away your rights.

Alison: The window bangs from the wind.

Sarah: It’s very windy. I’ll Close the window.

Alison: She closes it.

Sarah: It’ll rain soon. Nobody is taking away your rights.

Alison: The watchman in the garden taps and sings a song.

Alberto: All one’s life to be dedicated to scholarship, to become accustomed to one’s study, to the classroom, to respected colleagues. And suddenly, for no apparent reason, to find oneself buried in this tomb. Every day to deal with stupid people, to listen to insignificant chatter. I want to live. I love success. I love fame. I love action. But here I am. I’m in exile. Here I’m in exile. Every minute, Longing for the past, watching the success of others, fearing death. I, cannot. I don’t have the strength. And no one can forgive me for being old.

Sarah: Wait a little. Have patience. In five or six years, I’ll be old too.

Libby: Papa.

Speaker E: You sent for Dr. Astroff, but when he came, you refused to see him.

Libby: That’s so rude.

Speaker E: You bothered this man.

Alberto: Why do I need your Astrov? he understands as much about medicine as I do. astronomy.

Speaker E: We cannot send for the entire medical faculty just for your gout.

Alberto: I won’t talk to that idiot.

Speaker E: As you wish. She said it’s all the same to me.

Alberto: What time is it?

Sarah: Almost one.

Alberto: It’s stifling. Sonia, give me the drops from the table.

Speaker E: Yes, of course.

Alberto: Not these. I can’t, ask for anything.

Speaker E: Please stop acting like a baby. It may be fine for others, but spare me, please. I don’t like it. I don’t have time. I need to be up early tomorrow.

Libby: I have the.

Speaker E: Hey, demo.

Alison: Enter Voynitsky in a dressing gown and with a candle.

Howard: The storm’s coming.

Alison: Like.

Howard: Here we go. Helen and Sonia, go to sleep. I came to relieve you.

Alberto: No, no. Don’t leave me with him. No. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: But they’ve got to get some rest. They didn’t sleep at all last night.

Alberto: Let, them go to sleep. But you go too. Thank you. I implore you in the name of a former friendship. Just go. We’ll talk later.

Howard: Former friendship. Former.

Speaker E: Be quiet.

Alberto: Uncle.

Speaker E: Vanya.

Alberto: My dear, don’t leave me with him. He’ll talk my head off.

Howard: Can you believe how ludicrous this is?

Alison: Arina enters with a candle.

Speaker E: You ought to be in bed, Nanya. It’s very late.

Jully: Samovar is still boiling. You can’t exactly expect me to go to bed.

Alberto: No one is sleeping. Everybody is exhausted. I alone am, In a state of bliss.

Jully: What is it, my dear? Are you in pain? My legs ache too. They ache so. I’ve been in pain such a long time. Avera Petrovna, Sonietzka’s mother, may she rest in peace, never slept either. She nearly killed herself taking care of you.

Libby: Uh?

Jully: She loved you very much. Oh, yes. Old people are like children. They want someone to feel sorry for them. But no one feels sorry for the old. Let’s go to bed, my dear. Let’s go, my little boy. I’ll make you some lime leaf tea. Tea. I’ll warm your legs. I’ll pray to God for you.

Alberto: Go, Marina.

Jully: My legs ache too. They ache so. Vera Petrovna nearly killed herself. Always crying. You, Sonieta, were still little then. Come, come, my dear.

Alison: They exit.

Sarah: I am completely exhausted by him. I can barely stand on my feet.

Howard: You’re exhausted with him and I with myself.

Libby: Hold one second. Sarah, you missed a couple times on words. Oh, I’m exhausted with him.

Sarah: With him. Thank you, M. I’m completely exhausted with him. I can barely stand on my feet.

Howard: You’re completely exhausted. You’re exhausted with him and I with myself. This is the third night I haven’t slept.

Sarah: Something is wrong with this house. Your mother hates everything except her own pamphlets. And the professor. The professor is irritated. He doesn’t trust me. He’s afraid of you. Sonia is angry with her father, angry with me, and hasn’t talked to me for two weeks. You hate my husband and openly hold your own mother in contempt. I’m short tempered and at least 20 times today I started to cry. There is something very wrong in this house.

Howard: Should we cut the philosophy, please?

Sarah: You, Ivan Petrovich, are educated, intelligent, and you must see that the world is not being destroyed by thieves and fires and wars, but rather by hatred, hostility. From all these petty squabbles. You shouldn’t add to the noisy complaining around us. You should be helping to find peace in your own family.

Howard: Help me find peace in myself, my darling.

Sarah: Stop. Go away.

Howard: Soon it’ll stop raining and everything in nature will be revolving. I alone will not be refreshed by the storm. Day and night I’m strangled by the idea that my life is irrevocably lost, that I’m dead, that I wasted my life, that I spent my life on trifles. Here, take my life, take my love. What good are they to me? What have I done with them? My feelings are dying away in vain, like sunbeams falling into a dark pit. I’m dying.

Sarah: When you talk to me about your love, I just go numb and I don’t know what to say. Forgive me. I have nothing to say to you good night.

Howard: If you only knew how I suffer from the thought that next to me, in this very house, another life is dying. Yours. What are you waiting for? What damned righteous morality stops you? Don’t you see, Yvonne Petrovich?

Sarah: You were drunk.

Howard: Possibly.

Alberto: M.

Sarah: Where’s the doctor?

Howard: He’s here. He’s spending the night. Possibly.

Libby: Possibly.

Howard: Everything is possible.

Sarah: Why are you drinking so much?

Howard: Because it makes me feel alive. Don’t try to stop me, Helene.

Alberto: You,

Sarah: Never used to drink so much. And you never talked so much. Go to sleep.

Howard: And bored to death with you, my darling, Beautiful, marvelous.

Sarah: Leave me alone. This is just disgusting.

Alison: She exits.

Howard: She’s gone. I first met you 10 years ago. Years ago at my darling sisters, remember? You were 17 and I was 37. Why did not fall in love with you and propose to you then? Would have been so easy. Today you would be my wife. Yes. Tonight both of us would be awakened by the storm. You would be afraid of the thunder. I would take you in my arms and whisper. Don’t be afraid, little darling. I’m here. Marvelous thought. Wonderful. I’m laughing, but my God, I am so mixed up. Why am I old? Why doesn’t she understand me? The way she talks. Her stupid morality. Her silly prattling about making peace in the world. I hate it so much. I’ve been deceived. I worshiped that professor. Pathetic, gout ridden idiot. Worked for him like a slave. Sonia and I squeezed, squeezed every drop out of this estate. We were like kulaks, haggling over vegetable oil peas, starving ourselves with crumbs just so we could save a few copics to send to him. I was so proud of him and his glorious scholarship. I lived for him, I breathed for him. Every word he wrote or uttered seemed like genius to me.

Alberto: God.

Howard: And now. Now he’s retired. And it has become perfectly clear that the sum total of his life adds up to nothing. Not one word of his, not a single scholarly word matters to anyone. The soap bubble. I’ve been swindled. I see that now. Stupidly swindled.

Alison: Enter Astrov in a frock coat, without a waistcoat and without a tie.

Libby: He is tipsy.

Alison: Behind him is Till Yegan with a guitar play.

Jully: Everyone is sleeping, Sir.

Alison: Playan quietly strums.

Corey: Are you alone here?

Alberto: No.

Corey: Ladies. Go to the peasant house. Go to the fire. There is no place for the master to expire. The storm woke me. Big storm. What time is it?

Howard: Who knows?

Corey: Oh, I thought I heard Yelena Andreyevna’s voice.

Howard: She Was just here.

Corey: What a gorgeous woman. Medicines, drugs. There’s nothing missing. Kharkov, Moscow, Tulskaya. Every city is plagued with his gout. Is he really sick or is he faking it?

Howard: Sick.

Corey: Why are you sad today? Pity for the professor. Professor.

Howard: Quit it.

Corey: Or maybe you’re in love with the professor’s wife?

Howard: She’s my friend already. What does that mean, already?

Corey: A woman can only be friends with a man. In this order. First an acquaintance, then a lover, and then finally a friend.

Howard: Vulgar.

Corey: Yes, it’s true. I’m becoming vulgar. I’m drunk. Usually I get drunk like this once a month. And when I’m drunk, I get completely vulgar and fearless. Everything seems so easy to me. I take on the most difficult operations and do them brilliantly. I make daring plans for the future. When I’m drunk, I no longer seem like a freak. And I actually believe I’m bringing some enormous benefit to humanity. Enormous. And when I’m drunk, I see how valuable my own personal universe is. And the rest of you piddling creatures seem like insects, microbes.

Libby: Waffles.

Corey: Play.

Jully: Dear one. I would love to play for you with all my soul. But understand, everyone is sleeping.

Alberto: Play.

Corey: You, Need a drink. Oh, I see there’s some cognac left. In the morning we’ll go to my place. Right ya are. I have a medical assistant who never says right, but right ya are.

Alberto: Idiot.

Corey: Right. Jar.

Alison: Seeing Sonia enter.

Corey: Pardon me, I forgot my tie.

Alison: Quickly, he exits.

Jully: Till Yegan follows.

Speaker E: And you, Uncle Vanya, you got drunk again with the doctor? a couple of juveniles hanging around together. Well, he has always been like that. But what in heaven’s name is wrong with you? At your age? You should know better.

Howard: Age has nothing to do with it. When you don’t have a life, you live on soap bubbles. It’s better than nothing.

Speaker E: Our hay needs to be cut. It rains every day. Everything is rotting. And all you can talk about is soap bubbles. You’re completely neglecting the farm. I have to work alone. I’m strained to the breaking point. Uncle, you have tears in your eyes.

Howard: Tears? It’s nothing. Nonsense. The way you looked at me just now. Just like your mother. Sweet. Your sister. Your sweet, dear sister. Where is she now? If only she knew. Oh, if only she knew.

Speaker E: Knew what? Uncle? What?

Howard: It’s so hard. Nothing, nothing. I’m going.

Libby: Really well read, guys. It’s really well read. you know, I was. A couple little things, Just to think about, Sibryakov. I know I’m saying it wrong. Allison. It’s Serbriakov. Serov.

Alison: yeah, it’s on the cough. Serbyakov.

Libby: I’ll never get it. Yeah, He’s a little vain, Alberto. he’s a little vain, don’t you think?

Alberto: Well, he keeps saying all these things and he’s waiting for his wife to go. No, you’re not.

Libby: Yeah, that’s good. That’s good. It just struck me this time. Yelena, just want you to examine how that speech. See what we’re going to do all of this next week. But I. I wanted just you to think about, you know, when the house, the something is wrong in this house speech. Sarah.

Sarah: Yeah.

Libby: It. She doesn’t know all of it. It’s spinning and take some time looking at that. Okay? Yeah.

Sarah: Let it discover instead of yes.

Libby: Yeah. Yes. and Howard, you’re doing such good work. I know you’ve worked a little bit with Ursula and with Allison this past weekend. I can see how much thought you put into it. It’s terrific. remember that you are. I don’t want you to be afraid of the romantic things that he’s spinning for her. Remember that you’re trying to seduce her. I know you’re a little drunk. Drunk. But you. You’re in a position of spilling now all that you’re feeling. So don’t run away from it and try to get it over with. Seduce her with it. You know what I’m talking about. Okay. Okay. It was good. Any comments or thoughts? It was really good. Any comments or thoughts?

Corey: I was just noting. Noticing, how many times when Yelena is talking about how she’s feeling, the next thing is from, Is,

Corey: Me. Me. What about me? It’s hilarious.

Libby: Yes, exactly. Well, I guess because I’m as old or older than, the professor now, and I, really feel for him. What?

Alberto: I said maybe not.

Libby: Well, yes, he’s very egotistical. There’s no question about that. But, old age is tough. And he hurts. He really hurts. And Marina is the only one who understands. I mean, she’s annoyed at him, but she understands too. She becomes his Nyanya. Right there. It’s beautiful. I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t think of him as a villain. I understand his dilemma. And I understand what it feels like to not being in the spotlight anymore and not knowing where to put yourself hard. All right, my dears. I will look forward to next week. You’re reading beautifully. I know. I wasn’t trying to cast you, but I would cast you. Exactly. Nathan did a fantastic job. You’re all great. I’ll, see you next week.

Sarah: Thank you. Thank you. Have a good week.

Jully: Thank you.

The post UNCLE VANYA Week 2 Session: “Conflict and Desire” – Chekhov – Act 2 – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions] appeared first on The Working Actor's Journey.

As we delve into the world of Anton Chekhov, we find ourselves confronted with the rich emotional tapestry of his characters, particularly in his play Uncle Vanya.

Our session opens with a tribute to Fran Bennett, a beloved actress and voice teacher who had recently passed away (in 2021). This moment of reflection sets the tone for our discussion, reminding us of the impact that art and mentorship can have on our lives and careers.

Throughout the episode, we explore the themes of Uncle Vanya, focusing on the characters’ emotional struggles and the longing for beauty and change. Each actor shares their personal experiences with Chekhov, revealing how these timeless themes resonate with their own lives. They discuss character motivations, the significance of age, and the societal pressures that shape our identities.

One of the standout moments in the episode is when the actors discuss the concept of a midlife crisis, a theme that resonates deeply with Vanya’s character. As he grapples with feelings of inadequacy and the realization that his life has been spent in service to a professor who ultimately disappoints him, we see a reflection of our own struggles with purpose and fulfillment.

The episode also touches on the environmental themes present in Chekhov’s work, particularly through the character of Astrov, who laments the destruction of nature. This commentary feels particularly poignant in today’s world, where environmental concerns are at the forefront of global discussions.

Whether you’re a seasoned actor or a curious audience member, this episode promises to inspire and provoke thought!

🏁 In this session, highlights include:

Full transcript included at the bottom of this post.

Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session!

Total Running Time: 2:03:00

Check out this 80-second clip from this session with Sara and Libby discussing character obstacles!

And a great quote from this week’s session…

Support The Rehearsal Room on Patreon – get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more!

Thank you to our current patrons at the Co-Star level or higher: Ivar, Joan, Michele, Jim, Magdalen, Claudia, Clif and Jeff!

Our group will be working on the first half of Act 2.

Follow along with the play here. Order a copy of Libby and Allison’s translation here.

Read more about the artists here.

Catch up on our other workshops featuring lots of Shakespeare scenes, from Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Midsummer, As You Like It, and our Twelfth Night repertory extravaganza – all on the podcast and YouTube.  If you’ve missed any presentations thus far, click here to find them all.

UNCLE VANYA Week 1 Session: “Love, Loss and Longing” – The Rehearsal Room

Nathan Agin: Yes, here we are officially to start some Chekhov. I’m so thrilled to be back in this rehearsal room. We kind of took the summer off after doing some repertory sessions. Sarah was part of that, in the late spring and it was a lot of fun. and now we’re experimenting with Chekhov. And who better to kick that off with than Libby and Allison? I’m really, really honored that you. You can both be here and Libby from California and Allison from New Zealand, It’s fantastic. So The miracle of this technology. It’s really great. So I just have a couple things that I wanted to do up, front and then I’ll let you guys get underway with rehearsal. we will do a ah, quick intro and all that so everybody can just kind of acclimate and get to know everybody very briefly. but as I mentioned, in the email on Sunday, as some may know, Fran, ah, Bennett transitioned on Saturday. And you know, she was a wonderful, wonderful actress and voice teacher. And I know many on this call, worked with her and knew her for many years. And even if you hadn’t worked with her, you probably admired her work, either from up close or afar. and so I just wanted to take a moment right now and a moment of silence. We’ll just kind of honor Fran’s legacy and contribution to the. The. Thank you for doing that. I will say, as I’m sure many do have, memories and recollections of Fran, perhaps at the end of rehearsal today, if people are feeling so moved to share any of that, you can, Or the Facebook group, that some of you have connected with, you know, is another opportunity. I had been in touch with Fran, you know, via email about potentially involving her in some of these, workshops we were going, that were going on and it would have been just a real honor for her to be part.

Nathan Agin: But we’ll just We’ll always keep her in our thoughts and our hearts. So, But again, thank you for taking that moment with me. So next, what I want to do is just have us go around kind of a quick round robin, and for everybody to introduce yourselves because maybe not everybody knows everybody or has worked with everybody, and just share a little bit about who you are, where you’re coming from, maybe a little bit about your experience with Chekhov and you don’t need to have any experience with Chekhov. That’s what this session is for. but, I’ll start because nobody likes to go first, so I’ll make myself go first. but, my name is Nathan, and, I’ve trained as an actor, worked as an actor, and about a year and a half ago, over, conversations with, professional actors. We created this, series and have just been refining it over time. And it’s been a lot of fun to have this much time to work on the text in this way. and, I personally, I don’t know if I’ve ever. I don’t think I’ve ever done a Chekhov play. I’ve certainly seen, a lot of, Chekhov and scenes and. And all that kind of stuff. But, my. My kind of main acting gig right now is audiobook narration. So that’s. That’s what I do, at night when it’s quiet, and, you know, in the middle of the night, that’s what I do. So, but that’s. That’s what I’m up to. And, how about we turn it over to Libby?

Libby: Oh, I knew you’d do that. First, I want to say, thank you for taking that moment for Fran Bennett. She was beloved and admired and a powerful presence in anyone’s life. Who knew her? Ursula. We worked with her together at CalArts. Do you remember that? Were you there at the time that she was?

Ursula: I never took that job at Cal Arts, but.

Libby: Oh, God, I’ll never forgive you for that.

Ursula: but of course, she’s a Linklater teacher, so I worked her a number of times through the Linklater community, and she. She was very present in this last year since Kristin passed, and so, very dear to all our hearts. Mighty presence. Yeah. And lived a lot longer than it says she did.

Libby: Is that so?

Ursula: She had her 90th birthday a couple years back, but Wikipedia’s clever. Or she was clever.

Libby: Well, she, was an extraordinary woman. Okay. I’m Libby, and I am Brooklyn born. Came, lived in a lot of places in this country. and the one that I lived in the longest in my life was Ashland, Oregon, believe it or not. From Brooklyn, New York, to Ashland, Oregon. That’s quite a journey. I have known and loved Anton Pavlovich since I’m 16 years old. That’s another story. You can ask it sometime. And, so in other words, from New York to Santa Barbara via a lot of other states, I’ve carried the torch for this guy. Somebody just sent me. Did you see this series, of pictures of hot Chekhov? Oh, my God, they’re so fabulous. He was so gorgeous. So I remain in love with him, and we will all discover together why I’m such a crazy person about him.

Nathan Agin: All right, perfect. more to be discovered, with Libby. Alberto.

Alberto: Yeah. Hi, I’m Alberto. I was born in the Philippines. Screw up there.

Libby: where? I’m sorry?

Alberto: Philippines. I was born in the Philippines, and I, grew up there. I, I’ve lived in Los Angeles ever since I moved to the United States. Los Angeles area. haven’t been doing much, Chekhov. I was telling Nathan I did a production of Three Sisters at East West Players in the 70s. I. I played the Baron. Baron Tusenbach.

Libby: Very nice.

Alberto: Yeah, I was younger then. and with the Pandemic, I haven’t done much. I did go off to the Dominican Republic earlier this year to work in a small role with J. Lo in Rom Com. They were filming there.

Libby: Wow.

Alberto: But otherwise, locational, zoom m, reading and so forth.

Nathan Agin: Oh, great.

Alberto: Thrilled to be here.

Nathan Agin: Well, good. Wonderful, wonderful. You can be here. Corey. Hey, everyone.

Corey: I’m Corey. It’s nice to meet you all. I’m from Long Beach, California. I, I studied acting at California State University, Long Beach.

Libby: I used to teach here.

Corey: I read that, and I thought that was awesome.

Libby: Yeah.

Corey: And then that’s where I, did my first Chekhov. I did my first checkoff scene in Hugo Gorman’s. And I met my partner doing, Yelena and Astrov, the map scene.

Libby: And it’s a very sexy scene.

Corey: It sure is. And, yeah, I’m going back to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in November. And, yeah, that’s about me.

Libby: Awesome.

Nathan Agin: Ah, awesome. Corey.

Howard: Great.

Nathan Agin: You can be here. Deidre.

Deidre: Hi, I am Deidre Henry Dickerman.

Deidre: Since we’re saying we were born, I was born in Barbados and grew up in Atlanta and lived everywhere. and my first, I’m right now in Los Angeles. My first introduction to Chekhov, was 20 years ago playing Irina and three sisters. that was, directed by Libby Apple at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. and it made me fall in love with, these characters, with the story, with their yearning, and with their. There’s just the connection to life that they have. and I am very excited to be working with you guys. So thank you. Thank you.

Nathan Agin: Awesome. Thanks, Adri. Howard.

Howard: Hi, I’m Howard. I’m originally from Redding, California, which is almost like Ashland. Not quite. Not nearly as civilized, maybe.

Howard: I have sort of a dual career. I work as an editor in television. And, have just started acting again about three years ago. Came back to this. And, this summer I’m at Utah Shakes, which has been awesome. My experience with Chekhov is fairly limited. I’ve always been kind of fascinated by the plays when I’ve seen them, and always been like, how. How does that even work? And, I took a class, I guess, at Antaeus probably about a year and a half, two years ago with, With Rob Nagel, where we worked on scenes from these plays, for folks to know him. And that was really kind of my first exposure to playing some of these roles, which was. It was pretty great and left me wanting a lot more. So good to meet you all.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, wonderful. Thanks, Howard. Alison.

Alison: Hi, everybody. I’m Alison Horsley. I’m originally from Tyler, Texas. And, I moved around a lot working in theaters. and I guess more of my history with Chekhov is really because of my history with Russian language and literature, which started on kind of a whim. my first year of college, I decided to take Russian. I thought it would be hard and interesting, and that was true. And after that I was really, I was quite intimidated by Chekhov and really afraid of him until really, Until, Oregon Shakespeare Festival commissioned me to, work with Libby to translate Cherry Orchard for her to direct in her final season at osf. And so I really got to know Chekhov and his work through a combination of, sitting with the plays for a very long time and looking at the language and then also working with Libby and learning how well it can play on its feet. And so it’s been a process for me of really learning about that. So I’m a theater person and a Russian person. but nowadays I live in New Zealand and I don’t do as much Russian. So I’m excited to be back in a room.

Nathan Agin: So maybe you’ll be translating into, like, an indigenous language in New Zealand or something. next.

Alison: Actually, it’s Te Reo, Maori Week here in New Zealand. So everybody is, like, working on beefing up their Maori language, which is what my green sticky notes are in the background. So that’s what that is.

Nathan Agin: I remember being in Barcelona and the local, the country was making an effort to teach people Catalan. So I don’t know, maybe there’ll be something in New Zealand where they Want to make sure that this language, you know, stays active.

