I’m on Team Sonya | Uncle Vanya

“Who did you root for?”

It’s a question I try my best to only ask after the production has finished, but one that means quite a lot to me. If these “Scenes from Country Life” are Chekhov’s way of teaching us how NOT to live, and I think the tragi-farcical elements in Uncle Vanya do just that, then it seems proper to ask, “Who’s the “hero” of this story?” Who wants the “right things” and who is trying to get what they want in the “right way?”

Of course, Chekhov most likely didn’t present one single “right” way to live one’s life. Maybe the seemingly “contented” servants/workers are a reflection of some Chekhovian ideal… But does Chekhov explore the inner psychology of Marina and Waffles enough in Vanya to make them realistic examples of a life worth living? And maybe they aren’t so content after all (Waffles: “I lost my happiness a long time ago.” and Marina: “Old people just want a little pity…they never give us enough of it.” OK I take it back, even if we don’t see as much into the private life of the working class on the estate, what we still see is equally complex enough picture (in proportion to their stage exposure) to make them competitive candidates for a “right way to live.” Or perhaps he wanted us to pick and choose the virtues from all characters.

As for myself, I’ve had for so long rooted for Sonya, because I felt she doesn’t appear to “wrong” anyone, she works hard to keep the estate life together, and my heart breaks for her when Astrov brushes her off. Of all the characters, she seems to be getting the least amount of what she wants while putting in the maximum of effort. When I asked audience members and friends who they rooted for while watching Vanya, I assumed they would all answer that Sonya was the “crowd favorite.” I was shocked and pleasantly surprised to hear a variety of responses. Here are a couple of [heavily] paraphrased responses:

“The doctor. He’s got so much going on, with the forest and his job and all. I really wanted him and Yelena to get together.”

“Yelena. I feel for her. Been there. I mean living with the Professor must suck. And it’s terrible to be trapped like that.”

“Hard not to root for poor old Vanya. Although I thought your Vanya was too angry and cynical to like. I felt for Sam’s Vanya much more. He was sadder, more depressed.”

“Sonya. That scene with the doctor in Act II, awww.”

I’ve completely enjoyed playing the role of Vanya. And I mean something very specific when I say so: I have enjoyed stepping into his shoes, making his choices, liking