Libby: And they should.

Alison: Yeah, very much so. It’s. It’s very. It’s a very active effort.

Libby: Very important that we don’t lose these things.

Nathan Agin: Absolutely. very cool. Well, thank you, Alison, for joining us, from tomorrow from, New Zealand. That’s wonderful. Jully, how about you? Next.

Jully: Yes. Hi, I’m Jully Lee, actor. I spent the Pandemic doing a ton of zoom readings, directing and acting. It’s been a constant stream of doing that. As far as Chekhov. I have, pretty much no experience. I saw my first Chekhov was watching Ivanov at the East Coast Players Conservatory. So it was a student production of Ivanov. I, did a monologue and an acting class for Studio Steven Book. And I did a couple of improv scenes that were based on. On Chekhov genre, based improv. So I have very little exposure, but I’m really, really excited to sink my teeth into this. So thank you for having me.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, absolutely wonderful, Jully. Thank you, Ursula. Oh, you’re still mute. Almost. There you go.

Howard: One second.

Ursula: I have a monitor, so it takes a while. Should we also do my.

Alberto: Of course.

Ursula: Okay, so I’ll go first. Yeah.

Libby: You’re here.

Ursula: You have to introduce yourself. so, ah. I was an actress for a while, and then I became a voice teacher and voice coach. And now I am, heading the graduate acting program at ucsd. I had many lovely years with Libby and Deidre and this guy at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. And, I don’t know that I worked on a check off with you there. I think I might not have. but I worked on 13 Sisters with Diana Lamar and another group, years in that many years. But I taught for four years at JL School of Trauma. And, Carol Gister is a wonderful. Or was a wonderful teacher of, Shakespeare, Chekhov. And so I did a lot of, a lot of coach a lot of the plays and loved them more every time. And they’re just oceans deep and funny. and then I taught a couple times, acting Chekhov at ucsd and we had a glorious time. There’s just no way to get to the bottom of it. And that’s the joy. so, I think I acted in a couple of scenes. I don’t think I’ve ever acted in one of the plays. I remember Clayton Crozet coaching me in a scene in grad school, the Nina Tergoren, scene where she sits and listens. And it was a Beautiful time. So that’s. And here’s my husband, James Newcombe.

Howard: Hi, I’m James Newcomb, and, I’m thrilled to be here and observe this today. And, Libby and I go back to Oregon Shakespeare Festival. we did a Merchant of Venice together and a Richard III together.

Libby: Richard iii. That was pretty spectacular. Jamie, your Richard III will stay in my memory and heart forever.

Howard: Well, and mine as well. It was really, really special. Special, time. I’ve never done any Chekhov at all. I have never been in a scene. I have never been in a Chekhov play. I don’t know how it’s passed by so far. but, it just has never happened. And, you know, the Treplev was a role that I was desperate to play and didn’t have an opportunity to, you know. And now, And, Vanya was one, and I’m past that.

Libby: So, no, I don’t think you.

Howard: Fears. Maybe I’ll die on stage playing fears.

Libby: That’s what every Jacobian actor comes to, fears.

Alberto: Yeah, that’s right.

Nathan Agin: Well, I’m thrilled that, Ursula, ah, you know, is here and Jamie can sit in. And for those who saw Jamie play Silvius and as yous like it earlier this year, Jamie, there may still be time for you to play Vanya or Treple there.

Libby: You know, there’s, not Treplev, but definitely Vanya.

Nathan Agin: Well, in this. I would say in this format, we can always revisit, those two characters. Wonderful. And, Sarah.

Libby: Hi, everyone.

Sarah: So happy to be here. I’m Sarah. I’m from the Seattle region and I’m in Los Angeles. I’ll get to my checkup in a moment, but I want to say, for Libby and you other OSF folks, my first. The first Shakespeare I ever saw was in 2003. It was midsummer at OSF. And it was, It blew my mind, made, me want to go into Shakespeare and play Helena. I’m finally playing Helena this summer. And it’s been this, you know, like a 15 year goal after watching that. And it was also the first theater production I had seen that had color, conscious casting, which also was, very significant for me to be able to see that and helped move things forward. And I just. It was such a great production.

Libby: do you remember who directed it or who played in it?

Sarah: I was in high school, so I didn’t pay attention to things like that. I was just.

Libby: I can’t remember the 2003 was it outdoors?

Sarah: Yeah, it was in the globe. Y Space.

Libby: Yes.

Sarah: Yeah, yeah, it was wonderful.

Libby: It’s wonderful to me that you were so touched by it.

Sarah: Yeah, yeah, it was very, very impactful. so thank you. And, as far as Chekhov goes, I feel like I have some, but not a lot. The first time I read Chekhov’s plays was while I was backpacking across Turkey. And so I sometimes picture these plays with that setting as opposed to the Russian countryside. and then I reread them a few years ago when I took a semester in improvised Chekhov, at a company where Jully and I are actually both company members. so I did six months of fully improvised Chekhov plays, but I have never done a scripted Chekhov scene, which is probably a bit cart before horse. So I feel like I’m catching up now, to learn how this all actually works the way it’s supposed to be done.

Libby: Love it.

Nathan Agin: Awesome.

Howard: That’s great.

Nathan Agin: Well, thank you, Sarah. and, wonderful that, you can join us again. And, you know, Sarah, you mentioned something that has been very important as part of this, and it’s evident in this group today, is that we can be, you know, with this format and with this exploration of just the text and the plays, we, can be very conscious about, age and gender and, all those things, that, you know, we can explore that and explode those concepts and really have fun with, this. So I’m. I’m excited that, we get to do that once again with this group, and just, really thrilled that, you can all be here. And, thank you very much for doing a quick intro. I believe we, got everybody. but, yeah, that’s wonderful. So I will.

Libby: Hello, my name is Joan Saxton.

Ursula: I’m one of the white faces here.

Nathan Agin: Oh, hi, Joan.

Ursula: The screen is telling me that you.

Libby: Have my video blocked. Is that true? Yes.

Nathan Agin: So just for the audience members, we typically have people off camera and just on mute, so you can observe. And if there’s, you know, opportunity at the end for questions, you know, we can, you know, if there’s time, we can look at that, but otherwise, it’s just kind of a fly, on the wall experience.

Libby: Okay, that’s fine with me. But I’d like to say just one thing to another member here. Are you the Jamie that jumped over.

Ursula: The casket when you began Richard iii?

Libby: No. No.

Nathan Agin: Did you. Did you guys are muted?

Howard: No, no, I didn’t jump over a casket. it started with me upstage in a ball. And then one crutch came out, another crutch came out, and then pulled myself, turned around and came down to the stage.

Libby: Okay, thank you.

Nathan Agin: Yep. Okay, cool. All right, well, with that all, everything taken care of, I am going to turn it over to Libby. if you guys have any questions or anything, you can. You can drop a note in the chat. I’ll just be. I’ll be another fly on the wall. but, just excited to listen in and hope you have a wonderful afternoon.

Libby: Thank you. Well, it’s great to start, and I was glad to hear, that some of you had glancing relationship with, Chekhov. I, know that every actor you’ve ever known who’s done a Chekhov has probably said to you, oh, it’s so great. It’s so great. And it is. It’s actors territory. It’s the stuff that actors love. Also may seem like Shakespeare at first because the language is so demanding. that check of how do I approach it? How do I do it? I mean, is it, you know, just. It’s too hard. It only belongs to, the great actors of the world. Well, of course, Checklist belongs to everybody. And, we’re gonna try to find our way in it. I just want to say this format is a little overwhelming for me. I have participated in watching Zoom, and I’ve had some family Zooms, but I’ve never done a class with Zoom. And I tend to, comment when people are talking because I get excited about what you’re saying. And you have to forgive me if I’m interfering with your comment. I never mean to be. And, we’ll just have to figure out how to work together. The other thing to say is that I work mostly by questions. I’m going to ask you a jillion questions, and I think it’s actually going to be you that’s going to tell us how to play these roles by the time we finished in another three weeks. so I have no answers. I only have what I have discovered personally. And each one of you is going to discover for yourself what’s going on here. That’s why Chekhov is so great, because it’s for you, whoever you are, wherever you are, whether you’re in tomorrow or today, it’s material that, is true. I’m just reading right now, a book by Maggie O’Farrell. I don’t know if any of you have caught on to her. She just wrote Hamnet. I mean, she wrote Hamnet, which is an exquisite book. And I’ve been just going through all of her books, and I keep saying, how Jacobian. How Jacobian. Because she really understands the human heart. And she speaks of it. She writes, of it in a way that’s just small details and stupid little incidents. And everything is revealed to you in your heart about what’s going on with these characters. It’s so divine to find that, when that happens. So you’ve had a little glancing. Deidre is, I think, the only one here who’s played a whole role then. Is that right? Yeah. and the discovery process. You don’t have to say yes to this, Deidre, but I’ll be disappointed if you don’t. The discovery process through throughout the rehearsals is pretty fantastic, isn’t it? Personal discovery?

Deidre: Absolutely. Absolutely. Because it just. It’s sort of. It sits on your soul.

Deidre: It sits right. Right on the. Right on the edge of where it allows you to go wherever you need to go.

Libby: Yeah.

Deidre: You know, which I thought was really beautiful about it. and it was unexpected because reading it is very different than playing it, reading it. You know, I found myself sort of,

Deidre: Making them somewhat absurd, if that makes any sense, you know.

Libby: No, he’s looking for you to do that.

Deidre: Yeah. You know, and then. But then when you play it, there’s. There’s a certain place that it sits in you, where you understand there. You understand where they are. You understand how they feel. You understand what. The yearning, you know?

Libby: I love you using that word, yearning, which you did before, too.

Deidre: Yeah. and it sits right there on the surface of that. and I think that’s why I fell in love with it so much, was that it was difficult language, but it was easy to access, if that makes sense.

Libby: Of course, we did. The three sisters before Alison and I began the process of translating, the five plays. so I feel like, wait a minute. Let’s do it again. I want you to wait until you do it again with these translations. Because I think these translations are a little bit more alive than the ones that I used before. Alison and I just. It was a kind of amazing coming, together, wasn’t it, Alison? you were a little scared. I was scared. I spent my life reading and directing and playing, Chekhov’s plays and scenes and all of the short stories and the letters and our mutual darling friend Louis. Doubt that said Libby. This is your final checkup for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. you should translate. it Yourself. I said, translate myself. I was too scared. Couldn’t begin to do it. I didn’t speak any Russian. and she said, I’m going to find you a Russian translator. And she found me, Allison. And it was such a magic combination, wasn’t it?

Deidre: Oh, yeah.

Libby: Well.

Alison: And I met you. I only met you. I interned at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. And I didn’t meet you because, you were running out the front of the building because you had a grandbaby that was being born. And that was the last I saw of you, was you flying out the front of the building.

Deidre: Well, I’ve got four of them now, so.

Libby: Yeah. What year was that, Allison?

Alison: That was 1997.

Libby: My first. Yeah, he’s 23 now.

Alison: We’re so old. Yeah, it was magical. I think we gave each other permission to really learn the language.

Libby: Exactly. In fact, let me just tell this one little side story. the first one was Cherry Orchard. Because I wanted to do Shakespeare’s. In my final season, as artistic director, I wanted to do a, Shakespeare in his final play, the Tempest. I know there’s question whether that’s final or not, but it was final for me. And, Cherry Orchard, Cecco’s final play. And, I had the opportunity to choose these and do them myself. And the idea of me translating was just beyond possibility. I forgot where that story was going. Okay, I’ll leave it alone and come back to it. I want to know. I asked you all to read the whole play, Uncle Vanya, because it’s impossible to do the scene without knowing where it’s coming from and where it’s going. And I want to get from you, your. What your feelings were in reading it. and I want your honest feelings. I don’t want you to hold back, and I don’t want you to think that you need to sound a certain way. I need you to be really honest with me about what you discovered as you read it, even if you hated it. Anybody take up the.

Corey: Yeah, I’ll go.

Corey: I really loved it. I thought it was very, very sad. all the characters are very sad. it seems that there’s a huge desire for change or something new. obviously, everybody’s bored and everybody has nothing to do.

Libby: And.

Corey: Or this. This longing for beauty, for beauty in the world, for beauty in their atmosphere, for beauty all around. And it seems to just get flip flopped, back and forth whether, I don’t know, Astro’s talking about trees and you can feel that he feels this certain way and I mean, Yelena talking about how bored she is all the time, and everybody’s so annoyed by her, I guess, in that way. I just. I thought it was very, very beautiful. Beautifully written. I loved it.

Libby: I love those things. Yes. Anybody else have first impressions of it?

Howard: This go round for me was like, I’ve always had a hard time reading Chekhov because especially in the first act or two, so much is unsaid, I guess, or like deliberately unsaid. I think particularly in this play where there’s sort of this dam that breaks all at once in the third act. And I was like. I suddenly had this, like, thought. I was like, you almost have to kind of. Though you can’t really read it backwards. You have to kind of read it backwards, you, know, like. Like knowing where they get to so that you can see all the things that. All the tensions that are boiling under the surface in the first act or two of most of these plays. And for me, I don’t know that kind of. I also thought the translation was really beautiful and I found. I also thought the ending was really, really moving. but for me, it was like the first time where I wasn’t just going, how do you play this? But I was like. I was like, oh, this is kind of an amazingly constructed play. I never had that experience before. I often found Chekhov m. Boring to read.

Libby: People mostly say,

Howard: And then this time through, I think maybe I had more experience with it, or I’m just a different person reading it. But. But I was like. I was like, oh, there’s. There. They’re not saying things. And that’s what’s maybe important as. As important as the stuff they are saying.

Libby: Great, wonderful observations, Howard. Other people. Let me hear what you think.

Jully: Yeah. It felt like they were not saying so much and yet saying a lot as well. With the history and the relationships between the characters just saying it point blank, like who this person is and what their histories were. I thought that was interesting. It felt a little, belabored at first when I was first reading it, but it definitely places things in context. What really struck me was its, Relevance.

Libby: Yes, it.

Alison: It’s.

Jully: It’s mind blowingly relevant and I can’t imagine a time.

Libby: Right. Sadly relevantly relevant.

Jully: But I was thinking in history, and there’s not really a time in life where this isn’t relevant. Yeah, it kind of blew my mind how this writing did that especially. Especially. But, you know, especially now in 2020, this constant. It’s just people want change, but it’s just impossible.

Libby: There’s.

Jully: There’s no out. And, it very much affected me in that.

Libby: And we’re cutting down the forest and. And the climate is changing and everything he talks about. And do you remember that he says in a. In 100 or 200 years, it’ll be different. And of course, it’s over 100 years later, and it’s, worse. Way worse. Yeah.

Jully: Yeah. Tragic.

Libby: Tragic is right. Yes. Other thoughts? Other impressions, Dage? Yeah.

Alberto: I’m sorry.

Deidre: Well, I remembered, just that same, you know, that the world will be better in 200 years. I remembered that from, three sisters. So that was really moving. But I also realized there were parts of it that were really funny.

Libby: Like.

Deidre: Like, they’re like. For some reason I forgot the humor. And I don’t know if it was because it was the second reading, you know, the first reading, I was like, oh, God, they’re just so extreme. and, you know, just. But then the second time I read it through, I really, like, the humor really came out for me, where I wasn’t laughing at their absurdity. I was just laughing at just their house. How, Not just sincere, they were, But earnest. They were. And I just thought, remember.

Libby: Do you remember any parts that were particularly funny to you? I’m putting you on the spot. I don’t mean to.

Deidre: Yeah, you’re putting me on the spot. let me see if I can find it. I’ll find it.

Libby: Okay. Okay.

Sarah: Good weather for a hanging.

Libby: Sorry?

Sarah: Good weather to hang yourself.

Libby: Yes. Good. Good. Yes. Yes. That’s good.

Alberto: Alberto, said my. My point about what I was going to bring up about how funny it was. The, The, The. The attempted murder of my character, is, like, amazingly funny, I thought. I mean, it’s almost flapstick.

Libby: Very funny. And let me just digress for a second about that. Alberto, he wrote a play before Uncle Vanya that became Uncle Vanya. It’s called the Wood Demon. Yes. And in that play, the character actually shoots a person, kills a person.

Alberto: Good God.

Libby: Chekhov got rid of all of the.

Alberto: I don’t remember that. Yeah, that was way back in the 80s.

Libby: Chekhov got rid of all of the melodrama and all of the monstrous activity and made it funny. He missed twice, right? Yeah, twice.

Deidre: Twice.

Libby: Yes.

Alberto: Yeah. And I wanted to say how, gratefully, to an actor, the translation is. It’s like. Oh, I can say this line.

Libby: Thank you. That’s great.

Alberto: Some of the more stilted translations, ah, early 20th century ones.

Libby: No, they’re not good. But we’re grateful for them. They brought Chekhov to the United States and to England. So you have to be grateful for Constance Garnett. It was a hundred years ago, but there we go. Yes.

Sarah: so for me, I really remember this being my least favorite play. And I’m very pleased to have come out of it, with a completely different perspective. This read through, I think what really struck me was, similar to Three Sisters, at least for me. the. The obstacles are simply themselves. You know, like all these characters who are straining at this rope that’s tied around them and holding them back, but the thing on the other end of the rope is also them holding back. And so, you know, as an actor, you’re looking for, well, what. What is the obstacle? And the obstacle is you. And the. This play forces so much personal, introspection on, what are the. It’s very difficult to look at, I think, as an individual. What are the ways in which we simply block ourselves from happiness, from agency, from moving forward in life? And I, again, the first time I read Vanya, I was like, oh, this is depressing and sad. And this time I went, oh, my God, this is. Every single character has a slightly different way in which they are exploring this one theme of you are your own biggest obstacle. And I found it a fascinating character analysis.

Libby: Can you give any examples of that, Sarah? I agree with you entirely.

Sarah: Yeah, well, I think looking at Vanya, for example, he is so upset at the professor for having stolen his life from him. But when you have that big blow up scene, the professor says, you could have raised your salary at any point. I just, I didn’t. I didn’t know. I had no idea. So there was nothing getting in the way of him, you know, improving upon his life. It’s just everybody has, you know, these set expectations of how they think something should be happening when in reality it’s in their head. I think, Yelena is similar in that way. I read through it twice. I was looking for what is the thing that keeps her from taking a lover. And it’s never stated. And so I have to come to the conclusion that whatever it is, it’s here.

Libby: It’s not this block is in herself the black. Yes, but don’t you find that it’s true about all of us, that, it’s hard to reveal what we really think?

Sarah: Exactly. Which is why I think this is such an incredible picture, of humanity. And I think that’s what Chekhov does best, and it’s so agonizing. but also, the things that remind us most of ourselves are agonizing. We always hate the people that are just like, you know. So reading to us, I was like, oh, yeah, I’ve got some things to look at.

Libby: They’re exactly like us. Actually, I find it true. I reread, the play this weekend. And, you know, Uncle Vanya, I’ve directed it three times professionally. And so I’ve worked with extraordinary actors, and I’ve known it all my life. and I found myself laughing in new places. And I found myself going, oh, I didn’t get that before. So it’s revealing. It’s constantly revealing. It’s like opening up a, treasure chest and keep going through the layers. At least that’s the way it responds for me. Let me ask you this. Oh, that’s my. I’m not used to technology. You’ll have to forgive me. So if I get buzzes and bumps, I don’t know what’s happening at first. you heard my phone ringing earlier, and I tried to close the doors, as much as I can. But, the cat has to have some freedom to move around. So I have to keep the doors open. But the point is, I don’t know how to turn the phone off. So you have to live with my eccentricities here. And being very old school,

Sarah: I.

Libby: Wanted to ask you, why do you think. I mean, this is a setup with a household of people that go about their business pretty much normally. Vanya and Sonia work the farm, right? And, the professor and his wife come to visit. Like they would visit a. A summer house for a couple of weeks. Normally, you know, it’s a vacation house. and Vanya and Sonia send the money. And the people who live in the house always live in the house. Njania, the nursemaid, has been with them the entire time, of Vanya’s life. so she was there for him when he was a baby. and Vanya’s mother is living there. So the point is it’s a kind of tight household of normal summer visit. Except why is this visit not normal? What do you think is creating, someone said, tension boiling under, sadness going on underneath, what’s going on in the atmosphere that’s creating that. Why does this play happen and peak, in a gun being shot? Any thoughts about that?

Sarah: I have a thought, but I’m excited to hear everybody else’s thoughts. Has the professor just retired? Is this his first year? When he’s gone from being an active member of, academia to non or intelligentsia to retired.

Libby: Yes. So what does that mean?

Sarah: So I feel like, his, status has now been revealed as a nothing burger or a lack of status. And his feelings about that and everybody else’s feelings about that are all spiraling and cooking up this soup of feelings. The purpose that Vanya and Sonja and, what’s the mother’s name?

Libby: Maria.

Sarah: Maria have all been looking up to her is just. It’s deflated. It’s suddenly deflated in front of their eyes.

Libby: Yes. Of course, we don’t know what it is that actually caused Vanya. We don’t know whether he read an article. Article that debuted, the Professor. I don’t think we know exactly what the specific circumstances. So that would be something an actor, Vanya and the professor would need to, to wrestle with, to figure out. Right. But yes, I think that’s excellent, Sarah. he retired. And what did they decide to do when. When they retired?

Sarah: They moved in.

Libby: Right, Moved in. You know, it’s a big difference in coming for two weeks and you’re a kind of popular star, and then you bring all your suitcases and you’re here to stay forever. What does that do?

Alberto: the, short term visits, were probably bearable, but to have to put up with this, professor for and you know, all you can think of, and he’ll be here forever, I think. You know, what is it? Guests and fish start to rot after how many days? And I’m. I’ve been here already how long? I forgot already. since. Not too long. It feels like this time. I mean.

Libby: Yes, I think that’s great.

Alberto: Yeah.

Libby: Any other thoughts about that?

Howard: It’s also like I. I always have this saying of be, careful of working for your heroes because they’ll just come off the pedestal. There’s like, There’s, There’s. They can only come down and it’s like Elena and the Professor. Everybody’s been at kind of this idealized distance forever and suddenly you’re like, you know, they’re. They’re going to be in your face permanently. And it’s like all they can do is lose. Lose value. I think that’s what’s happening. And then this love hexagon, I don’t know what it is, the love Pentagon that’s going on, you know, where everybody’s misplacing. The object of their desire is so rich, you know, I mean, it’s just such an amazing configuration and of course.

Libby: It’S kind of the center of most comedy, isn’t it? Everybody’s in love with the wrong person. it’s how you use those ingredients that makes the difference in, in the kind of play. But that ingredient is really at the center, being in love with the wrong person. how about the fact of, Yelena’s extreme beauty? What do you think about that and what has that got to do with the play?

Deidre: I think, you know, there’s a part of me that feels like there’s.

Libby: Like.

Deidre: It turns up, the feelings of inadequacy.

Deidre: It turns up, you know, I mean, everyone’s just doing what they need to do. And it’s dangling. It’s dangling something that is, irretrievable or it’s like dangling a carrot that’s always going to be dangled and that no one can find any satisfaction out of. And that, you know, definitely for Sonia, you know, I think her devotion and her, you know, her duty, has been the thing that has. And her caring has been the thing that has moved her forward. And now, you know, here’s something that she can’t attain, you know.

Deidre: Sorry.

Sarah: No, no, I. Zoom. Delay. I thought you were done. I didn’t mean to interrupt.

Deidre: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Go ahead, go ahead.

Sarah: Well, it also, I love everything you just said and it also makes me think, it really sets up the shallowness of beauty, as a commodity. Because everything else that’s said about Yelena is that she’s bored, she is dissatisfied, she’s moving through the life like a sloth. And then you have Sonja. They say she is plain, she says I’m plain. But she is running the farm. She has kept this place alive in every respect. Sonja should be a catch that Astrov, would love. Perfect Match when one will work on Savannah. But because of this beauty with nothing else underneath it, Yelena is still the more desired object.

Libby: In the early 70s, I was lucky enough to see a production of this, at Circle and Square in New York. I don’t even know if that theater still exists, but, George C. Scott, the movie star, played Astro. a very famous English actor by the name of Nicole Williamson played Vanya and Jully Christie. Do you know the name Jully Christie? The movie star of the 70s, 60s and 70s? Well in the beginning, as you know, in the opening scene she played Yelena. And in the opening scene, and I thought, I’m sorry, but in the, you know, Jully Christie, how can she stand next To George C. Scott, this mammoth, incredible actor. And Nicole Williamson. I mean it’s just impossible. Jully Christie, she’s a movie star. She belongs in photo books, not on the stage playing a character like this. Well, as you know, in the opening thing. And it makes me know what a brilliant showman, Chekhov was. The professor and Sonia and Waffles come in from the walk. And they’re walking and trailing behind is Yelena, you know, da da da, da, da, da da, dawdling her way. And Jully Christie walks in in this ivory colored lace dress. And I had, had never in my life seen anything so beautiful. And it makes you. It made me turn away for a moment because she was so beautiful that it’s hard to look at. And I think, I know that sounds strange, but I think I certainly have a lot of Sonya in me. There’s something scared of something that beautiful. She was actually wonderful in the show. But so, haha, Libby, for making judgment before. I should have but that, somebody said very early that the play had to do with longing for beauty. And that beauty is a very, very important part of what’s going on this summer. You know, they’re really looking at her walk across the stage in an ivory dress. Just exquisite.

Sarah: Yeah, it just makes me, think of the way in which Astroph continues to talk about the destruction of beauty in the natural world around them. So it’s like as that’s disappearing, here’s this thing that’s all the more important thing. Person to cling on to if that’s what you’re needing in your life.

Libby: Yes. And yet he remains sexually attracted to her even after she’s rebuffed him and he sees how prim she is. He’s still hoping for a rendezvous in the forest.

Deidre: Well, the beauty also breaks the boredom. You know, it’s like I think the fact that every day is the same year after year after year. And you’ve got this new thing, thing that helps to break up the way you think, the way you move, the way you, you think about life, the perception that you have about what really is beautiful and what really you do yearn for.

Libby: Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. I think, I think you have. You’re hitting the heart of the play. Why is this summer different than any other summer? Why didn’t the play happen? Why did Vanya go a little nuts this summer? Thoughts?

Corey: yes, I have, Perhaps age. They mention age quite a bit. And how old. They’re all.

Libby: How old did you see, Corey? How old Is he,

Corey: Vanya’s 47.

Libby: Right.

Corey: and, I mean, I’m not sure how old Sarah Bryakov is. I know astrop’s 37. So they’re all sort of getting older and more unable to do the things that they want to do. And here’s this young beauty in front of everybody. Yeah.

Libby: Yeah. Hard. And he’s longing for her. Vanya.

Sarah: Right.

Libby: He’s longing for her, and he’s not getting anywhere. She’s rebuffing him. And I don’t know. What do you. What do you think? Do you think that he’s been trying to seduce her every year when she comes for two weeks? Or is this new? What’s your sense? Yes, Howard.

Howard: Well, it feels like they’re in a. A pattern, you know, that the, A lot of it is. I mean, what I love about Vanya is. I mean, it feels like a lot of it is teasing. Almost like kind of sibling style. Teasing.

Libby: Yes.

Howard: And, she just sort of elegantly and inelegantly sort of rebuffs it. Like, has figured out how to handle him or how to keep him. How to keep it contained. And maybe this summer, because of the duration of the contact with her, it just. It just keeps building and build.

Nathan Agin: Building.

Howard: Reading your. Reading this translation, one of the things I was really struck by is that this has been going on for now 10 years, right? 10, 12 years. That he’s been pursuing or objectifying her and in love with her. And that Sonia has been going on for six years. You know, these are like these long, long, simmering, unrequited yearnings, you know, that. That all of a sudden, everyone’s like, I’m going to. Okay, I got to make a move now. You know, I got to figure out how I’m going to break this now.

Libby: Why is the now, Howard? What’s the now about it, beside the fact that we’re doing this play? So that’s the now. But why. Why is it happening now?

Howard: I think for Vanya, I think it is the age. having just crossed that threshold, there is this point, where there is a point of a now or neverness. And I think having Astrov as competition. You, know, reading this translation this past couple days, I was like. I was. I was aware that maybe Vanya, even in the first act, is already clocking Astro’s interest. Like, he can see Astro’s interest. And maybe that’s never been, like, there as a spoiler before. And it’s like, well, I better, you know, pardon my French. Or get off the pot here. Because if I don’t, he could. He could sweep, you know, And I think there’s also a sense that the professor may die. You know, that he’s fairly frail and old and, you know, she’s gonna be a widow. And you want to be there to pick that up maybe, like when. When he goes as well, you know. but I think it’s. I think it’s. Maybe it’s the. It’s the contact with. I don’t know. I don’t know how much exposure Astro has had to her in the past. It seems like he maybe wasn’t around as much when she was around.

Libby: He wasn’t around. He says that he. Sonia tells us that he only came once or twice a year and now, there every day.

Howard: Right. And I think his sensitivity is like, what is this? Why is he here?

Libby: And.

Howard: And, you know, you know, men are competitive, so.

Libby: People are competitive.

Howard: Yeah.

Libby: I think there’s even, dare I say, a little competition between Yelena and Sonia. Well, that we can look at at some other point. But. Yeah. Okay, so we’ve got some, male competition because Astroff is there a little bit more. So. Heightens the stakes a little bit. we’ve got 47. And what do you think that means, by the way? Chekhov was dead at 44. So 47 was already for. I mean, it’s very different than the way. I mean, I would say somebody. 47 is pretty young now, but it’s really middle age, don’t you think? I mean, 47 is the middle, hopefully the middle of someone’s life. what does that matter? Why is that important that it’s harped on throughout the play. His age? Anybody have any thoughts about that?

Sarah: Well, I wonder if, it’s linked in with, Vanya’s constant comparison to his brother in law and. And, previously his brother in law was somebody who had, you know, this academia and had this beautiful wife. So two unattainable things. And now that the professor has been revealed as one of these things being completely empty, it’s possible that, the second thing that he has is completely empty as well. So Vanya can’t. Vanya realizes one thing has collapsed. Well, maybe this other thing has collapsed too. Maybe now this is some suddenly unobtainable to me because this guy is just as worthless as I am, therefore, why shouldn’t I have that?

Libby: And he. That’s great, Sarah. And then it’s not just that he’s as worthless, but that he’s the one that I’ve been worshiping. M. Right. And I’ve been, you know, working myself to the bone for. And. And it’s. I don’t know. It’s idolizing somebody all your life, thinking that they’re stars and you’re grateful to be able to serve them, and then discovering that they’re liars and phonies and mean nothing. It’s, I would. I would think that it’s very catastrophic.

Sarah: Yeah. And then when you’re facing your own mortality, you are grasping for some purpose. You’re going, okay, I’m 47. Something has to have mattered that I have done. Let me attempt this. It doesn’t even matter. That’s Yelena. It probably could be another beautiful woman. But there’s just this grasp at purpose from Banya.

Libby: Yes.

Howard: There’s also, like, you know, I’m just a few years older than Vanya, but there’s this, like. There’s this moment right around now where people your age start to die. That is just, You know, I mean, everyone who’s been through it, you know, you’re just like, whoa, that guy is my age, you know, or younger. And that I think, you know, you suddenly go. You suddenly. Are your parents age, you know, or you are your parents. And all of that just kind of. It just catches up with you all at one time. you know, I’ve been like. I’ve always jokingly said, I was. I was kind of a late bloomer in my career in film, in film and tv. And I was like, well, I’m not gonna have time for midlife crisis because I got here too late. But it happens.

Libby: There’s always time for a midlife crisis. But you just said it. Midlife crisis. How does that work with this play?

Howard: I think he’s unmarried. You know, he’s unmarried at 47. And he’s like, if I don’t get married now, I won’t. You know, and that’s.

Libby: And unaccomplished in his own feelings about, What if everything that you’ve been supporting, holding up suddenly appears and Chekhov doesn’t tell us what it is that Vanya sees about the professor’s work. Let’s just do a little imagining here. What could have crashed the idol from high up down to the ground into little pieces? Why. Why would Vanya lose complete faith in the professor, do you think, in this short amount of time? I don’t have an answer for that. I honestly don’t. And that is so individual and actor oriented. Because Chekhov doesn’t even hint at it. Corey. Oops.

Corey: I’m sorry. My light went out really quickly. So what was the question?

Libby: I’m glad it wasn’t me. That’s all.

Howard: I.

Corey: No, no, no. It was my light. Sorry. But, I’m sorry. Can you repeat the question?

Libby: What do you think it is that the professor did that made Vanya just see that he’s a sham?

Corey: I mean, it could be that he’s. It’s just the way he carries himself. Perhaps that he’s. Like.

Howard: He has.

Corey: He’s sick. He’s very sick With. With rheumatism, I think. And he sees that he’s still being himself, his pompous self. And I.

Libby: It.

Corey: Perhaps it was an article like you said earlier, or word of mouth. Maybe someone he went into town and had heard from a local shopkeeper or something that he’s nothing. He’s. He’s written about nothing that nobody else has written about. He’s written about things that other really smart people have already written. So he’s not smart. He’s. Well, not as intelligent as he puts off, I guess. Kind of a sham.

Libby: I think that’s good. Anybody else have any thoughts about that? I. I don’t know the answer. Yes, Jully.

Jully: Going deeper into that. I mean, it sounds like it could have been plagiarism.

Libby: Oh, that’s a fantastic thought. Where.

Jully: Where he’s taking someone else’s words and making it his, own. Which is kind of what he’s doing with Vanya’s life work, right?

Libby: Yes.

Jully: Taking Vanya’s life work and profiting off of it himself.

Libby: Yes, he is. Yes. Deidre, you. You were starting.

Deidre: There’s just, like, the wonder of, like, in trying. You know, it’s like you have an idol, and you try to engage them in. You know, you try to learn what they know. And try to either impress them or engage them in the conversation. Or to gain knowledge and find out that he’s not getting back what he thought he would. He’s not getting. Getting. Getting the responses that he thinks that he would get. He’s not getting the.

Libby: The,

Deidre: Wisdom that he thought that he would receive from this person who is supposed to be so lauded, you know?

Libby: Exactly. And, that’s a pretty big crash. And Vanya, from the minute we meet him very early in the play, remember, first we have the little scene between, Marina and, Astrov. She’s trying to get him to eat something because he’s pacing back and forth. That is my favorite scene because it’s my Jewish grandmother saying, eat, eat something. You will never find that in any other translation. Take a look at other Uncle Von. She’s trying to offer him something to eat. But. But the eat, eat something is definitely from my family. Vanya is. From the first moment he speaks to Astro when he wakes up, he’s absolutely deplores. He absolutely deplores the professor and talks about how his feelings have crashed. and plagiarism is a fantastically interesting idea. in any case, who’s ever playing both Vanya and the professor, and probably everybody there, all of you need to have an idea in your head why the. Why it would be such a tremendous fall into the ground. I don’t know, it would be like somebody telling me or, ah, finding out that Judi Dench really doesn’t even speak. And it’s somebody else’s voice that’s going, you know, somebody that I think is so brilliant and so wonderful. Or that Maggie O’Farrell, who’s my latest passion, you know, didn’t write these books. And so, it all came crashing down. But there’s something there that creates Vanya from the first minute he doesn’t learn it over the play, it’s there from the first minute the play begins that he’s crashed. His idol has fallen at his feet. And if you’ve spent your whole life supporting that idol and doing everything for that idol, and that idol crashes at your feet, that’s a pretty big blow to your life. And if you’re 47, it’s a very big blow because there’s not a lot to change after that.

Deidre: But maybe it’s also. Sorry, maybe it’s also seeing that here’s this woman that you have that you love. You only see them for two weeks at a time, so you’re not really able to see. See the interaction that happens. And so when you see this interest that you have, this love that you have, this yearning, and you see that she’s not receiving the attention and the love that you expect that she should get, and you’re not able to give that to her and she’s tied in with someone else. That also breeds. Like, why him? You know, what does he have that I don’t? You know? And so, like that. That’s a cancer in itself.

Libby: Yes, absolutely. You’re absolutely right. And so you see that these two figures who have decided to live there until the third act, the professor, says that they’re going to sell, these two, the beautiful, exquisite, almost impossible to look at because she’s so beautiful. and the idol of the academic world who turns out to be a phony or whatever. It all comes together this summer when he’s 47 years old. And at 47, living on a farm. What are his opportunities of anything else happening in his life? Alison, can you share what do you think his job opportunities are life opportunities for Vanya?

Alison: Oh, I think, I mean, Russia in this time was pretty calcified in terms of roles and the way that you’re born into a kind of caste system in a way, and you don’t generally leave it. Like you can’t, you know, you usually can’t aspire to like, be a self made man. I mean, maybe that’s possible, but there’s, but not in the rural part of Russia where this is not for somebody who’s older, not for somebody who, you know, whose level of education is what it, is what it is. There’s not the sense of, like, upward mobility where, like, if you just work hard enough, you can be anything. Like that idea doesn’t exist at all in Russia at this time. Like at all. Unheard of.

Libby: That’s great, Alison. That’s very helpful and very true. So that’s another thing. Remember, the play is called Uncle Vanya. Everybody’s yearning and everybody’s lost, but the play is called Uncle Vanya. Dadya. Vanya. Right. God, Giovanna, I love that. he doesn’t have very many options. And if everything that you want and have worked for becomes a soap bubble. Do you remember when he says, oh, it’s an arsene. I won’t even talk about that now. okay, so we have a beautiful woman who won’t act upon her own desires, but only provokes everybody else’s desires coming, to stay permanently. And we have a phony professor who. And, I think all of us that have ever done anything in academia have met the professor by before. You know, that guy that takes over a meeting and has, pronouncements, about everything and opinions about everything. when those two come, it’s like, the summer of the locusts or the forest fires or. It’s the event. The event in this play is not the shooting. It’s that these two people have come to stay and they have created, all of this panic and pain from everybody there. Does that make sense to you? It’s such a subtle thing that that’s what creates it. You need to know, and maybe Allison, you know a little bit about this, the theater of Chekhov’s time was melodramatic, not realistic. Right. Alison, do you have any thoughts about. I mean, Chekhov was taking seemingly quiet, ordinary events and making.

Alison: Well, he was taking normal domestic events and making them interesting, as opposed to putting extraordinary events onto domestic situations.

Libby: Yes.

Alison: You know, and so, like, the melodrama comes out of the desperation and the earnestness of the characters and what a normal person is willing to do under extraordinary conditions, as opposed to the opposite, which is so often historically true in theater, you know, that, like, in classical theater, it’s always like, extraordinary people, you know, meeting with even more extraordinary circumstances. But with Chekhov, you know, it’s a normal person who is just experiencing unrequited love. And that’s the stuff of drama.

Libby: Yes, exactly right. Yes. And so it’s groundbreaking in its own time, but it’s even groundbreaking now. Although I do have to say I realize that, situational comedies are not about extraordinary families and friendships. They’re about ordinary. So I think we’ve learned a lot from Chekhov’s theater. Chekhov was the base for an awful lot of writers and playwrights. and that was known. But here’s this kind of ordinary event of people coming and staying longer, and the whole world crashes. What else do you see going on in the play? what other things are there for you? Somebody talked a little bit about, the environmental. What do you think about that? was Chekhov preaching? I mean, what do you think about Astrov’s views about, the environment and the wastefulness? It seems.

Sarah: I’m not an expert, but it seems like it must have been, a common theme being discussed at the time. Because doesn’t, Lenin and Anna Karenina also focus on the environment quite a bit?

Libby: Levin is Levin. Thank you. Yeah.

Sarah: Not Lenin.

Libby: Lenin had a different environment.

Sarah: So I don’t have an answer. It’s a bigger question. Is. It makes me wonder. This seems to be a big discourse that was happening amongst, at least the educated in Russia at the time.

Libby: I think Tolstoy. Yes, absolutely everything was a boil in Russia at the time. this play was what, 1899 and 1905 was the first of the big revolutions. 1917 is the big one, but 1905 was almost as big. And the revolutionaries, were seething about the czar and the way the country was run, always for hundreds of years. So all of that was going on. Yes. Tolstoy felt that going back into the peasantry, going back to the earth, making yourself in tune with the Earth was a way of finding your spiritual side. And developing yourself as a human being. I think we understand that, and a lot of us feel similarly in the world that we live in. But astro is not 11. He’s not. That’s not what it’s about for him. What do you think it’s about for him? He talks an awful lot. and he doesn’t just talk to Jelena when he’s trying to seduce her, in a way, with his drawings. But, he talks almost right from the beginning. He talks about what’s happening to the forests and the animals. What do you think that’s about for him?

Corey: well, I think maybe since he’s a doctor, he’s, trying to heal something. And probably try to heal something about himself as well in that way. I don’t know. He sees.

Howard: I,

Corey: Mean, he talks about this constant beauty in the forest. And that’s where you’ll find beauty. And then everything’s crashing down. And then Yelena’s beauty is also being wasted. It’s a sedentary lifestyle, just being wasted. The world’s being wasted. And.

Libby: Yeah, that’s great waste. Big, big question in this, In this play, isn’t it?

Howard: Oh, sorry. No, you go ahead with Astro. One of the things, like Chekhov himself, you know, who was, at least in my understanding, traveled a lot. Chekhov. And was traveling all over Russia by train. And as a doctor, you’re different than Vanya and Sonia. Sitting in a house surrounded by the same world, day in and out. He’s like. I mean, Astroff talks about to get to their house is 20 miles. And you get this sense that he’s a person constantly kind of moving around. With this kind of Chekhovian, detached, observational eye. That he’s just seeing the countryside over these two decades disintegrate, you know. And you read about Chekhov making those. Like, didn’t he travel to the very far east of Russia?

Libby: The island. That’s right.

Nathan Agin: Yeah.

Alison: Partially by courage, which is, like, insane.

Libby: Yes. He was ill at the time. He. He wanted to see it. And it was after wood demon crashed for him. So, you know, he made that.

Howard: Yeah, but just. Just the sense of. He’s like. He’s not. He’s just. He’s seeing things and describing what he’s seeing. The trees are disappearing.

Libby: He’s stuck there. He can’t seem to move. This is. He’s very. Well, he’s a country doctor. Right, Astrov. And, he has to travel to people. And he sees the worst of poverty and the worst of, unfulfilled lives all the time. And he’s found a way to, guard against it by falling in with nature, which is pretty spectacular.

Sarah: Yes, Sarah, he’s also. He’s answering in his attempt to keep the forest the thing that is impossible for him as a doctor. As a doctor, you are fighting a losing battle permanently, because we’re all going to die. But the forest can continue on. You know, the land can continue on. Nature can endure if you take care of it, unlike human beings. And so it’s this. It’s like this unsatisfied thing in his doctor’s life that he’s attempting to resolve on the land itself. Yeah, he has that huge monologue about that. You know, he’s so fixated on that man who died on his operating table. He can’t solve that, but he can solve the forest. If.

Libby: What do you think about that fixation? about the man that was dying on the operating, table. And I don’t know whether, Deirdre, you remember, but, Chebu Tikin tells you the story, Irina, the story about the man dying on the table, which traumatized him. And he was a pretty guarded guy who didn’t let much in except liquor. so this obviously had a, painful m meaning for Chekhov. Sarah, I interrupted you. What do you think about that man?

Sarah: Oh, that’s as far as I had gotten. I mean, I think that man, serves in contrast to, like. It’s just this clear example of he cannot, no matter what he does, he cannot prevent death ultimately, but he can help the forest endure long past his own life.

Libby: But as you said, it’s interesting to me because I think it’s a little bit of a mystery, and it’s a joyful thing, which I think, Corey, I think you’ll have fun trying to figure out is why this bothered. I mean, he sees death every day. Why did this man on the operating table who died under anesthetic, why is it so touching to him? It is true that Chekhov, was a doctor. He paid his way through med school in Moscow by writing stories and became very famous in his time. Actually. He was a very well known, and celebrated author of short stories. And he took risk writing plays. But, he, was a doctor. And that’s so key, isn’t it, to the kind of objective, scientific attitude that he sees in people? I know we’re going to say how awful the professor is and what a she is and so difficult, but that’s not what Chekhov is saying. we’ll explore all that as we work through the characters in the play. But the fact that he was a physician is so key to his attitude about all of these things that are happening to these people. He sees it with a dispassionate eye, but tells the truth. Okay, what. What else I. What I’m trying to do tonight? Let me. Let me give you an overview of the way I’m looking at this. we will start next Monday with reading our scene. It’s actually a long. It’s more than one scene. It’s a few pieces. And. And Nathan and I had some fun trying to figure, out how many pages we were allowed to go because of timing on it, of course. I wanted to do the whole second act, because those last couple of scenes are pretty spectacular with the two girls and the two guys, and the guy and the girl. but anyway, we’ll start by reading our scene. and then we’ll go back through line by line and figure out what people are thinking and why they’re thinking it and how that’s put together. So we’re going to take it apart in a way that you never have enough time in rehearsals to do. You always wish that you could do that at the table. and then, at the end of the evening next week, we’ll read it again and then go back. And no matter how short, how little we get through, we’ll always read and then read again at the end, so that the. The play will continue to flower with your discoveries and my discoveries of what’s going on. But I want to. But tonight I wanted this to be. And it is about, kind of the big themes, the theme that the play is based upon and, the themes that are operating through these characters. Have you got any further thoughts about that? Let, me outline for you what we’ve been talking about. We’ve been talking about middle age crisis. Right. We’ve been talking about the destruction of the environment. We’ve been talking about the impermanence, if you will, of beauty. and the longing for beauty. Someone said that very early. and feeling dissatisfied with your life. Middle. Middle age crisis. And what’s the weather, Alison?

Alison: Oh, it’s summer. And there is a storm coming.

Libby: The storm coming. He does use some theatrical devices. Yes. And what happens in a climate like that when a storm is coming? What’s the air like?

Alison: so it’s very humid, actually, and very hot. And when the wind starts up With a storm, you can actually go on YouTube. I was finding all of this footage of. Of a couple different storms that hit Moscow in the last, like, five years or so. And, Melychovo, ah, which is, Chekhov’s estate, which is 40 miles outside of Moscow. So it’s like, pretty much the same climate. Like these storms in Moscow. You can see, like, parts of buildings flying off and, like, the canvas cover of a tennis pavilion, like, coming up and flying off. So unbelievably dramatic, very chaotic. It’s not like a. Oh, is it raining? You know, like a romantic, like, light kind of storm. It’s like a run, run, get shelter kind of storm.

Libby: Yeah.

Alison: So I would recommend looking around online to actually see the footage of it. And you can see the volume of the rain and stuff. It’s like what many of us would think of as, like, a monsoon or something, you know, like an extraordinary, you know, because it’s a fertile landscape. And so, of course, it’s gonna be this, like, you know, green landscape with these storms that blow in of thunder and lightning and aliveness and the.

Libby: And the air is very heavy and very heavy.

Alison: Like, I mean, especially those of you, who have experienced the east coast, like the mid Atlantic, you know, up through New England. That’s a. It’s a particular kind of summer. Like, heavy.

Libby: Yes, exactly. Yes. So the storm is coming, and we’ve, got midlife, crisis happening in the middle of it, which is the storm, really. One of the other things that strikes me that I wanted to, share with you is this sense of nervous breakdown or nerves that are exposed or raw. Ah. Where do you see that? And how do you think that affects the whole thing? Anybody have any thoughts about that? Nerves.

Deidre: You know, you definitely see it with, Jelena and Sonia. You see that in there. You know, Sonia’s just. She’s nervous and she, you know, she needs to talk, but she, you know, she’s, afraid of the truth being told, and she’s afraid of showing her heart, and she’s afraid of. Of, the fact that she’s not going to be, you know, that she’s not beautiful. And so you just. You sense the tension between her and Yelena and the fact that they want to make up, but they, you know, they want to be friends. And there’s that struggle in that relationship. yes.

Deidre: What I thought was really interesting not to leave this. But what I think was really interesting is right at the end, where it almost feels like the end of the storm, you know, it just. It all kind of gets pedestrian in.

Libby: A way, at the end of the play. Yeah.

Deidre: You know, even though there’s all this stuff bubbling underneath. I mean, everything that’s happened, but they’re like, you know, getting their figures together, you know, counting out the number, the covers that they. Back to.

Libby: Yeah. Yeah, but then. But then you have. Yeah. And that. What do you make of that? Why do you think that happens? I mean, when. When there’s big stuff happening in a play and big crisis, nobody goes back to normal. Somebody dies, somebody. You know, things happen. What do you. What do you make of the fact that this goes back to. Well, you’ll get the same amount as I’ve always given you. And scratching of the pens and the reading, of the pamphlets.

Deidre: I mean, there’s a part of me that feels like there’s just. There’s comfort even in the boredom. There’s comfort in the familiar. In the familiar. Like, you know, let’s just. Let’s just. Let’s just go back to zero again. You know. Let’s just go back to what’s comfortable.

Libby: safe.

Deidre: Yeah.

Sarah: Yeah.

Deidre: But I don’t want to change the topic because you were.

Libby: You were talking about the war nerves. No, I like what you’re saying too. I want us to examine these larger things. I think it’s kind of daring of Chekhov, to let things go back to. In quotes, normal. When nothing is normal anymore. Everything’s been exposed. Astrav is not allowed to come anymore. This is tiny, but it doesn’t occur in our scenes, so I’ll mention it to you. Astrov is a drinker, which is very, very common. And especially in a rural life where there’s very little entertainment, or fun. And drinking vodka is what you do. So he’s a big drinker. And Sonia. Oh, that is in our scene, isn’t it? Sonia begs him. Yeah. Well, do you remember in the end, in the fourth act, Deidre, Nanya offers him a drink. And he has promised her that he’ll never drink.

Deidre: And he does.

Libby: And he does.

Deidre: Yeah.

Libby: I mean, to me, that little touch of, He promised her he’d never do it again. And then it just happens at the end. I mean, it’s. Here’s what I want to say. Here’s what I kind of want to have you think about a little bit. Chekhov is like the painter Monet or any of the Impressionists in that he will take different colors to make one color. And he will daub different colors and different textures. That you don’t know what it is when you’re standing up close to it. Because it looks like it’s mushy paint and funny colors. And when you step back, it’s a beautiful lady in a poppy field. Or whatever it is. Clouds coming over. He. He daubs his canvas with little actions. Don’t drink anymore. Then nothing is made of it. She doesn’t say to him in the fourth act, why are you drinking? Nothing. We just have to notice that he’s drinking again. All of the actions are ordinary and expected and put together. They tell you what’s really going on inside these human beings. So for me, these are very great paintings or great works of art. That it takes very close looking at. Before you, can get the whole picture. You have to stand back. But you also have to examine all of the different colors. That make blue. Make a sky or make a lake. That’s the journey for the actor to find the behaviors. The ordinary thing that Things that people do. Vanya is a very ordinary guy. You know, he spent his life working this farm. He’s not a farmer, per se. He’s kind of a manager. But he’s not stupid. He has had some education. His mother reads political and critical pamphlets. These are not people who have not had any opportunities. It’s a surprising and interesting view of a group of people. Without them being melodramatic or special in any way. Except one is unbelievably beautiful. And before this, I don’t know that Sonia worried about her beauty. It was only until she was able to let out that she was in love with Astrov. I mean, it’s a hot summer night with a storm coming. That’s what’s happening in this play. Do you have any other thoughts?

Sarah: I have one other thought. which is just that we haven’t talked yet. About, the professor’s first wife. And how that might be playing into Vanya’s psyche as well. As far as he lost his beloved sister. Is there an impulse to save Yelena. As a way to make up for the fact that his sister is gone?

Libby: I think that’s great thought. I don’t know. What do you think, Howard? Do you have a sense, in that it’s interesting.

Howard: Like what, Allison was talking about earlier. That there’s no social mobility. And this will all come back to the professor. But it seems like for the sister. For my sister to marry. The professor was upwardly mobile. Correct.

Alberto: He’s.

Libby: Well, he’s an academic star.

Howard: But he’s in a Higher. He’s in a higher cast. And we sort of had to buy our way into that. And that was the, you know, that was the, like, star staking the farm on getting. Making this change for her and for all of us, probably. Right. That was going to lift all of our boats. And then it didn’t. And then. And then this trophy wife, for lack of a better word, comes along and. And it’s like. And he. And I meet her at this young impression. I love that speech where he says, I could have married her, you know, that the. That it’s all part of his fantasy or his, delusion, I guess, that he could have been this academic. He could have been the professor he could have married.

Libby: He could have been Dostoevsky.

Howard: He could have been. Right, he says that.

Libby: Right.

Howard: I could have been. I could have been Dostoevsky.

Libby: and Nietzsche. Schopenhauer. Who is it?

Howard: Schopenhauer. Yeah, yeah, I could have been Schopenhauer.

Libby: Dostoevsky.

Howard: that she’s, like, all part of this wrapped up in this fantasy of changing who I am. Like, I think that’s what Vanya constantly has, is this fantasy of, like, I can become somebody. I can just by saying so, I can be somebody else. And then constantly having that pushback in his face. So, all of that’s relative to Giulayda somehow, I guess.

Libby: No, no, no, it is, it is.

Howard: She’s part of the fantasy. I could have that. I could have that sophisticated, conservatory, educated, beautiful, princess. And just as. Just as much as she’s a. She’s a possession in some ways, I think, to find his fantasy and do.

Libby: Do. That’s a terrific word to use because do you remember a woman’s place was as a possession to their husband. Aren’t they still. Maybe not, no. But that’s great.

Sarah: And there’s that. I, can’t remember the details, but he says something about the fact that his sister died taking care of the professor. Like she wore herself down to the ground in order to keep him elevated. That is the final result of helping this guy.

Libby: It’s interesting, too. I never stopped to think about that until you just said that, Sarah, that, they only had one child, Sonia, which is, I think, not ordinary. She was very young. She was obviously a student. No, Yelena was worshiped, him as a professor. but, Sonia’s mother only had the one child. And, you do get a sense that Sonia knew her mother, so she didn’t die in childbirth, but one child is a small family. I wonder what that dynamic was.

Howard: Maybe it’s also, you have a narcissist child of a husband. Do you have time for more? You know, if you’re taking care of the professor, would you be like, well, one kid is maybe as much as I can handle with this marriage.

Libby: That’s true, but I don’t think people made those kinds of choices.

Howard: One kid is maybe that’s too modern.

Libby: That is a little. And it’s a little giving freedom of thought and planning to a woman, which I think it would have to do with what he wanted. I mean, he. He must be a full time job to take care of him. I don’t know. Have to think about that.

Sarah: And also, how young did she die? was there even time and opportunity for a second child if this guy just wore her to death after one child was out?

Libby: Yeah.

Alison: To me it’s an interesting question too, because he doesn’t seem to. This, is probably best for Alberto, but to look at what it is that Sarah Byakov is into in terms of his marriages and what he likes with his partners. You know, it’s funny if there’s a discussion of Yelena as a possession. I think somebody who relates to women as a possession relates to them differently in an intimate way. I don’t know. I think there’s so much to be looked at there.

Libby: I think that’s true, Alison. And clearly, his first wife, Sonia’s mother was very beautiful too, that we keep hearing that. I don’t know that she’s the beauty. That Yelena is an exceptional beauty. She’s the kind that you have to look away from. She’s Jully Christie, you know. but one gets a sense that Sonia’s mother was also very beautiful. And he seems to attract, these young worshiping students, beautiful young women. There must have been something there. Alberto, what do you think?

Alberto: Well, yeah, the, academic just going beautiful. so our daughter got my looks, I guess.

Howard: And,

Libby: yes, that’s right. She looks more like the professor than she does the mother.

Alberto: I think a certain intellectual cachet that he had that. That was very attractive. I mean, there’s something about what one perceives as smart people that is also attractive, I think.

Libby: Yeah.

Alberto: You know, and he wasn’t. He was in the prime of his life, probably, what, early 30s or something.

Libby: Yes.

Alberto: and, and this, this family seems to have, artistic yearnings almost. I mean, the mother is, you know, has literary interests, and Vanya and Sonia spent a lot of time, transcribing and, translating for, For, the professors. So it’s not like they were, you know, hicks or rubes. You know, they had a certain literary sophistication.

Libby: Absolutely.

Alberto: Which I. Which, Which the professor probably fed into, you know. and the sense of them doing something worthwhile, you know, artistically, I think might have been very attractive to, consider. And, Yeah, I think in terms of, him, m. The professor, being able to attract this. Younger, beautiful women. I think it’s not. It’s not unlikely. I mean, I find that, I just think. Why do certain literary, stars attract groupies? You know, I mean, they may not be in the best shape, you know, and yet they, They do attract the person, of the opposite sex. Yeah.

Libby: I think you’re right. And it’s true that, people in really almost any profession that become stars, kind of act as magnets for others who may not feel as if they could go as far.

Alberto: Yes. And he has supreme confidence in his talents, at least at that time. So that. That’s also very attractive, I think. Confidence, self worth, you know, is very attractive to, a very young woman.

Libby: This play. You just said something so important. I think, Alberto, this play is a lot about measuring your own self worth. And when it. When it’s been pricked and hurt, what happens to you? What. How do you dissolve into. Into what? I mean, you know, in the fourth act, Vanya is ready to take, the heroin or whatever are the pills that, The liquids that, Astro has. He wants to finish his life. And that’s a very good. Yeah, sorry, go ahead. No, you.

Alison: I was just gonna say, I mean, there’s also the difference between the self confidence that’s projected out into the world and the self concept, the self confidence that’s performed in the bedroom or, you know, in. When people are not looking.

Libby: That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. There’s a lot about intimacy in this as well. We. We could really get a sense of sexual repression and sexual, possession on the part of,

Alberto: I have the thought that Absolutely no basis in the play. That Sonia was a difficult birth for my, first wife. The reason there was never another child was because she was unable to have another child.

Nathan Agin: Child.

Alberto: And, you know, her. Her health, as a matter of fact, deteriorated from that point on.

Libby: So. So do you think you. The professor, might blame Sonia? Is that,

Alberto: You know, I don’t know if it even entered my mind. Yeah. It’s just like, oh, well, you know, I’m not sure how true, if any, my feelings were for Sonia’s mother. You know, if I, mean, it just feels like he’s so self absorbed and narcissistic that it almost like, Yeah, it’s like, oh, well, my first wife died and there’s this new young, lady, you know, who can fulfill that role that my first wife.

Libby: That trophy wife.

Alberto: Yeah.

Libby: Yeah. That’s great.

Alberto: Yeah. I don’t know if feelings of blame or, you know, enter his mind even. It’s almost like, oh, what an annoying imposition. My wife has died.

Libby: Well, well, well, I don’t know. I don’t see him as. He is absolutely self absorbed. There’s no question about that. And he is definitely arrogant. There’s no question about that. But I feel for him.

Alberto: There’s a certain self awareness though, so I think I might be painting him with two.

Alberto: It’s not a cartoon.

Libby: No, it’s not a cartoon. Thank you for saying that.

Alberto: Yes, he has a certain self awareness. I’m not sure if it translates into his behavior, but he is aware that. Yeah, I may m not.

Libby: He’s aware that his world is falling apart.

Alberto: Right.

Libby: He’s trying to make other plans.

Alberto: but it’s also very solipsistic because it’s still him, you know, I mean, he’s unaware that what his plans would mean to all these other people. It’s like, yes, what, what, what did I do wrong?

Libby: Yes, exactly.

Alberto: You know?

Libby: Yes. Yes. Well, we have a lot to think about, I think, for, next time. I’m very excited to be with you all. You’re. You’re all going to be just so lovely reading this. I can feel it, feel it already. The energy is very good and I appreciate your interest in this project and I think. Anybody have anything else they want to talk about? Nathan, do you want to come back or are you gone forever or. Well, there you are.

Nathan Agin: I’m never really gone, Olivia.

Libby: You know, Deidre, Nathan reminds me of a tusimbar. Doesn’t he seem like he would be a good toosenbo.

Deidre: I watched that video, and I, and I saw, Was David Kelly on there? I don’t think he was, but yeah.

Libby: David Kelly was tusompak.

Deidre: Yeah, I know.

Libby: Oh, I worked with David Kelly.

Deidre: I worked with him a, couple years ago.

Libby: Oh, I didn’t know that. You know what, speaking of film, let me just say, did anybody see the Uncle Vanya that was done on pbs. That was an, English. That was awfully good.

Howard: Toby James.

Libby: Yes, Toby Jones. And I thought it was very well directed. And I thought the translation, Alison, was really interesting and contemporary. And it’s, Colin McPherson, contemporary playwright, did the translation, and I thought it was really good. And did any of you ever see Vanya on 42nd Street? The Wallace Shawn? It’s awfully interesting. Also, you should watch both of them. It’s just to add to the experience, because every. Every Chekhov, showing is, personal for the actors that play them. which makes it so wonderful because actors reveal themselves so deeply in a Czechoff play if they’re doing well. and, it touches you on another way. I mean, because these plays are so purposeful. Somebody was saying earlier that, you know, the defenses that you use on top to hide what’s really going on underneath, that’s called subtext gang. But anyway, just, watch these things if you can find them. I forgot how you would find the uncle, Vanya on the pbs. Does anybody know how you would do that?

Howard: You can get it on itunes.

Libby: Oh, there you go.

Alberto: It’s also the David Mamet, adaptation Terrible, Terrible, which, I don’t really remember well. And, of course, there’s, Olivier’s, production for the Chichester Festival with Michael.

Libby: Was it. Was it Three Sisters or Vanya?

Alberto: With, Olivier as Astro and Michael, Redgrave as Vanya.

Libby: Was it good? Was it good, Alberto?

Alberto: I’m sorry?

Libby: Was it good?

Alberto: It was the first Uncle Vanya I ever saw, and I was bowled over. I remember being very impressed with Rosemary Harris, who was Yelena.

Howard: But, I saw it a couple years ago.

Alberto: I mean, I saw it when I was, in my 20s. So I may have fond memories that when I see it again, I might go, oh, my God.

Libby: Yeah. Yes, I know. I know all those things. Howard, did you like it? Was it.

Howard: I loved it. It was so energetic and, you know, because he’s just so virile, for lack of a better word.

Libby: Olivier?

Alberto: You’re talking about Olivier?

Howard: Yeah. And the first part of it I’d ever seen was the map scene. And he. It’s just that the, sexual chemistry between them is very palpable in the way they both.

Libby: Where did you find it? On what screen?

Howard: I think you can see clips of it. I don’t know if the whole thing is available, but clips of it are on YouTube.

Libby: Is everything in the world on YouTube? I never go to YouTube.

Alberto: The library. The la, city library app called Canopy, where you canopy with A K?

Ursula: Yeah, Canopy with a K. Universities all have it too. So if you have a UCSB through your kid canopy, you could get it on canopy.

Alberto: I haven’t dared to watch it again because I don’t want to spoil my.

Libby: Fond memory, you know. I know how you feel. Don’t spoil it. Don’t. Because it would spoil it. It would look old fashioned. And don’t do it.

Alberto: you can. On YouTube, there’s the Russian, rather, very fast moving Uncle Vanya.

Deidre: really?

Alberto: Yeah.

Libby: I’m gonna look it up.

Alberto: Yeah.

Libby: Okay.

Nathan Agin: if anyone, you know, wants to send me links or you know, respond to a group email or whatever, I can try to, you know, pull those together and put them on like the dashboard or something like that so that, you know, people can find. And even if it’s just a link to, you know, here’s where you would purchase this version or here’s where you would, you know, that kind of thing. We can just have that all in one place as additional resources, for all you guys.

Libby: Great. That would be great.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, sure.

Alberto: I don’t know how to do that, but tell you about it. I’ll, continue.

Nathan Agin: Give me a call, Alberto, and just, you know, tell me, tell me where these things are. I’ll go find them.

Libby: Oh, I’m so glad I’m not the only one in the room who doesn’t have. You will. You will send us a new link. I mean, it’s the same, but you’ll send it again next week. Yeah.

Nathan Agin: So you’ll, you’ll all get an email to tomorrow with if you want to go back and watch any of this replay, you’ll get an email tomorrow with that link. and then, we have, a session with Ursula on Thursday afternoon. Thank you actually for reminding me. So on Thursday afternoon, anyone that has just voice questions or would like to talk to Ursula more about, exploring voice with regards to this scene. Thursday, at 5, you can show up and talk to Ursula then. Or if you can’t make it, send me some questions that, you know, I can share with Ursula. And then we can get that recorded so you can, you can you know, hear back any answers. And then, I know on Friday, Ursula and Howard are working, on the voice with on Vanya. And then once we get the schedule with sorry, Allison and Howard, we’ll get that on the calendar and let, let you guys know if people want to sit in on

Libby: Nice. That’s great.

Nathan Agin: We Try to do as much as we can.

Deidre: You sure do.

Libby: It’s great. Those are wonderful. Wonderful. And to have Alison. My God, how long has it been since I’ve seen you, Allison?

Alison: I was thinking about that. I think it’s been nine years. I think it’s been since 2012 or so.

Ursula: Well, none of us have aged.

Libby: Oh, no, no. We did the other translations. I don’t think we were finished until 14, and the book came out in 15.

Alison: Oh, wow.

Libby: Yeah.

Alison: Well, because the last time. Oh, yeah. Actually, if Ivanov was the last one.

Libby: Yeah. Ah.

Alison: Maybe 20. Maybe 2014.

Libby: And somebody here said that Ivanov was in production that they saw was a. You, Jully Ivanov. Nobody does Ivanov. I’m begging anybody to do Ivanov. Oh. And that’s the one Chekhov play you had ever seen. I love that. I absolutely love it. When no one on earth has seen Ivanov.

Howard: I saw Cate Blanchett do Ivanov.

Libby: You did.

Howard: On M. Broadway. Yeah.

Ursula: Saw her do Vanya, too.

Libby: No, that was Vanya or Seagull.

Howard: No, it was in Ivanov with her and Richard Roxborough. They brought it over from.

Libby: From their Australian.

Howard: They called it the Gift or the Party or the Present or the,

Libby: It was modern.

Ursula: It was modern. Yeah.

Howard: Yeah. It’s modernized.

Libby: Oh. Was it funny? Should be very funny.

Howard: It wasn’t very good.

Libby: Oh, okay.

Ursula: But the Vanya was fabulous. that Vanya with the Australian company, that was really good.

Libby: You saw it in person?

Ursula: Yeah, yeah, in D.C. i saw it. It was a Russian director, the Australian company. But really physical. People fell out of windows, and it’s great.

Howard: The Ivanov was. It was bedlam. I mean, there was just, like, fireworks going off and lights. I mean, it was just. It was like a farce almost. But it was.

Libby: Well, it is like a farce. And the second and fourth act are really. The second act certainly is a farce.

Howard: Yeah. It just kind of ran. You were just like, this is too much of the same thing.

Sarah: I know.

Libby: It’s really hard. It’s not a great play. It’s not one of the great ones, but it’s got good stuff in it. All right, my dear friends, I’ll see you, on Monday.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, we’ll see you on Monday. And I just wanted to pipe in. I just found. And maybe you’d already covered it, but, to go back to the beginning, the midsummer that Sarah saw. Ken, Albers directed that. And Libby, you directed, if, this is correct, Richard ii, that same season.

Libby: Alan Knight. Yes. With David Kelly. Speak of the devil. Yes. There you Go.

Nathan Agin: All right.

Sarah: And, Ursula messaged me privately. that was her husband in the same. And, he was the, Theseus and Oberon in that production that I saw. I just got to meet him.

Libby: Yeah.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, he’s fantastic.

Libby: He m. Is. He’s a fantastic actor. Just fantastic actor.

Nathan Agin: Yeah. And he’s so. He’s so, humble, but he’s just so, you know, easy going. You would never suspect it. And I watched the Goodman production of, Measure For Measure, and I had worked with him a little bit on this, and I knew Jamie was good. And then I watched that and, you know, after the first scene, I was like, oh, no, he’s really good.

Libby: Yes, that’s right. He’s really good.

Nathan Agin: But you just don’t. You don’t. He doesn’t give up that air. He’s just like, oh, yeah, how’s it going? You know, it’s just very easy going. And, But yeah, there’s a lot of talent there.

Libby: And, he’s extremely funny.

Nathan Agin: Yeah. If, we’ll eventually put it up on the podcast and YouTube. But again, the Sylvia scene he did from as yous Like It. I mean, it. It’s hilarious and you know it. He’s not, you know, he wouldn’t be cast in the part.

Libby: Well, you know, for age 50 years too.

Nathan Agin: Right. But it is no less hilarious. So that’s the fun part about this kind of work, is that you can dive into these parts at any time. But, yeah. Wonderful. I’ve been listening to almost all of this, and it’s been really, really wonderful conversation and fascinating and, a couple hours has already flown by.

Libby: And Nathan, thank you again for bringing up Fran. That was, important for me to have a moment there, which I have and for myself, so.

Alberto: Right.

Nathan Agin: Because you knew. You knew her both at CalArts, did you? Did you know?

Libby: I knew she. I took. Brought her to CalArts. She was right on, my faculty for several years while I was there.

Nathan Agin: And did you work with her at Oregon as well or just okay?

Libby: I tried to get her to come to Oregon. She was a tough broad. She did what she wanted to do.

Nathan Agin: Reminds me of somebody else I know.

Libby: Oh, God. Love you all. Deidre, don’t ask how much I love seeing you.

Deidre: I won’t. Because it’s the same. It’s the same.

Libby: Love to you all.

Corey: Thank you.

The post UNCLE VANYA Week 1 Session: “Love, Loss and Longing” – Chekhov – Act 2 – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions] appeared first on The Working Actor's Journey.

One of the highlights of our conversation centers around Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, as the guests share their experiences working with the play. The connection between Miller’s work and ancient Greek tragedy is explored, revealing how themes of family, loyalty, and moral dilemmas transcend time and culture. The emotional weight carried by characters in both Miller’s and Shakespeare’s works is a focal point, as actors reflect on the complexity of portraying flawed human beings.

As the discussion shifts to Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” we dive into the intricacies of character dynamics and family relationships. The conversation highlights how actors can approach these characters without preconceived notions of good or evil, allowing for a more nuanced portrayal that resonates with audiences.

You’ll appreciate the emphasis on the First Folio and the unique challenges it presents to actors. The guests share their experiences of working with the original text, emphasizing the importance of punctuation and rhythm in bringing Shakespeare’s words to life. As they navigate the complexities of the characters, the actors reveal how the text becomes a living entity, inviting interpretation and spontaneity.

This episode serves as a reminder of the power of theater to reflect the human experience. It encourages artists and enthusiasts alike to embrace the challenges of classic works, finding relevance and connection in stories that have stood the test of time.

🏁 In this session, highlights include:

Full transcript included at the bottom of this post.

Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session!

Total Running Time: 1:50:54

Check out this 90-second clip from this session with Annie and Randall discussing how Lear is responsible!

And a great quote from this week’s session…

Support The Rehearsal Room on Patreon – get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more!

Thank you to our current patrons at the Co-Star level or higher: Ivar, Joan, Michele, Jim, Magdalen, Claudia, Clif and Jeff!

Our group will be working on the following scene:

Follow along with the play here.

Read more about the artists here.

Catch up on our other workshops featuring lots of Shakespeare scenes, from Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Midsummer, As You Like It, and our Twelfth Night repertory extravaganza – all on the podcast and YouTube.  If you’ve missed any presentations thus far, click here to find them all.

KING LEAR Final Session: “The Art of Character and Conflict” – The Rehearsal Room

Nathan Agin: All right, so, I’ve admitted, people from the waiting room. And we’ll give, you know, maybe another 30 seconds or so just in case anyone, is still. Still finding parking. You know, making sure they have everything they need. Holding the curtain briefly.

Lizzie King-Hall: Why did that make me laugh?

Annie Occhiogrosso: So very funny.

Nathan Agin: Those of us who have been to a lot of theater and running late know. Know what it’s like.

Jeanne Sakata: Randall. Annie, I’m dying to know. Have you ever, worked on Arthur Miller?

Lizzie King-Hall: Hm.

Annie Occhiogrosso: We worked with. We haven’t done a play, but we did immerse in, With. With, All My Sons. Because we had an actress who, asked us if she. She was cast as the mother. This is one of another thing that we did with various actors. she would come to New Jersey. She lives in the set in South Carolina. She would come for about two weeks and have us take her through the whole role. And so that allowed us to learn the play as we were helping her. And we fell in love with. Randy almost did a production. What? Randy. Just before the pandemic, I think. Right. Or was it right after? But they wanted us at Centenary to do a production of All My Sons. but it just never. We just couldn’t find the time to do it.

Randall Duk Kim: So we.

Randall Duk Kim: We discovered that that play has such close links with ancient Greek tragedy.

Jeanne Sakata: Ah.

Randall Duk Kim: You know, Arthur Miller. You can. You can feel the ancient Greek roots on that. That piece.

Jeanne Sakata: M.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I. I did do An Enemy of the People. And. And that’s what made us so interested in doing Arthur Miller. Because we love. And we have our own translation of An Enemy of the People. It was done by a man by the name of John Wyatt who worked at our theater. He knew the roots of so many languages that there was none he couldn’t learn within two weeks. And he learned Hawaiian. he did all of our translations because he knew that the punctuation meant a lot to us. Whenever he could, he would go to the playwright’s handwritten notes or, the original. As close to the original text to show us every dot, dot, or, you know, ellipse or every piece of punctuation. And so it was as a, wonderful translation, of Enemy of the People. He did our Oedipus. He did, Ah. What was the other one? Servant of Two Masters. Comedy. Comedy of asses.

Tom Farber: one X.

Annie Occhiogrosso: That’s right. Right. I would.

Jeanne Sakata: I’d wondered. I wondered, Randy, if you had ever played a Willy Lohman.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, my God.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I think that would be amazing.

Jeanne Sakata: You know, one of the Books I have here. It’s. Oh, I have it somewhere. It’s, Salesman in Beijing. When.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Jeanne Sakata: I loved it because, you know, that whole thing of, well, you grow in your career, in your early career, you read all these amazing plays, but then you say, well, I’ve never seen anybody that looks like me do that.

Randall Duk Kim: That’s right.

Jeanne Sakata: So when I opened up that book, I said, oh, my God, here’s like an Asian, a Chinese, Loman family. And immediately that put it in my head, oh, someday I hope I get to do that. And, all my sons too. I love that place. I’m so, so glad you worked on it.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Nathan Agin: Well, for those watching, we could talk about theater.

Nathan Agin: Oh, sorry. No, no, nothing wrong. Nothing wrong with the conversation. That’s just. That’s. That’s the beautiful part about all of this. And I was thinking, I’m like, boy, what an amazing service, to have, two actors, and theater artists like Randall and Annie at your disposal to take you through an entire play. we did a workshop where a couple actors, who had played Lord and Lady M. From Shakespeare’s play worked. you know, kind of took actors through those roles, which was. Which was really fascinating. And it’s just like. It’s so interesting to look at a play from that perspective where you’re tracking the characters, which you guys did a little bit, you know, with. With the scenes leading up to. To what you’re doing. and so, yeah, no, it’s. It’s, it’s. It’s really exciting. And, Magdalene put in the chat that she. She loves this conversation and those amazing books. So, thank you, Magdalene, for. For that. and I’m just going to make a couple adjustments here. Okay. We’ll try to keep, anything that comes in technically to a minimum to. So that all of you guys, all of you artists can, you know, just kind of focus on the work. But I think we can, get started here. I think we’re all ready to go. So. Hi, everybody. My name is Nathan Agan. Welcome to, the rehearsal room. A faction of the Working Actors Journey. we’ve been doing these, workshops monthly. We restarted them earlier this year, and we’ve been doing them here, online. And it’s been a great place to, allow artists to explore text in depth in, a way that they rarely get to do even in professional theater. so this has been a lot of fun, and we focus on one scene over the Course of a month. and what’s also exciting for me as a producer, but then I think for the artists themselves. And we were just talking about this a little bit when Jeannie brought up the book. it was, What was it, what was the title of the book in Beijing? Jeanne?

Jeanne Sakata: Salesman in Beijing.

Nathan Agin: Salesman in Beijing. Well, one of the things I love about these workshops is that we are not beholden to the same, maybe constructs or ideas that some theaters feel like they have to, be tied to in terms of casting or things like that. We can be more conscious with gender or age or race than maybe some theaters feel they can be. So it’s. It’s been very refreshing and exciting to see actors explore parts that maybe they feel like they’ve they’ve missed or they’ve been passed them by or whatever. Just, just getting the chance to dive into the words and the characters have been really exciting. And then of course, oftentimes we can bring artists together who either have never worked together because of geographic reason reasons, or it’s been 20 or 30 years since they’ve worked with people. so that’s, that’s been a fun part of this too. So, but today we’re going to focus on the final session of King, Lear, Act 2, Scene 4. And I’ll let everybody in the group introduce themselves, briefly in just a second. Now I’ll wrap up my little, administrative things here. We are, patron supported, to cover some of the production costs. So I just want to give a quick shout out to our patrons. Joan, Michelle, Christian, Jim Magdalene, Ivar, Danielle, Kevin and Frank. Thank you so much for supporting this work and allowing it to be possible. and in July, we are going to focus on an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s to the Lighthouse. Director, Brian Nelson wanted to look at that novel. It was written I think in 1927. And he’s kind of put together an adaptation and we, we have a great, great cast. We have professional actors. Alberto Isaac, Angie Bird, Charlotte Northeast, and Mike Gerbe. And once again we have actors far flung all over the country coming together to work on this. and for those, watching, you can. I’ll be sure to include links if you’d like to sign up to receive both video and audio replays of those sessions. Typically those will be available on Thursdays, through the month of July. So, yeah, we have that coming up and just excited to continue this going and just the Opportunity for this work to happen. It, never gets old for me. I’m like a kid in a candy store every week where it’s just exciting to hear these discussions and all this stuff. And it seems the artists really enjoy this too. So I, think that’s enough for me. I will mention, just for the purposes of questions, if you’re unfamiliar with Randall, and Annie’s work, they largely focus on the First Folio. And of course there are other discussions that this group has been having, along the way. But that is where their work is kind of geared. So if you have any questions, about First Folio work or things that you have about the text, this is a great place to bring that m up. You can drop those questions in the chat and I’ll collect all those toward the end. it’s not to say that we can’t discuss, stylistic, or. Or character, situations, but you, know, there can be an infinite number of interpretations of the scenes. But you know, I think. I think for purposes today, as they like to say, the mantra here is like, let’s just. Let’s do the play. Let’s do the play. So, that’s what we’re going to focus on. and And that’s that. So I will again be monitoring the chat for any questions. I’ll come back in a little bit once the group has kind of done whatever work they’d like to. and I hope you enjoy it. But with that, I’ll turn it over to Randall and Annie and the rest of the group. And if, like I said, if you guys can do just some brief, very brief introductions of who you are and ah, your. Your connections to either Shakespeare or other things like that, that would be great. And I’ll disappear.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay. Come back.

Nathan Agin: I will, I will.

Randall Duk Kim: Don’t worry. Later.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Who would like to start?

Randall Duk Kim: You go first.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I co founded the American Players Theater with Randall Kim. We have shared a wonderful, partnership, in the theater for 53 years. And so the kind of directing that I think you’ll see today is steeped in the text. I’m not a conceptualist. I’m somebody who says, let’s look at the script and let’s see if we can have Shakespeare’s script come alive. When we started the American Players Theater, we promised the audience that they could come up our wonderful hill and see the plays totally uncut, and not updated because we were very curious about, the play itself. And that’s what we’re trying to pass on now, to this group of. Of actors. And we’re having a wonderful time doing it. So, Randy, I guess you can pick it up from there, huh? Huh?

Randall Duk Kim: I’m actor and his fellow explorer. That’s it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Randy, say a little bit about your background.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, I started acting when I was 18 years old. my. The main influences at that period. I had seen a production of Oedipus Rex and Hamlet, and that turned me on to a material that I would never have dreamed of getting involved with. Then, I saw an actor by the name of Morris Karnofsky who gave me the light that I needed to light my way through life and my work. He set the example. He was a model. and of course, he was the old man in the. The group theater during the 30s. but I had, his shylock. I was, particularly indelibly imprinted on my soul. And I tried to find how that kind of work could be done. And I’ve spent my life trying to find it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I think one of the things that Randy rarely mentions in the connection with King Lear is that, Morris and his wife, Phoebe Brand, came out to the American Players Theater and directed Randy in King Lear. I sat by their side and assisted them. but it was wonderful to see Morris pass his Lear on to Randy. I wish it could have all been there. it was magnificent. But that. That made Lear very special to us. And that’s why we continued working on it even till today. Yeah. Yeah. So, Thomas, shall we sneak down to you?

Tom Farber: Yeah, we can do that.

Nathan Agin: hello, everyone.

Tom Farber: My name is, Tom Farber. I started acting when I was 15 years old. I mostly did contemporary plays. A few musicals here and there as well. I met Randy and Annie when I was 19. I had the option to either do an English Shakespeare class or do an intensive with them. And I chose to do an intensive of Merchant of Venice with them and took one look at Randy and Annie’s talent. I was like, well, this is the pedestal. This is where I have to be with my acting now. and I’ve recently started working with them consistently again. I think November of last year is when we started really working together on the classics. and, that’s all I really have to say.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good. And Jeanne.

Jeanne Sakata: Hi, everyone. I’m Jeannie Sakata. I am an actor and playwright. I actually started acting kind of late. I was on my way to becoming a. A library and information science specialist. And then I attended East West Players, Asian American company here in Los Angeles, and saw a play about a, Japanese American farming family, Wakako Yamauchi’s Emma Sol Shall Dance. And that totally turned my life around. I became an actor starting off at east west and then branching out into regional theater and some TV and film, and also became a playwright. And I wrote a solo show about a young college student named Gordon Hirabayashi, who during World War II, defied and legally challenged government orders to mass incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. And I feel very fortunate to have had the career I’ve had. But one thing that I’ve always regretted is that I haven’t been able to do as much classical theater as I hoped when I was first starting out. So, a workshop like this is just balm for the soul for me. And, thank you, Annie. And thank you, Randall. And, thank you, Nathan, for the opportunity.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And Lizzie.

Lizzie King-Hall: My name is Lizzie King Hall.

Lizzie King-Hall: I am a good example of when they tell you only become an actor if there’s nothing else you could possibly do. because I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’ve been doing Shakespeare since high school, and it’s wonderful. We talked a little bit during this month about growing, with it. It’s such a human experience to play Shakespeare that it, always applies to your life along the way. So it’s wonderful to touch in at this age, at this moment with, with these actors and this character. So I, I, I too, thank everyone.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good, good. I guess then we should begin.

Nathan Agin: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: and I thought the best way to do it was to, would be to start with the scene. Unless you guys had any questions or thoughts about last week or, or any of the work. If you do, I’ll open it up to you. If not, let’s just jump in and do the same.

Lizzie King-Hall: Great.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

Tom Farber: I’m good to just jump in?

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay. Good.

Randall Duk Kim: All right. Good morrow to you both.

Tom Farber: Hail to your grace.

Lizzie King-Hall: I am glad to see your highness.

Randall Duk Kim: Regan, I, I know you are. I have reason to, to think that if thou shouldst not be glad, I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb. Sepulchering an adulteress. are you free? some other time for that. Beloved Regan, thy sister’s naught she hath tied Sharp toothed unkindness like a vulture here I can scarcely speak to thee. Thou wouldst not believe with how depraved a quality. O Regan.

Lizzie King-Hall: I pray you, sir, take patience. I have Hope you less know how to value her desert than she to scant her duty.

Randall Duk Kim: Say, how’s that?

Lizzie King-Hall: I cannot think my sister in the least would fail her obligation. If, sir, perchance, she have restrained the riots of your followers. Tis on such ground, and to such wholesome end as clears her from all blame.

Randall Duk Kim: My curse is on her.

Lizzie King-Hall: Sir, you are old. Nature in you stands on the very verge of his confine. You should be ruled and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than you yourself. Therefore I pray you, that to our sister you do make return. Say you have wronged her.

Randall Duk Kim: Ask her forgiveness you but mark how that becomes a house. Dear daughter, I confess that I’m old. Age is unnecessary. On my knees I beg that you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed and food.

Lizzie King-Hall: Good sir, no more. These are unsightly tricks. Return you to my sister.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Never.

Randall Duk Kim: Regan. She hath abated me of half my train, looked black upon me, struck me with her tongue, most serpent like, upon the very heart. All the stored vengeances of heaven fall on her in grateful top. Strike her young bones, you taking airs with lameness. Fie, sir, fie. Nimble lightnings dart your blinding flames into her scornful eyes, infect her beauty. You fen sucked fogs, drawn by the powerful sun to fall and blister the blest gods.

Lizzie King-Hall: So you will wish on me when the rash mood is on.

Randall Duk Kim: No, no, Regan. Thou shalt never have my curse. Thy tender hefted nature shall not give thee o’er to harshness. Her eyes are fierce. But thine to comfort and not burn.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Tis not in m thee what, tis not in thee.

Randall Duk Kim: Tis not in thee to grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train, to bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes, and in conclusion, to oppose the to bolt the door against my coming in. Thou better knowest the offices of nature, bond of childhood, effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude. Thy half of the kingdom hast thou not forgot wherein I thee endowed.

Lizzie King-Hall: But, sir, to the purpose.

Randall Duk Kim: Who put my man in the stocks?

Tom Farber: What trumpet’s that?

Lizzie King-Hall: I note my sister’s. This approves her letter, that she would soon be here.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Is your lady come?

Randall Duk Kim: Yea, this is a slave, whose easy borrow’d pride dwells in the sickly grace of her. He follows out varlet, from my sight. What means your grace, who stalk’d my servant Regan? I have good hope thou dost not know on’t. But who comes here? O, heavens. If you do love old men, if your sweet sway allow Obedience. If you yourself are old, make it your cause. Send down and take my part. Art not ashamed to look upon this beard? Regan. Will you take her by the hand?

Jeanne Sakata: Why not by the hand, sir? how have I offended? All’s not offence that indiscretion finds, and dotage terms so.

Randall Duk Kim: Besides, you’re too tough. Will you yet hold? Who stop? My servant.

Tom Farber: I set him there, sir, but his own disorders deserve much less advancement.

Randall Duk Kim: You did you?

Lizzie King-Hall: I pray you, father, being weak seems so. If, till the expiration of your month you will return and sojourn with my sister, dismissing half your train, come then to me. I am now from home, and out of that provision which shall be needful for your entertainment.

Randall Duk Kim: Return with her and 50 men. Dismiss’d now. Rather I abjure all ruse, and choose the wage against the enmity of the air. Be a comrade with the wolf and owl, necessity sharp pinch’d. Return to her. By the hot blooded France that dowerless took, our youngest born. I could as well be brought to knee his throne and squire like pension, big to keep base life afoot. Return with her. Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter to this detested groom.

Jeanne Sakata: At your choice, sir.

Randall Duk Kim: I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad. Ay, I will not trouble thee. My child will no more meet, no more see one another. But yet thou, art my flesh, my blood, my daughter, or rather a disease that’s in my flesh, which I must needs call mine, knows how’r to boil a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood, that I’ll not chide ye. Let shame come when it will. I do not call it. I do not, I do not bid the thunder bearer shoot, nor tell tales of thee to hide, judging Jove mend when thou canst, be better at thy leisure. I can be patient. I can stay with Regan, I and my hundred knights.

Lizzie King-Hall: Not altogether so. I looked not for you yet, nor am provided for your fit welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister, for those that mingle reason with your passion must be content to think you old and so. But she knows what she does.

Randall Duk Kim: This well spoken.

Lizzie King-Hall: I dare avouch it, sir. What, 50 followers? Is it not well? What should you need of more? Yea, or so many? Sith it both charge and danger speak gainst so great a number? How in one house should many people under two commands hold amity? Tis hard, almost impossible.

Jeanne Sakata: Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance from those that she calls servants? Or from mine?

Lizzie King-Hall: Why not, my lord? If then they chance to slack ye, we could control them. If you will come to me. For now I spy a danger. I entreat you to bring but 5 and 20. To no more will I give place or notice.

Randall Duk Kim: I gave you all, and in good.

Lizzie King-Hall: Time you gave it.

Randall Duk Kim: Made you my guardians, my depositaries, but kept a reservation to be followed by such a number. What, must I come to you with five and 20, Regan, said you so?

Lizzie King-Hall: And speak again, my lord, no more with me.

Randall Duk Kim: Those wicked creatures yet do look well favoured when others are more wicked. Not being the worst stands in some rank of praise. I’ll go with thee. Thy 50 yet doth double 5 and 20. And thou art, twice her love.

Jeanne Sakata: Hear me, my lord. What need you 5 and 20, 10, or 5, to follow in a house where twice so many have a command to tend you?

Lizzie King-Hall: What need one?

Randall Duk Kim: Reason not the need A, Basest beggars are in the poorest things superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs. Man’s life is cheap as beast. Thou art a lady if only to keep warm were gorgeous. Why, nature needs not without gorgeous wearest, which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need you see me here, you, God, poor old man, as full of grief as age, wretched and bold. If it be you that stir these daughters hearts against their father, fool me not so much to bear it tamely. Touch me with noble anger. And let not women’s weapons, water drops stain my man’s cheeks. No, you unnatural, hags. I will have such revenges on you both. I will do such things. What they are, I know not, but they shall be the, terrors of the earth. You think I’ll weep? Oh, I’ll not weep. I have full cause of weeping. But this heart will break into a hundred thousand flaws or ere I’ll weep.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Fool.

Randall Duk Kim: I shall go mad.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good, good. We’ll stop there. And next time I’d like to take it to the very end, if we could. Good. Okay, let me ask. Let me just first ask the question about. How do you find working with the folio?

Nathan Agin: Us?

Annie Occhiogrosso: yeah, you guys.

Tom Farber: I mean, it’s all I know at this point. Working with you too, so.

Randall Duk Kim: Right.

Lizzie King-Hall: It’s got a change. But, I, I. It really reminds me of scoring a text. And it’s almost like the score. This is such an obvious thing to say because this is what you’ve been proposing that it is. This is your thesis. It is like a score. so I, But I don’t.

Lizzie King-Hall: Of course, you would memorize It.

Lizzie King-Hall: But as I’m reading just reminds me that there’s an option for length, an option for emphasis, where to take the breath. it is like someone 400 years ago scored, you know, the text.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anybody else?

Jeanne Sakata: Well, when you were talking, was it last week or maybe the last two weeks, Annie. About the commas. I mean, I think that the thing that really came to life for me in this last month is the idea of keeping the text very alive.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes.

Jeanne Sakata: Because I think that. And, you know, like I said, I haven’t done as much classical theater as I would have liked in my career. And I think that I realized. I thought of it in such a. I think a more technical way. You know, the iambic pentameter and, you know, the stresses and where the trochees and the, you know, and all that. And, And I think that, you know, the real delightful thing about working with the first volume, what you said about the punctuation, the commas, really brought that alive for me, especially in the first scene when I’m making that speech, you know, about how I love my father the most. And it really came alive for me, observing the commas and making up that speech on the M, you know, on the fly, right in the moment. Because I totally caught off guard.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes.

Jeanne Sakata: The proposal and also gone roll, you go first. And whole game aspect of it, having to scope out, you know, what are my sisters going to say? So, So similarly, there’s not as many comments for Goneril in this scene, but it really brought alive for certain parts that, you know, when I say, I, hear me. And then I think it’s comma, my lord, that there can be a moment where. Where she’s, you know, I, mean in that moment. He says, I’ll go with. I’ll go with. Conroe, you’re only giving me 25, 50. Sounds good.

Randall Duk Kim: I’ll go with.

Jeanne Sakata: I have to stop him. So it’s hearing me, my lord, Right. All one. But. But that little pause. I began to wonder, why is there that little comma there, you know, And. And, Just little things like that throughout the scene. Little goodies, little tidbits were great.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah. I think. And I think the more you work with it, the more you’ll see it’s an interpretive tool, you know. I’m reminded that when Morris, gathered everyone around the table to do Lear, he said, I would like to say something now. And we all, you know, we took out pens and papers and we thought, we’re Going to write it down. We’ll never forget it. And he said, just talk. Okay, let’s start rehearsal. And I thought, that’s it. That’s the great Morris Karnofsky. And he’s saying, just talk. Where’s the wit? You know? And I found ever since he said that, that actors don’t talk, so often. And I think the Folio allows you to. I think, Jeanne, when you talk about the comma and the spontaneity of it, that that’s what I think Morris was ultimately saying is that you don’t know what you’re going. Just. Just the way I’m speaking to you now, I don’t have a speech that I have in my back PO Pocket. And I’m putting it forth. I’m thinking on my feet and expressing it. and I find for me, over the years that that’s what the Folio has helped with, is that people actually sound as if they’re talking to one another. And I thought that reading that time through, I thought you guys were pulling it together beautifully. there are a couple of suggestions that I want to make for the next step. because I think. And I might be wrong, but I think sometimes, at least in some productions that I’ve seen, we tend to want to say this character is such and such evil, good, sweet, whatever. And that’s what we play throughout. And I think what you’re doing now is you’re allowing those women to not do that, to not carry the coat of behavior or some kind of. I don’t know, the adjective that describes the things you do by the end of the play. And that’s what I’m looking for more. And there are even more moments, I think, that can happen, because I think sometimes we forget that we know the play now. The audience knows the play up to this point. Okay, we saw, Regan, leave her home when she heard Lear was coming. We heard. We said. And we heard the scene, where Cornwall and Regan said, no, we’re too tired. We’re ill. we can’t come to see the King now. And Gloucester’s trying to convince them to come down. We’ve heard that. We in the audience have heard that. So you have an opportunity when you see your father. And I think it. It makes the skin crawl more, than any evil you could ever. Tone of evil that you could put on it by welcome, welcoming him as if you have been dying to see him. Because we see hypocrisy come to life.

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: See what I mean? Because we know, we know what led up to it, so that helps that that’s what in the end is going to let us know. Oh, my God. Is she really doing that? Randy, I would also suggest that when you, when you say I think you are, you’re glad to see me. I, I, I would say try a sense of absolute relief because you’ve just been told that she was in on stalking Kent.

Randall Duk Kim: Right, right, right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And that she wasn’t going to come down to see you. So when she says, I’m glad to see you, I think the idea that, oh, thank God I still have, you know, and that’s why I think, my idea is to say, even joke a little bit about the mother, you know, you know, I, I would say I’d have to say that she wasn’t even your mother if that because of relief. I mean, I’m not, you know, from, for me to tell you how to act as a joke in itself, but, just giving, you know, take it and run with it. okay, and then the next good thing is, are you free? So that gets put aside. Even though that’s the reason. I keep saying that’s the reason you want to talk to them.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Now, I mean, you have the other reason, of course, to tell her about Goneril and all of that. But what provokes this idea of, Let me. The king wants to see the father wants to see his daughter. The kingdom, all of that stuff that came before was because of Kent in the stocks. And so now when he’s free, you decide, and you’ve heard that she’s happy to see you. That can be put aside now. Now I can get back to sharing with her. You know, what your sister did to me. This is terrible. Then the next moment is the next shocker. And that, of course, is Regan’s response. that I have hope you less know how to value her dessert than she. I think you all have a little more time after the period to take in and determine what your response is. I think if it’s an unfinished line, then you come right in. I get that. But there’s a moment, for instance, let’s see, even little things like, I’m m on the first part of the scene. Ah, Regan. I cannot think my sister right in the least would fail her obligation. And at the end of it, you say, tis on such ground and to such wholesome end as clears her from all blame. And he finishes my curse. He comes right in. My curse is on her. Take just a moment for your next argument.

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And we’ll see that. That. Oh, sir, you know, because I think if you come right in, it becomes almost argumentative. Rather than convincing him to go back to Goneril, the older you can make him be, the more feeble. And I think you have to ask yourself, how does one do that to an elderly person? It’s not by beating them up, which neither one of you did. but I’ll throw that caution out there. It’s by making them believe they can’t do anything on their own. You really need us to care for you. And, I think Brandy. that brings me to the next one.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Oh, and again, just a reminder. And I think you’re doing it. And I would urge more just as a reminder in order to make the line, you shall never have my curse. The tender. Thy tender hefted nature. Lizzy, we. He has to see that in you. So the. The kind of tightrope you’re walking here has got to make him believe you are not goneral. You are not the daughter who would ever do. Because if you show any sign of that, then one wonders what it. You know, then we come. Then what happens is, as scholars now take it, and they’ll say, well, he’s mad. This is proof he’s mad. But I don’t think that that’s what’s happening. I think you want to. To, you know, let be the good sister. Be that. Be the nice sister. You know, until. Until you have to m. You know, change things when he won’t listen. Okay. I’ll put my man in the stocks. Oh, Randy. After, I know it. My sisters approves her letter that she would soon be here is your lady come. That’s one of those moments. Take a moment. See him.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Right. Rather than just saying, oh, this is like. Otherwise, it seems like Lear just gonna be angry at anything.

Randall Duk Kim: Right, right, right, right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: All right. Okay. And I. And Thomas, what are you. What is it that you’re doing on what means. I know you’re doing the folio, but what is it that you’re asked. What does he surprise you in his reaction to Oswald? Are you angry? I can’t tell what you’re doing with the line.

Tom Farber: what I’m. Yeah, no, you go ahead. You go ahead.

Annie Occhiogrosso: No, I was going to say, you know, I’m not. I don’t want to pressure you into having. It’s not a matter of a final answer. I just want you to be.

Tom Farber: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Voice on It.

Tom Farber: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: All right.

Tom Farber: Right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And I would put the same caution out to you. Take your, Your behavior, take it off of Regan, because I think Cornwall follows Regan very closely. He has a couple of lines in this play where he’ll say, nor I, neither Regan. Or he talks to Edmund about her. so I would take my cue from her. Okay. Okay. I know it’s a tiny little thing. What’s happening for me now is you guys are filling it beautifully, and now I’m getting greedy.

Jeanne Sakata: To me, it’s starting to feel like a real family. You know, I feel like. I feel like, I mean, we’ve all had moments with aging parents, right, where we’re trying to say, this is for your own good. You don’t need all this, you know, I mean, in Lear, of course, it’s, you know, the nights. But I know with my own dad, it was other things. We had to try and convince him, you know, we can take care of this now. But it was a matter of pride. You know, he wanted it. Starting to feel that way to me, which is really exciting.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And I. It does. It feels to me like you. You are sisters. I feel the same thing. And that Randy’s your father. I mean, it’s starting to come to life that way. The thing we can never lose sight of, and it was occurring to me while you were reading it, while you were doing it, is Lear is astounded by this. Now, it’s all well and good to say what Goneril has said earlier, that he’s rash, that we saw his behavior with Cordelia, that, you know, and that is there. But we also have to somehow understand he gave his kingdom to you. That’s what he’s struggling with. You said you loved me deeply, thoroughly, and I gave you a kingdom. Absolutely. It’s a fatal flaw, one would say, but nonetheless, that has to be underneath this somehow. Not just father, daughter, car keys, that what’s at stake here is a kingdom. And I. And again, in your imagination, my imagination, we go into a world of. What would that be like? It’s not money. I mean, again, just. I think of funerals and how people fight over the remains of, you know, what was left behind and end relationships based on it. and this. This. You have to multiply it. And Randy, I think that, ah, what I was getting more and more of in. In this was if you look at your speech to Regan, you say the caps come in. You’re all lower. This the. No, Regan. Thou shalt never have my curse.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes, yes.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Nature’s capitalized and then everything’s lowercase. Until what? Offices of nature bond of childhood, effects of courtesy Jews. And look at here. Of gratitude. And look at the capital long spelling on kingdom. He’s reminding her. So it’s not just. No, you’re too sweet to have this happen. You would never allow, you know, ingratitude to take over what I gave you. And I think it plants a seed in her. This is why I. I think she starts to weaken.

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I think she hears it. She’s weak. And that’s why her point is. Stop talking to the purpose. Get to the point.

Jeanne Sakata: I love that moment. To the purpose, dad.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And thank God that trumpet blab. That trumpet comes in and he’s. Now we get to Randy. The thing you were looking for a page ago. Who put my man in the stocks? That’s what you want to know, right? That when you hear that what trumpet said you hear. I know it’s my sister Regan. I suggest great relief. You don’t have to thank God she’s here. All right. Because when she comes in, you don’t speak, until she. She talks about, you know, you have that one at the. I pray you, father, being weak. But. But she takes over. Why not by the hand. And the fact that you take her by the hand. We know that you, Albany and Cornwall are preparing to fight each other. We’ve already heard that news. There’s news abroad that. That is happening. And you go and you see him and you take her by the hand. Why? Because the bigger enemy is not each other. It’s Lear. He can take it all back and then you can go fight all you want. But until we handle Lear, we’ve got to be friends. Then we’ll. Then we can separate and fight each other. So that’s why I think you rush over to her. He sees that. He’s shocked after everything he’s just said to you about her. And you take her by the hand. You’ve rejected everything that he’s put forward forth. Now the sisters are in league, right?

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah.

Lizzie King-Hall: Of kids too.

Lizzie King-Hall: I was the only person who could really stand up to my grandmother.

Lizzie King-Hall: I think people felt or just anyone where like, oh, let’s bring her along.

Lizzie King-Hall: She’s so good with him.

Lizzie King-Hall: So much easier to be around him when she’s there. And I feel that when Jeannie comes in, I’m like, oh, she’s going to take over. She always knows what to say.

Annie Occhiogrosso: That’s right. Okay. And then m. I love at your choice. It’s a great Moment. Oh, Randy. Now this next section starts with you. When you do, goodbye to her. Yes, I would suggest that. But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter. Well, let me ask you first, what. What do you feel about that line Are.

Randall Duk Kim: that no matter what my negative feelings towards her are.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yep.

Randall Duk Kim: She’s a part of me.

Randall Duk Kim: I’m a part of her. We’re down, somehow.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes. And that’s what makes it so sad to say farewell, you know. But yet you’re my daughter. You’re my blood. so we get that and then that keys off the next section of her being a disease in your blood.

Nathan Agin: You.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Gave birth to that. So whatever is in her, some part of you is responsible.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah, yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: but then absolute security. But I’ll not chide you. And this is again one of those moments where my heart breaks because he thinks he’s so secure he can say do what you want. I’m not even going to yell at you. You know why I have her.

Jeanne Sakata: I’ve got Reagan.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes. So that security, that false security believing that Regan is going to be there and what, it’s the same thing? Almost. Almost the same thing that Cordelia does to him. It’s false security. And then she comes in with. Of course not altogether so. And I keep that a little. I would try keeping it, not harsh. Look, I didn’t. I didn’t know you were coming. Try to see it from my point of view still, because I think you’re going to find. And you did this. You started to build from there.

Lizzie King-Hall: It’s also the second time I’ve said that.

Lizzie King-Hall: I’ve already told you I’m not ready for you.

Lizzie King-Hall: I’m saying it again.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes. And the way you’re saying it to me right now is that’s what I’m Instead of it sounded when you did the last time. It sounded agitated rather than. Let me say this one more time. So it still has a kind of spell it out for whatever. You know what I mean?

Lizzie King-Hall: Yes.

Annie Occhiogrosso: okay. And then, again, confusion on his part. Is this well spoken. Now you swear to it. I dare a voucher. I swear it. And then you give your And that’s all fine. and then Goneril, you decide. Does it seem to you, Jeannie, that there’s a little change there from, you know. Now you come in with some good advice. Why don’t you do this and do this?

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah. That felt to me like I was sort of following. I mean, Regan and Lear, you Are talking to each other and, and, you know, about. No, no, I’m not ready for you. You know, and I’m sort of following all this, and I’m trying to figure out, you know, what move she’s making and, you know, just trying to suss everything out as this is being spoken. And then when she says, what, 50 followers, is it not? Well, what should you need of more? I felt there was a little change there because it’s a different kind of topic. now she’s talking about, not that I’m not ready to receive you, but, hey, dad, you know, do you really actually need 50? And so my ear went up. My ears sort of went up at that moment because I thought, oh, I can pick up on this, and I can further this argument. I can take it further. I can, you know, because this is a very reasonable argument.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Jeanne Sakata: You don’t need these 50 men.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And so look what you’re doing. both of you are not. It’s not like you want to throw them out into the storm. It’s. You want to diminish his power, his train. Those men can be dangerous. Remember when you were saying last week, Lizzie, about knights, what are we going to do about the knights? Well, you know, if they were just servants, they wouldn’t be as threatening. It’s important that they’re knights.

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: they have weapons, and they’re going to back him. So, so the first, you m. Know, the thing we have to take care of here is diminishing that train. And, and you do it brilliantly. I mean, the women are just.

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah, we’re sound. I think we sound very reasonable.

Lizzie King-Hall: There’s no.

Jeanne Sakata: We’re 50 or 25. 10 or 5. Because we have more than enough to take care of you.

Randall Duk Kim: That’s right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yep.

Jeanne Sakata: but underneath, I don’t want them.

Randall Duk Kim: I want my own people.

Jeanne Sakata: I just love how human this is.

Annie Occhiogrosso: You know, I, I, I, I think when we get to what need one, I would say slow it down just a little bit, because that’s the end. We’ve, we tried 50, we’ve tried 25. We’ve tried 10. And now you’re saying, why do you need any?

Lizzie King-Hall: Don’t act like a famous speech is coming.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.

Lizzie King-Hall: That would help.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Right? And then, Randy, I still think you have, a possibility. Not. Don’t feel like you have to jump right in because what they’ve just proposed. I think this speech is essential. This idea that you’re calculating, that a human life can be calculated. Well, unfortunately, that’s exactly what you did in the first act, the first scene. How much you love, you put a price on love. And now they’re putting a price on power or taking it away or what you need on need. And this play, I think, deals a lot with that. you know, Randy and I, Randy in particular, is doing a lot of research on the notion of the soul. And I think this play is such a perfect example of, people acting from the soul. And not the measure of love, not the measure of a king. I gave you a kingdom, you give me love. Doesn’t work that way. And I think that that’s part of the lesson that we have to find through the course of the play. So this speech right here about reason, not the need, I think is just really important. and Randy, this time through when we do it, I want you to read it only because you left out Grant me the patience.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes, yes, gotcha.

Annie Occhiogrosso: So that was, ah, very important.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, I’d love to have it memorized.

Randall Duk Kim: But my brain doesn’t work work as well as it used to.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Let’s see, we’ve had eight hours, you know. Okay, any other. Any other, questions?

Randall Duk Kim: No.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Get me to stop talking?

Lizzie King-Hall: No, I’m just eager.

Annie Occhiogrosso: okay. Can we do it one more time?

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah, yeah.

Nathan Agin: I do want to make a note.

Tom Farber: That there is a storm going outside right now, so it’s perfect setting. Oh, what’s about to happen?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yikes.

Jeanne Sakata: Hey, thank you for letting us know, Tom.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good.

Randall Duk Kim: A good morrow to you both.

Tom Farber: hail to your grace.

Lizzie King-Hall: I am glad to see your highness.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, Regan, I think you are. I know what reason I have to think so. If thou shouldst not be glad, I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb sepulchering an adulteress. Are you free? some other time for that. Beloved Regan, thy sister’s naught.

Jeanne Sakata: Ah.

Randall Duk Kim: Regan, she hath tied sharp toothed unkindness like a vulture here. I can scarce speak to thee that would not believe with how depraved the quality of. Regan.

Lizzie King-Hall: I pray you, sir, take patience. I have hope you less know how to value her dessert than she descant her duty.

Randall Duk Kim: What say? How is that?

Lizzie King-Hall: I cannot think my sister in the least would fail her obligation. If, sir, perchance, she have restrained the riots of your followers. Tis on such ground and to such wholesome end as clears her from all blame.

Randall Duk Kim: My curse is on her.

Lizzie King-Hall: Oh, sir, you are old. Nature in you stands on the very verge of his Confine. You should be ruled and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than you yourself. Therefore, I pray you that to our sister you do make return. Say you have wronged her.

Randall Duk Kim: Ask, her forgiveness.

Annie Occhiogrosso: You.

Randall Duk Kim: But, mark how this becomes a house.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Wait, hold on a sec. I want to just go back. I pray you, Go ahead. Do it. Come on. Be a good boy.

Lizzie King-Hall: Therefore, I pray you.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yep.

Lizzie King-Hall: You should be ruled and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than you yourself. Therefore, I pray you that to our sister you do make return. Say you have wronged her.

Annie Occhiogrosso: What? it’s still sounding harsh. I needed to be. I. I think I would like you to try to be, gentler.

Jeanne Sakata: Okay.

Lizzie King-Hall: Got it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: You know what? This is for your own good. Just go. Say. Say that you’ve wronged her.

Lizzie King-Hall: Got it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Simple. Yeah. And that’s why he says. Am I hearing this right? What? Yes. Yeah.

Lizzie King-Hall: You should be ruled and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than you yourself.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good.

Lizzie King-Hall: Therefore, I pray you that to our sister you do make return. Say you have wronged her.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good.

Randall Duk Kim: Ask her forgiveness. Do but mark how this becomes the house. Dear daughter, I confess that I’m. Old age is unnecessary. On my knees, I beg that you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed and food. Good sir.

Lizzie King-Hall: no more. These are unsightly tricks. Return you to my sister.

Randall Duk Kim: Never. Regan. She hath abated me of half my train, looked black upon me, struck me with her tongue, most serpent like, upon the very heart. All the stored vengeances of heaven fall on her ingrateful top. Strike her young bones. You, taking airs with lameness, defies her. fie when the lightnings dart your, blinding flames into her scornful eyes, infect her beauty. You, fen, sucked fogs, drawn by the powerful sun to fall and blift her the blessed gods.

Lizzie King-Hall: So will you wish on me.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Your choice was better. Your choice was better. Better than mine. No, because now it changes.

Jeanne Sakata: Okay?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Because now he’s. He’s becoming threat, you know? So stick with you. Oh, the blessed God, you did it before. And if that’s. Yeah, Randy, give it to her. Damn.

Randall Duk Kim: You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames into her scornful eyes. In fact, her beauty, you, fen, suck fogs, drawn by the powerful sun to.

Lizzie King-Hall: Fall and blistack the blest gods. So will you wish on me when.

Lizzie King-Hall: The rash mood is on.

Randall Duk Kim: No, Regan. Thou shalt never have my curse. Thy tender, hefted nature shall not give thee O’er to harshness on her eyes are, fierce but thine to comfort and not burn. Tis not in thee to grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train, to bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes, and in conclusion, to oppose the bolt against my coming in. Thou better knowest the offices of nature, bond of childhood, effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude. Thy half of the kingdom hast thou not forgot, wherein I thee endow’d.

Lizzie King-Hall: Good sir, to the purpose.

Randall Duk Kim: Who put my man I the stocks?

Tom Farber: What trumpet’s that?

Lizzie King-Hall: My note, my sisters. This approves her letter, that she would soon be here.

Lizzie King-Hall: Is your lady come?

Randall Duk Kim: This is a slave whose, whose, Easy, whose easy borrowed pride dwells in the sickly grace of her. He follows out, varlet, from my sight.

Nathan Agin: What means your grace?

Randall Duk Kim: Who put my man in the stocks? Regan, I have good hope thou does not know on it. But who comes here? O heavens, if you do love old men, if your sweetsway allow obedience, if you yourselves are old, make it your part.

Randall Duk Kim: No, your cause.

Randall Duk Kim: Stand down and take my part. Art not ashamed to look upon this beard? Regan, wilt not take her by the hand?

Jeanne Sakata: Why not by the hand, sir? how have I offended? All’s not offence that indiscretion finds, and dotage terms so.

Randall Duk Kim: O sires, you’re too tough. Will you yet hold? Who put my man in the stock? I said.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Well, let’s get it, so Thomas can get his luck. How came my man?

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, how came.

Randall Duk Kim: I’m sorry.

Randall Duk Kim: How came my man in the stocks?

Tom Farber: I upset him there, sir, but his own disorders deserved much less advancement.

Lizzie King-Hall: You did you, I pray you, father, being weak, seem so. If till the expiration of your month you will return and sojourn with my sister, dismissing half your train, come then to me. I am now from home and out of that provision which shall be needful of your entertainment.

Randall Duk Kim: Return with her and 50 men dismissed. Nor rather I abjure all ruse, and choose to wage against the enmity of the air. Be a comrade with the wolf and owl, Necessity’s sharp pinch. Return with her. Why, the hot bloodied France that dowerless took our youngest born. I could as well be brought to knee his throne and squire like pension, beg to keep base life afoot. Return with her. Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter to this detested groom at your choice. I, Prithee, daughter, do not make me mad.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I. I will not trouble.

Randall Duk Kim: I will not trouble you, my child. Farewell. We’ll no more meet, no more see one another but yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter. Or rather a disease that’s in my flesh, which I must needs call mine. Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood. But I’ll not chide ye. Let shame come when it will. I do not call it. I do not bid the thunder bearer shoot, nor tell tales of thee to hide judging Jove mend when thou canst be better at thy leisure. I can be patient. I can stay with Regan, ay, and my hundred knights.

Lizzie King-Hall: Not altogether so. I. I looked not for you yet nor am provided for your fit. Welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister. For, those that mingle reason with your passion must be content to think you old and so. But she knows what she does.

Randall Duk Kim: Is this well spoken?

Lizzie King-Hall: I dare avouch it, sir. What, 50 followers, is it not well, what. What should you need of more? Yea or so many sit that both charge and danger speak against so great a number? How in one house should many people under two commands hold amity? Tis hard, almost impossible.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Hold on. Hold for a sec. Because I want. I want to go back, but I. This is the speech. One of the things you are both contending with is a dangerous learning. He’s. He will. He’s. He’s going to take things back. He start, you know. That’s why I think you’ve got to get him to understand that this is for his best. You do, you know. but I think here, this is Regan. This is the speech. Sith both sit that both charge and danger speak. Speak against so great in them danger to who?

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah, you know.

Annie Occhiogrosso: You see what I’m saying?

Lizzie King-Hall: Yes, yes.

Annie Occhiogrosso: We can’t gloss. Gloss over too quickly.

Lizzie King-Hall: Okay.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Even though it may be subconscious on her part.

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Right.

Lizzie King-Hall: Okay.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Good.

Annie Occhiogrosso: So. So, Randy, if you can just take it to, But I’ll not chide thee.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

Randall Duk Kim: But I’ll not chide thee. Let shame come when it will. I do not call it. I do not bid the thunder bearer shoot, nor tell tales of thee to hide judging Jove mend when thou canst be better at thy leisure. I can be patient. I can stay with Regan, I and my hundred knights.

Lizzie King-Hall: Not altogether so. I’d look not for you yet, nor am provided for your fit. Welcome. Give ear, sir, to my sister. For those that mingle reason with your passion must be content to think you old and so. But she knows what she does.

Randall Duk Kim: Is this well spoken?

Lizzie King-Hall: I dare avouch it, sir, what 50 followers is it not. Well, what should you have need of.

Lizzie King-Hall: More yea or so many?

Lizzie King-Hall: Sith hippo charge and danger speak gainst.

Lizzie King-Hall: So great a number.

Lizzie King-Hall: How in one house should many people under two commands hold amity? Tis hard, almost impossible.

Jeanne Sakata: Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance from those that she calls servants? Or from mine?

Lizzie King-Hall: Why not, my lord? If then they chanced a slackie, we could control them. If you will come to me. For now I spy a danger. I entreat you to bring but 5 and 20 to no more will I give place or notice.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay, hold this. Hold one sec. That’s a new figure. You’ve just. You’ve just subtracted 25 men.

Lizzie King-Hall: I know. I tried to slip it in.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Don’t slip. Don’t slip. Don’t slip so much because we need to hear. We. We need to hear that you. You cut it.

Jeanne Sakata: Ah, good tactic, Lizzy.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes, very good tactic, very good. But. But I. I need to hear it.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And that will lead to see again. Every one of these is a blow to him. He thinks he’s going to you with a hundred knives. Yeah, and you burst that balloon pretty fast. And. And then we’re back to the 50. And now we’ve just reduced it to 25. Okay, just so we can keep hearing how it’s being pared down. All right. Why might not you, my lord?

Jeanne Sakata: Oh, I’m sorry. That’s me. Right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I’m sorry.

Jeanne Sakata: Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance from those that she calls servants? Or from mine?

Lizzie King-Hall: Why, not, my lord. If then they chance to slack you, we could control them. If you will come to me. For now I spy a danger. I entreat you to bring but 5 and 20 to no more will I give place or notice.

Randall Duk Kim: I gave you all, and in good.

Lizzie King-Hall: Time you gave it.

Randall Duk Kim: Made you my guardians, my depositaries, but kept a reservation to be followed with such a number. What must I come to you with five and 20, Regan, said you so?

Lizzie King-Hall: And speak’d again, my lord.

Lizzie King-Hall: No more with me.

Randall Duk Kim: Those wicked creatures yet look well favoured, when others are more wicked, not being the worst, and some rank of praise. I’ll go with thee. Thy fifty, yet not double five and twenty, and thou art twice her love.

Jeanne Sakata: Hear me, my lord. What need you 5 and 20, 10 or 5, to follow in a house where twice so many have a command to tend you?

Lizzie King-Hall: What need one?

Randall Duk Kim: A, reason not the need. Our poorest beggars are the poorest things. Superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs man’s life Is cheap as beasts. Thou art a lady. If only to go warm were gorgeous. Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wearest. Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need. No, you God, you see me here.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Give me that patience.

Randall Duk Kim: Oh, you see, you, you gods. Give me that.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Randy, go back, you heavens. Give me that patience.

Randall Duk Kim: I’m sorry.

Annie Occhiogrosso: That’s right. thou art a lady.

Randall Duk Kim: Thou art a lady. If only to go warm or gorgeous. Why, nature needs not without gorgeous wearest, which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need. Oh, you gods.

Annie Occhiogrosso: No, you heavens.

Randall Duk Kim: you, heavens, you heavens. Give me m. Patience, patience I need. You see me here, you gods. Poor old man. As full of grief as age, wretched in both. It be you that stirs these daughters.

Randall Duk Kim: Hearts against their father.

Randall Duk Kim: Fool me not so much to bear it tamely. Touch me with noble anger. And let not women’s weapons, water drops stain my man’s cheeks. No, you unnatural, hags. I will have such rim vengeance on you both that all the world shall. I will do such things. What they are yet I know not, but they, shall be the terrors of the earth. You think I’ll weep? No, I’ll not weep. I have full cause of weeping. But this heart shall break into a hundred thousand flaws. Or ere I’ll weep. Ooh, I shall go mad.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And if you have the script in front of you. Can we continue?

Tom Farber: Let us withdraw. It will be a storm.

Lizzie King-Hall: This house is little. The old man and people cannot be well bestowed.

Jeanne Sakata: It’s his own blame hath put himself from rest. And must needs taste his swelling.

Annie Occhiogrosso: For his particular, I’ll receive him gladly.

Lizzie King-Hall: But not one follower.

Jeanne Sakata: I purposed. Where’s my lord of Gloucester?

Randall Duk Kim: Okay, follow the old man.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I want you to do it again. And I want you to do it as the sweetest women on earth.

Lizzie King-Hall: Oh, even though we’re alone?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes, and I’ll show you why. But trust me.

Lizzie King-Hall: Got it?

Tom Farber: Want me to take it back to let us withdraw?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes, please.

Tom Farber: Okay, Let us withdraw.

Randall Duk Kim: It will be a storm.

Lizzie King-Hall: This house is little. The old man that’s people cannot be well bestowed.

Jeanne Sakata: His own blame hath put himself from rest. And must needs taste his folly.

Lizzie King-Hall: For his particular, I’ll receive him gladly, but not one follower.

Jeanne Sakata: So am I purposed. Where’s my lord of Gloucester?

Annie Occhiogrosso: And now follow the. You go ahead. Keep going.

Tom Farber: Follow the old man. For he is returned.

Randall Duk Kim: King is in high rage.

Tom Farber: Whither is he going?

Randall Duk Kim: He calls to horse, but will I know not whither.

Tom Farber: Tis best to give him Way he.

Jeanne Sakata: Leads himself, my lord, entreat him by no means to stay.

Randall Duk Kim: Alack, the night comes on, and the high winds do sorely ruffle for many miles about their scarce a bush.

Lizzie King-Hall: O, sir, to wilful men, the injuries that they themselves procure Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors. These attended with a desperate train. And what they may incense him to being apt to have his ears abused, Wisdom bids fear.

Tom Farber: Shut up your doors, my lord. Tis a wild night my Regan counts as well. Come out of the storm.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay, hold on. Because it just turned into a horror film.

Tom Farber: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: It’s not quite right. Okay. It’s gonna get worse. So, so let’s. Let’s get there. All of a sudden, it was like. So here you have. You have Gloucester coming in, who’s terribly concerned. The king’s angry. He says he’s in a rage. Right. he’s asking for his horse. He doesn’t know, where he’s going to go. okay. you, Gonerill comes up with the idea. Don’t go any further with this. Right. And treat him by no means to stay. We’re not bringing him back in. and. And again, Gloucester pushes the idea that it’s a terrible night. Winds sorely ruffle many a mile. There’s no place to hide. make Gloucester believe this is the best thing for him. Let us decide in the audience just what kind of a daughter you are. This is what ha. This is to me. Okay. This is humanity. This is the person who says it’s a lesson. I tell you about that child who was put in that. In that garage. And he died. And the stepmother said, he’s got to learn. If he’s going to behave like that, he’s got to learn. Put him in that garage. And it’s. What was it, 30 below or something?

Lizzie King-Hall: Horribly.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Horribly frozen night. And he died. He died because he had to learn. And that’s what this is about. He’s got to learn. Again, you may not feel that. You may not believe that, but the point is, you’re dealing with Gloucester. And you’ve got to let Gloucester, who’s very concerned about the king, understand that this is the best course he is. As opposed to. Here’s how I feel. Go ahead. I’m sorry.

Lizzie King-Hall: I’m just making sure that I can fulfill these last three lines.

Lizzie King-Hall: He’s attended with a desperate train.

Lizzie King-Hall: Desperate meaning, we’ll do anything for him.

Lizzie King-Hall: And what they may incense him to.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Lizzie King-Hall: Being apt to have his ears abused. Wisdom bids fear.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes.

Randall Duk Kim: That they could turn him against you.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Right.

Lizzie King-Hall: Oh, I’m saying that to Gloucester. It’s hard. It’s a secret.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Oh, no, no. Right.

Lizzie King-Hall: It’s like he is attending.

Lizzie King-Hall: Oh, oh, oh.

Lizzie King-Hall: He’s attended with a desperate train. And what they may incense him to. I got stuck on them, like, helping him stay warm or like.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah, no, no. Yeah. No.

Lizzie King-Hall: He’s attended with a desperate. And what they may incense him to.

Lizzie King-Hall: What is being apt.

Annie Occhiogrosso: He’s already likely to. To be.

Lizzie King-Hall: so there’s kind of a slightly misplaced comma. It’s just one parenthetical being apt to.

Lizzie King-Hall: Have his ear abused.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes, that’s right.

Lizzie King-Hall: Wisdom bids fear.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And what that, he’s already. He’s already likely to have is you’re abused with something against us. Against Gloucester. Yeah, got it.

Randall Duk Kim: And the wise person wisdom will. Will, Will notify you that it’s dangerous.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah. Ah, yeah, yeah. And. And, Cornwall, I want you to be a good leader to Gloucester. Put your arm around. Shut up. Your doors. My wig and knows what you’re talking about. Because that’s the thing that drives us crazy. We know it in our own politics, the smooth talk. I’m doing this for you, not for me. I’m doing it for you. We all know it, and that’s here. It’s only when we see it in a play that we feel we have to somehow make the audience see something else. I think that, to me, is what is so awful about human behavior sometimes is we do it under the guise of kindness and of generosity. And I’m doing it for you. And then you. Then you find out three days later how much money went into the bank on their part. Because it was doing it for you. That’s what. That’s what. And the audience knows it. You know, I remember I asked students why they act, and they wanted to show the audience about being human. And my response to them was, they are human. You better be good at showing. Coming up to being a mirror to them. Learn from them. If you want to learn how to act, learn from the human beings you’re playing to. Don’t think you can teach them. Theater is not about teaching for me. I’m saying this for me because I know some minute I open my mouth sometimes people think, oh, how dare she? But for me, it’s to make people feel, You know, Jacob Adler once said, don’t ever let an audience come to the theater without being better after they leave. But to do that, to do that, we have to love humanity. We disappointed by it, but Again, we have to go on that stage and say, I hope I’m doing justice to every human being out there. Okay, Got it. Good. Thank you. Okay. I think you’re splendid. I could go on with this play. And, you know, we talked about it. Somebody said to approach Lear is like being a flea on a behemoth’s back. and it is. It’s layer after layer after layer. But I hope. I do hope that you realize what we accomplished in four sessions, two hours each. You know, I wish now we could get up on our. You can’t do it on Zoom, but I’d love to see it now on Beat. You know, at any rate, if Nathan’s around, we can open it up. Or if you guys want to. Oh, there he is. Right on cue.

Randall Duk Kim: It’s fun.

Randall Duk Kim: thank you.

Tom Farber: yes, thank you.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, no, this is.

Jeanne Sakata: Hi to Elizabeth Swain. Hi, Elizabeth.

Annie Occhiogrosso: There.

Nathan Agin: yes. No, this is. This has been wonderful, and, I’ve been listening right along to everything. And, so if, If people who are, live in the. In the session right now, if you have any questions, you can, drop those in the chat. Or if, if you want to raise your, If. If you know how to raise your. Your hand via Zoom, the little. Little icon, you can do that.

Randall Duk Kim: And.

Nathan Agin: And you can come on the mic if you’d like to ask your question that way. no pressure either way. I’m happy to just relay questions. but, this is an opportunity for you to actually interact with, any of the artists, here. but I can, I can kind of kick it off, with a few, questions. first, I’d love to know, from the actors from. From Tom and Jeannie and Lizzie. you know, Lizzie, I know you worked on this a little bit in a previous session with us, but, for all of you, what either challenged or surprised you about the characters you played, you know, even if you hadn’t done the role before, you know, even just hearing sometimes about these characters, it can. It can set your imagination to work of, like, oh, I think they’re like this, or I assume they’re like that, or I have to play them like this. And, so I’d love to hear from any of you what, What your experience was, you know, diving into it over the. Over these weeks and how that, either supported your initial thoughts or, subverted them.

Lizzie King-Hall: I think that the daughters are really often cast as, a type. and actresses always, get Told that they could play the daughters. And I’m, I’ve learned that it really doesn’t have to be these.

Lizzie King-Hall: These concepts. I think that, that we’ve talked about this a bunch, that the daughters,

Lizzie King-Hall: Do evil things, but they don’t have to.

Lizzie King-Hall: I mean that’s bad acting to signal from the beginning that they are mean spirited. Because yes, like philosophically.

Lizzie King-Hall: And a director could definitely say like, all these people are very empty inside.

Lizzie King-Hall: And there can be a lot of signals on stage of that. But I was amazed, that how active all of this language is. And that’s why you saw me getting at the end so confused of what am I trying to do?

Lizzie King-Hall: What’s a secret?

Lizzie King-Hall: Who’s on stage. That’s why the next step is getting it on its feet. Right. It’s like, who is this front stage or backstage behavior? and so it’s very active. It’s not a tone, it’s not a mood. that’s the director’s responsibility.

Nathan Agin: Well, I love what you’re saying there, Lizzie. And I think, you know, for me it also opened up that dynamic of even with the sisters at the end, even if they might be on the same page of like, what do we do with dad? There may still be things that they don’t want to reveal to each other and which is so human. It’s just like, you know, as. As much as you might be like, well, this is my sister and she knows me very well. It’s like, but I don’t want to show her this card and I don’t want to say this because then she’s going to jump on that and, and which makes it so much more, ah, alive, like you said, and active and so much more like a family. And then when you bring up mean spirited, you know, we’ve all been in these situations where you can have a reaction to something that somebody’s done and it can feel very mean. But if you either have a conversation or take the time to think of it, it’s like, well, from their perspective with the information they had, it wasn’t mean at all. They totally thought they were in the right to do that or based on their beliefs. And I think to Lizzie, to your point, it’s like if you can approach the daughters, the sisters like that, that they’re. They always believe they’re in the right. then, then it doesn’t m. Make them evil. It makes them much m More interesting. fascinating. A story as it evolves. I think. Yeah, Randy, go ahead.

Randall Duk Kim: Once a character, if we say, okay, in this moment, the character is being mean spirited, you know, it’s just in that moment.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: It doesn’t necessarily follow the rest of.

Randall Duk Kim: The moments that follow that character. Of course, because we, as human beings, we do that.

Randall Duk Kim: We’re one thing one moment, and in the next thing we could be just the opposite.

Randall Duk Kim: Or, you know.

Nathan Agin: Absolutely, absolutely.

Randall Duk Kim: Kind of unpredictable creature. We are.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: But, just watch these characters take.

Randall Duk Kim: Those moments, make decisions, take actions. And where it all leads them is what’s tragic, because they all create a huge whirlpool in which they all get sucked under. You know, every. Almost every decision and choice that’s made. And they don’t mean it. They don’t mean for that to happen. You know, where, they. I don’t think. I don’t think they mean it.

Nathan Agin: Right, right, right, right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I think Shakespeare leaves just enough out. I think this is why his plays last forever. Because I think, Randy, that question becomes something that after the show is over, we all go and have, you know, a drink, and you say, they didn’t mean. And somebody else says, I don’t know. I think she did me. And we. And the play lives. You see, I think that when it. When you try to, put a cap on it somehow and say it’s this and only this, that’s when it’s. It’s not the. The rich Shakespearean experience that I. That I think is in those plays. Look, I’ve been working on these plays for over 50 years. Every time we have this class, I go back to researching. I don’t. I don’t pull out. Out of my pocket. Here’s what I’ve learned. And here is Lear. Or I listen to you guys and I come to the understanding that, oh, wait, what is that? What’s happening there? Or what? So you’re always. You’re always working on it. I think it’s when you try to say it’s this and nothing else. The other thing that. That comes to my mind is, you know, when, a child, abductor wants to grab a child, have the child come into his or her car. Car. They offer candy. They don’t say, hey, I’m evil. Come here, little boy. So, of course, if you want something, you offer candy. And then you. Because it’s all about, what do you want and what must I do to get it? and sometimes evil takes a very smooth turn, you know, so that. That’s where I think, I think we tend to think the audience isn’t going to get it. If I’m not evil from the start, the audience isn’t going to get that I’m evil. But it’s not that anyone is evil. What someone may do becomes evil when we take a look at how far they go in what it is they want.

Randall Duk Kim: right.

Nathan Agin: I mean, I think even looking ahead, and I forget which sister poisons which or how that all plays out. But you know, I think if that becomes an inevitability rather than a pre planned decision, it’s a much more. I mean, it’s a much more tragic circumstance that here are these sisters, you know, trying to figure it out and make it work. And they’re on the same page. And then they have to. One of them has to kill the other one. You know, that’s. That’s where it’s gotten to. which if you’re. If you’re playing that in the first scene, it’s just not going to be as interesting of a journey for the. For the audience and certainly not for the actor either. I don’t. I wouldn’t think. But, Jeannie, I wanted to hear what your thoughts on playing Goneril.

Jeanne Sakata: Oh, well, that. Yeah, that’s interesting, following what you just said, because they think the thing that surprised me about Goneril, and it’s so funny because I’ve read the play, I’ve seen it several times perform, but I was surprised by how. What’s the word? Reasonable. Found her up until a certain point, you know, and then what you said, Nathan, about then circumstances change and, you know, the worst comes out. But I think up to this point, is there really anything that I can’t relate to in her? You know, if I’m put in a position where I have to participate, in a contest, you know, at the very beginning of the play. How much do I love you? You know, and. And receiving this third of the kingdom. And then feeling like I. I better do what I can to hang on to it. And then the. The hundred nights come and make a mess of my place. And here I am, you know, like, you know, the first lady of the White House or something. Everything’s just been very elegant and, you know, beautiful. I mean, you know, like. Right. They’re just ruining everything. And, And then the whole thing about he might take it away. He has 100 nights that could wage war on. So then I have to worry about holding on to what I have. And then I. So I didn’t find any. And I was surprised by how, Relatable.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, yeah.

Jeanne Sakata: I was very surprised by that because I thought, you know, I’m not making any arguments that, that don’t make sense to me. You know, I mean, I do have that underlying motive of protecting my power. But I mean of course we, you know, the Lear is thinking about. He says reason, not the need. These are my badges, my knife.

Nathan Agin: Right.

Jeanne Sakata: Badges for my lifetime of being king. But it is a reasonable argument to say you don’t need them. You really.

Nathan Agin: Right. Yeah, yeah.

Jeanne Sakata: I mean, so that’s what surprised me. And I think that ties in adding to what you said about it and Nathan, about if the sisters start out as evil. You know, I guess I always saw them like, you know, the wicked stepsisters and Cinderella. We just know they’re bad.

Randall Duk Kim: Right, right, right.

Jeanne Sakata: But if you don’t play that, if you just play daughters dealing with this very difficult father and having to, you know, quote unquote prove their love and then, you know, all the sibling rivalry and hanging on to power, I mean it’s just such a, a, ah. Potent mix but all taking place with a real flesh and blood family.

Nathan Agin: Yeah.

Jeanne Sakata: Because I just so many times. Another thing I was surprised by just seeing my own family dynamics in this so many times. You know, we’re obviously not from a royal family, but just this is the genius of this play to me is just how he captures these relationship within a family. And they’re so much like our families.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah, right, right.

Lizzie King-Hall: It’s so wrong. It true. If anyone says this is unrealistic. I don’t believe anyone who like, ah. If that you’re saying that the most hurtful things you’ve ever said, the worst things you’ve ever said have not been to your family. Like that’s, that’s false.

Nathan Agin: Yeah. The people you say you love the most. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I know. It’s, it’s, it’s that, that’s that fascinating dichotomy of, yeah. Of how we, how we treat our, our closest relatives and things like that. and, and Jeanne, I love the point you made about you know, just these being such relatable characters. I mean it made me think of Claudius and Hamlet that, that he’s, he’s immediately, you know, when we first. He’s trying to, you know, he, he thinks he’s, he should be the ruler. And his whole first speech is, I’m going to tell you why I think I should be. I should be in power instead of Hamlet. And, and, and he believes he’s totally in the.

Randall Duk Kim: Right.

Nathan Agin: And. And. And we could. You know, there’s a number of other characters we could cite. I mean, even though Iago and Richard III tell the audience, here’s what I’m gonna do, they. I think they have a totally morally m. Justifiable place in their own head of, why this is a good thing to do, of why we need to do this. And so, you know, I think looking at these characters from that lens, is such a. Such a richer place. and, you know, you mentioned something about that contest in the first scene, and it’s almost easy to gloss over it, that, you know, whatever age you play Goner or whatever age you cast it, this is still an adult woman being asked to perform in this contest. And it’s just like, what do we. I mean, this is. These aren’t like, you know, three kids, like 10, 7 and 5, like, tell dad how much you love him. It’s like, she’s an adult woman. This is just such a weird thing that he’s suddenly. And it’s public, too. It’s not just like, write me a letter. and this is what will decide how you get the king. So it just. I mean, like, it’s almost one of those Stanislavski things where you don’t really have to, like, think too much of what. How would this. It’s like, no, this is really awkward. Just put yourself in that position. It’s like, this is weird. And, that’s exactly what France says later.

Jeanne Sakata: Oh, my God. Yeah. I mean, just, you know, I know this is a fable, not history, but I just thought to myself, if my father had. I had two sisters with their three. Three sisters in my family. And I thought if my father had ever said, you know, all right, Jeannie, Cindy, Janice, I’m calling you before me, and I want you to tell me how much you love me. And, Jeanne, you go first. And you can. You know, and we had an inheritance at stake or whatever. I mean, I can just imagine the electric. Electricity, you know, of each of us kind of scoping each other out, you.

Nathan Agin: Know, in a moment of like. Yeah. A moment of like, is this. Is this actually happening? Like, is this. Yeah. Ah. Is there a candid camera that I don’t know about?

Jeanne Sakata: Like. Yeah. Such a rich scene, you know, that it kicks off the play like that it’s absolutely.

Nathan Agin: No, I know. I know. And then I think, too often, it’s kind of played as all very. Almost rehearsed to some degree where. Where. Where it’s just like, no. This is a bombshell that the king has dropped that no one is really prepared for and certainly not the daughters. Thomas, I did want to ask you because I know Cornwall doesn’t have as much to say, but you guys did talk a little bit about Cornwall and his role in the scenes and certainly reading the other scenes, and how he factors in with Regan and what she’s deciding or doing. So I’d love to hear, Tom, just your thoughts on looking at what Cornwall does, you know, up to this point in the play and your, your, your take on the character.

Tom Farber: So I, so some of the things that like I had on this play before, this, before they were like, hey, we want you to be part of it. Before Randy and Annie had approached me and be like, hey, we want you to be a part of this and read Cornwall. And you know, we had talked a little bit about like each of the characters. I had focused mainly on the fool in our readings because that’s the character that I really find myself drawn towards and you know, his honesty and all that. And something that has really even occurred to me even today was like, Cornwall really is someone who I feel they need to prove themselves constantly as a rule, as a ruler of this kingdom. And you know, balancing that with, you know, his attitudes with Regan and towards Reagan, as well as his own hot headed personality and trying to find, you know, some sort of, you know, common ground between those three and possibly even more personality, more aspects of his personality that I’m not even touching upon right now. That that’s just kind of what I’m feeling at this point.

Nathan Agin: That’s great. And, and, and you know, I know you guys have talked a little bit about, you know, in that, in that vein of Cornwall trying to prove of how that might play out with, with just, you certainly blocking or stage business of, you know, talking to Lear and how Lear acknowledges or doesn’t acknowledge you. And, and obviously that. That may not become the focal point of the scene, but there’s. It makes it very active for you as a character of attempting to reach out to him or attempting to say something and he might not even acknowledge your existence in that moment. He just goes right back to Goneril or Regan. And yeah, I mean, as we’ve talked about it, I think that just makes it much more active and alive for you rather than, here’s your line, the king nods or whatever. And then you just go back to observer, that you have this, this inner life going on of feeling like I Want to show you that I can be a good ruler and I can do this. So, No, that’s really. That’s really cool to hear. And so it’s fascinating, to hear the journey, even with a character that may not have many lines, that there’s still a lot going on for them in the context of the scene. I would love to hear, Annie and. Or Randall, both of you. I know you guys have been. Well, You know, you did this play, at your theater, a number of years ago, and you continue to revisit it. why do you keep coming back to it, this play in particular, versus any other play? So much?

Randall Duk Kim: I’m old.

Nathan Agin: But you’re not playing Fears in the Cherry Orchard, right? You know, you don’t come right back.

Randall Duk Kim: To that new fear. Sure. But I. After all the Shakespearean work, this. This character is the one that I’ve gotta. I’ve gotta pay attention to at this stage of my life. This is the one I’ve gotta contemplate.

Randall Duk Kim: Over great tracks of time, you know, and to ponder what becomes of this man, who is. He was his, How is his soul revealed in what he experiences?

Nathan Agin: And Randy, do you. Are you saying in some ways that it, Like, have you needed a lifetime of your own experience to try to start a. Approaching those kinds of ideas? Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Randall Duk Kim: All of it.

Nathan Agin: Yeah. And Annie, what excites you about the play? This play particularly?

Annie Occhiogrosso: for me, I love the challenge of understanding the, The depth of a play. And I’ve seen a lot of productions of it, you know, and I’ve always felt something’s not right, something’s not speaking to me, you know, and so then I go back to it and see if I can find out things about it.

Annie Occhiogrosso: It’s hard for me to say, Nathan, because I’m so devoted to Shakespeare’s plays that I’m a perpetual student. So if I’m asked to do Lear, then I jump in and try to find out anything that I. I can find out. Now, Randy’s old, so it means he’ll probably. That’s the role he would do. So I would spend a lot of time helping him find, out, you know, what he could about it. But I love the challenge of Lear. I just think it’s so massive. And I think we try to simplify it. We just try to kind of bring it down and say it’s this. And I find that every time I look at it, I find some new facet. That I want to see actors do it. I want to see actors bring it to life. And the way Jeanne and Lizzie and Thomas were talking about it, that’s the leer I’m looking for. The leer that someone from the, you know, the, Our century, the 22nd century, looks at something taking place in ancient Britain and sees themselves. And I just wonder if we can see that, would that make us a little more, conscious about something we do today lasting 400 years? You know, that, that, that somehow we’re on a. We’re connected. We’re all connected. I, I also am always holding the flag up for not updating them. I think they’re so exciting the way they’ve been written. And I think in order to, when you update them, you have to cut so much out of the original and change it and fit it into our time or whatever time you put putting it in. And every single time I sit with one of these plays, I think, I wish an audience could see this or hear this just the way it is. M so you know, I’m sitting here next to, I would say maybe 50 books that Randy and I went through when we put together Shakespeare’s birthday celebration. Fifty books, stuff written on shape that’s not even a three thumbprint of what’s out there. And I’m thinking to myself, you really think you can improve on Shakespeare? Wow, that’s hubris. Improve on him. Do you know how many books have been written? Psychology, books, medicine, every, I mean philosophy. Everybody has had a hand in reading Shakespeare and, and learning from him and growing from him. You think you could do better?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay. Good luck. All I know is I hope I can come close to bringing what he gave us on stage. I know I’m outside of the question, but it’s all fascinating. You should see me when I have Hamlet. Randy and I studied Hamlet 14 years before we did our first production.

Randall Duk Kim: I think too a play is dead when it’s not embodied. Yes, on the page, it’s in a book, but it’s, it’s not alive. And we need to see them alive. We need to see these stories alive. Done by actors who cared. Care about it. And not just doing it for employment’s sake, but who care.

Nathan Agin: Well, I mean, you know, it’s it makes me think of a couple of things. There’s that Magritte painting. This is not a pipe kind of thing. That there’s that. And then if you look at the blueprints of a house that’s not the house we now need to embody this. We need to create this so that it’s something that we can all experience. and, Annie, what I really enjoyed about what you were saying is, you know, I know we touched a little bit on the First Folio work today, but all of the discussions that you guys have been having today, and we continued a little bit about the dynamics, the family. None of that has to go away in the approach that you’re talking about. It’s not conceptual. It’s like, no, this is how you make these real people. And you have people see themselves in characters that were written 400 years ago. It’s. None of that work disappears. It’s all part of it. and yet it seems to allude so many productions, that it doesn’t, incorporate that stuff. So, No, I think it is very, exciting, even if, only in a small way. We can do some of it here. but I think it just so illuminates, the text and, just create some really wonderful scenes to watch. And so, I mean, I’m just so appreciative of all the effort and work that all of you put into this, because it’s just been. It allows me to come see the play kind of anew, even as many times as I’ve seen it or read it, that it’s just like, oh, wait a second. There’s all this other stuff going on that I might not have, seen before or thought of before.

Randall Duk Kim: You know, Nathan, we, Ah, as actors, we give, our bodies and our voices and all of that to the performance of characters. But I think the most important thing is giving our hearts and perhaps something even deeper of ourselves to the characters. We certainly give mind because you need to, you know, have your intellect with you. But there’s, something about maybe heart and soul that’s needed for these particular characters to, I don’t know, breathe again.

Nathan Agin: Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: You know, to be alive. And they need these characters. Need the actor’s heart, need the actor’s soul, really. Or else it’s just. It’s just mouthing. Mouthing off. And it’s a bore when we do it that way.

Nathan Agin: Yeah, that’s great.

Randall Duk Kim: well, like, it’s not like it should be like tightrope walking. It should have that danger almost.

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: That caught that dangerous quality. Like, oh, at any moment, they. They could fall into the abyss, you know.

Randall Duk Kim: Absolutely.

Randall Duk Kim: That.

Randall Duk Kim: That’s.

Randall Duk Kim: I don’t know. That’s what makes the theater exciting, I think. Yeah.

Nathan Agin: Well, I want to be just conscious of the time until. Of the time. If there are any last, burning questions, people can drop those in now and I’ll just wait a few seconds for that. But, otherwise, I want to thank, those who attended live, for observing. And, again, I want to thank all of the, artists here for all the work they’ve done over the month. and I will just say again, that in July we’re going to be working on Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, an adaptation of that. I mean, it’s a different kind of project here, so I’m excited to see how it goes.

Lizzie King-Hall: It sounds absolutely wild. I’m so interested in that.

Nathan Agin: I’ll be sure to let all the artists know, if they want to find out more about that, how they can, kind of check in on that. Magdalene wrote. Thank you all so much. So. Thank you, Magdalene, for being here. Appreciate. Appreciate that. and, yeah, I think. I think if there’s nothing else, ah, we can, kind of wrap up the. The official public part of this. And again, thanks to all the participants for showing up. and the. The cast can stay here and I will, usher the audience out to the, the lobby as I continue my metaphors of actual theater. And And thank you all for. For coming.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

The post KING LEAR Final Session: “The Art of Character and Conflict” – Shakespeare – Act 2, Scene 4 – The Rehearsal Room [Video, Audio, and Transcript versions] appeared first on The Working Actor's Journey.

Our session begins with a discussion about the setting of the play, emphasizing the stark contrasts between the characters’ environments and their emotional states. We explore the character arcs and the transformations throughout the play.

The group considers the implications of Lear’s decisions, particularly his choice to divide his kingdom based on flattery rather than genuine love. This pivotal moment sets the stage for the ensuing chaos and heartbreak. We also touch upon the role of the Fool, who serves as both a commentator and a tragic figure in Lear’s journey.

The themes of loyalty and betrayal are explored, particularly through the lens of Cordelia’s banishment. Her unwavering love for her father contrasts sharply with the deceitful nature of her sisters, highlighting the moral complexities within the family. We reflect on how these themes resonate in today’s world, drawing parallels between the characters’ struggles and contemporary issues of power and responsibility.

Join us to explore why “King Lear” remains a poignant exploration of the human condition!

🏁 In this session, highlights include:

Full transcript included at the bottom of this post.

Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session!

Total Running Time: 2:14:04

Check out this 75-second clip from this session with Jeanne, Lizzie and Annie discussing the competition of the sisters.

And a great quote from this week’s session…

Support The Rehearsal Room on Patreon – get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more!

Thank you to our current patrons at the Co-Star level or higher: Ivar, Joan, Michele, Jim, Magdalen, Claudia, Clif and Jeff!

Our group will be working on the following scene:

Follow along with the play here.

Read more about the artists here.

Catch up on our other workshops featuring lots of Shakespeare scenes, from Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Midsummer, As You Like It, and our Twelfth Night repertory extravaganza – all on the podcast and YouTube.  If you’ve missed any presentations thus far, click here to find them all.

KING LEAR Week 3: “The Unraveling of Lear” – The Rehearsal Room

Nathan Agin: Well, good. well, glad everybody, made it. and good to see everybody this week. for those keeping track at home, I’ve been wearing summer clothes, but we got this cold snap here in Northern, California. So it’s, lows of, like, 45 and highs of 60, when here we are supposed to be, you know, the longest summer equinox tomorrow. So who knows? Who knows? We’ll take all the precipitation in fire country. We will take all the precipitation we can get. So hopefully that keeps things at bay a little bit longer. But,

Annie Occhiogrosso: Where are you, Nathan?

Nathan Agin: I’m in Yreka, California, which is about 35 minutes south of Ashland, Oregon. So where the Shakespeare festival is.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Nathan Agin: So, we’re up in, what do they call this? The state of Jefferson. At one point, there was talk of seceding Southern Oregon and Northern California into their own little enclave, because it, really is. People say Northern California, but they’re like. They mean the Bay Area. No, this is really Northern California.

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah, I was gonna say, I assumed you’re in the Bay Area, but you’re way up there.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: Are you. Are you near. Nathan? Are you near the redwoods?

Nathan Agin: as the crow flies. We’re probably only about, two and a half hours from the coast, but it’s a very circuitous, long drive to actually get over there. So,

Randall Duk Kim: So, yeah, okay.

Nathan Agin: But we’re. We’re in Shasta Valley. We. We can see Mount Shasta, where we are beautiful.

Jeanne Sakata: And Crandall and Annie. Where are you guys?

Randall Duk Kim: We’re in Jersey. Joy and Thomas in Jersey.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yes, I am.

Nathan Agin: And Lizzy, Lizzie is, in Kansas City, correct?

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah.

Lizzie King-Hall: And it’s 90 degrees, so.

Jeanne Sakata: Oh, my God.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Wow.

Randall Duk Kim: Kansas City. Lizzie, I thought you were on the west. West Coast.

Lizzie King-Hall: No, I live in New York. But my apartment is my most valuable asset, so I gave it to a guy. Gave it, rented it to a guy who’s in Here Lies Love this summer.

Jeanne Sakata: Oh, I have a lot of friends in that.

Lizzie King-Hall: He’s the nicest person in the world. Moses Villarama.

Jeanne Sakata: Oh, I know Moses. I just said congratulations to him on one of his posts. Have a great Broadway debut. It’s his Broadway.

Lizzie King-Hall: He is so. So I’m just hanging in Kansas City for the summer.

Randall Duk Kim: Okay.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Is that where you were born? Yeah.

Randall Duk Kim: A Midwestern girl.

Lizzie King-Hall: That’s right. Corn fed.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And do you do anything with the university there?

Lizzie King-Hall: I do voice coaching at the NPR affiliate at kcdr, which is really rewarding. They are a great group of people. I Do media training. Like, corporate media training and stuff. But I would like to. They’ve actually just canceled the MFA program at umkc, so it’s only BA but I would love to work with them.

Annie Occhiogrosso: We had a friend who worked there. Ted Sweats. His name?

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Oh, do you know him?

Lizzie King-Hall: yeah, he is my friend Abigail. Well, I did theater with his daughter.

Randall Duk Kim: Daughter Abigail.

Lizzie King-Hall: Abigail. In school. And weirdly, when you guys were telling us about the Karnofsky book, and I looked it up on Amazon, Ted Sweats was the one review.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Ah. I can imagine.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah, yeah. Well, he came with us to meet m. The Karnoffs. When we had our theater, we got to a point where I was doing most of the directing, and we felt we needed to be inspired by someone. And so Ted said, why don’t you ask, Morris to come out? And we thought, are you crazy? He’s not going to come out. He said, I studied with him. Let’s go have dinner. Let’s see if he’ll have dinner with us. And, so he came with us to their home in Connecticut. And sure enough, we asked him, and he said that. He said, well, Harold Clerman is on my shoulder saying, do it, Morris. Do it. They came and joined us.

Randall Duk Kim: How wonderful.

Jeanne Sakata: What a wonderful story.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Nathan Agin: And I’m hoping Morris and Phoebe were on both of your shoulders, Randall. And when I emailed you saying, hey, I got this little podcast to talk about your career.

Randall Duk Kim: They were. They were.

Annie Occhiogrosso: They’re the reason, actually. They’re the reason that we actually keep. Whenever we’re. We feel like it’s time to throw in the towel because we’re just dinosaurs and nobody’s, you know, really doing things the way we like to do them. Every so often, I have Phoebe in my ear saying, no, you have to. You have to keep doing something. You have to. And they did it until their 90s.

Lizzie King-Hall: Wow.

Annie Occhiogrosso: he was 93. Yeah. She was 96. and I was with her the day before she died, and she was teaching Hamlet. She had students come to her bed in the hospital.

Lizzie King-Hall: Oh, my God.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And I said to her, oh. She said, anna, good enough. I beat my mother by 10 years. She was 86. I beat Mari by three years, and I even beat Katharine Hepburn. So good enough. And I said, phoebe, you have so much more to give. And she said, well, you’re right there. I am remarkable. Yeah. Well, there you go. Nice. Way to start, right?

Jeanne Sakata: Yeah. All right.

Nathan Agin: Well, yeah, it’s great listening to all this. I will Let you guys get to King Lear. Have, a wonderful day. I’ll probably be listening for some part of it. And, yeah, have a. Have a great time.

Randall Duk Kim: See you later.

Tom Farber: Thank you.

Annie Occhiogrosso: So what I thought we would do today is I went back to the beginning of the play. To see if we could trace each character from the beginning. To see what changes have occurred leading up to this scene. and I thought if we could do that and have you guys read the character in the previous scenes. It might, influence, those choices further that we’re making in the scene that we’re doing. and I think it becomes, pretty interesting. It definitely seems to fall into place. but you have to take a very close look at what everybody is saying. That’s why I thought it was important to do that today. We’d never looked at the scene with Goneril and Lear where, he finds out that she already cut fish 50 nights out of his train. We’ve never done the Regan arrival to Gloucester’s. And so I’d like to start right at the top with the girls professing their love. And then look at each one of those scenes that you’re in. If, that makes sense. Yeah. Great.

Lizzie King-Hall: Great idea.

Annie Occhiogrosso: The one thing that I will mention from the first scene with Gloucester and Kent. Is because you want to put all these facts together of who knows what at any given time, the land has already been divided. so because that conversation in the very first scene of the play, Kent says, I thought the king liked Albany better than Cornwall. And Gloucester said, I thought so too. But the way he’s divided the land, there’s absolutely no difference between Albany’s portion and Cornwall’s portion. What’s not mentioned is Cordelia’s portion. So we can either assume that she gets the best or that all three are exactly equal. But the fact that they don’t mention hers makes me think that the plan is indeed for her to give him the best reason, best expression of her love. And therefore she’ll get the best. But it’s all done.

Randall Duk Kim: Annie, have the lands been identified, as who gets what.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Specifically?

Randall Duk Kim: Or is that decided during the game?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Well, all we know is that Cornwall and Albany, whatever land they get, it’s exactly the same. There’s not an inch of land that’s different. There’s not a tree on one that’s not on the other.

Randall Duk Kim: But we don’t know who gets what.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I don’t know what you’re saying, Randy. You mean what?

Randall Duk Kim: the parcels may be equal but they have to be. What daughter gets. What parcel? Is that known?

Annie Occhiogrosso: Well, it is, because one’s married to Albany and the other’s married to Cornwall.

Randall Duk Kim: No, but specifically, what parcel goes to who?

Tom Farber: No, I think he’s asking, like, what region? Like, what region?

Annie Occhiogrosso: No, there’s no mention. There’s no mention of that. That at all. I know you have information about where Albany is and Cornwright.

Randall Duk Kim: Well, this play supposedly traces back where, the Elizabethans knew that northern England was associated with Albany and that Cornwall was associated with the West Britain. west. So it’s like Lear determines he’s going to send his eldest daughter north and give, the western part of England to Reagan. Right. And so this play is supposedly how that originated. Oh, yeah. You know, this is where it occurred.

Lizzie King-Hall: That’s interesting.

Randall Duk Kim: Yeah. You know, I think I. I hope. But who the hell knows.

Annie Occhiogrosso: If it wasn’t pre decided.

Jeanne Sakata: That’s an interesting moment because, like, you know, because it’s right so fast. When you say to me, well, you’re the eldest, Conor, you go first. How much do you love me? And I have to go, ah, yes, right. And then you say, okay, that maybe is good enough for parcel two. This one right here, it makes an interesting moment. If he doesn’t, you know, he doesn’t.

Annie Occhiogrosso: And he. You. And you folks don’t know. I mean, the girls don’t know that he’s done this. They think it’s being done on the spot. we just know that the gossip between Gloucester and Kent is in reference to that parcel, that entire kingdom being divided already. but even they don’t know why. I mean, he. That’s why. When Lear in the scene. We’ll take a peek at it right now. look at what he says in the first few lines about his darker purpose. Which means mysterious, which means. It means serious, also has several meanings to the word darker. But I think the idea of it being mysterious is. Here I’m finally going to reveal what this is all about. and that’s what he does here. So let’s read it, and then we’ll. Because I know conversation will go all over the place. there’s so much that’s written, of course, about this play, but everybody has a different idea. Some people think Lear is already mad when the play opens. Some believe that he is being a hypocrite. Others, you know, it’s. The conclusions, are just. They’re vast. But all I want us to do is to take a look at what your character says. I think I mentioned this before. There’s no subtext in Shakespeare. If you say it in the moment, you mean it. It’s like Richard III professes love to Lady Anne, and later on he has a speech that says, was ever woman in this? Because, there’s just no, There’s nothing that gives subtext. Modern theater’s filled with subtext. so what’s nice about that is you can depend on what you’re saying in this to be, the truth in the moment.

Lizzie King-Hall: Yeah.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay.

Jeanne Sakata: All right.

Annie Occhiogrosso: So let your want to start it.

Lizzie King-Hall: Where are we? Are we doing all the bit with Kent and Edmond?

Annie Occhiogrosso: No, no, Just with the girl with, Lear announcing. Let me get you the exact line.

Lizzie King-Hall: 42, 41.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Yeah.

Jeanne Sakata: In three. Our kingdom.

Annie Occhiogrosso: From there, attend the lords in France. Randy to Gloucester, it says, enter King Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia. And attendance.

Randall Duk Kim: Yep.

Annie Occhiogrosso: Okay.

Randall Duk Kim: Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.

Annie Occhiogrosso: I shall.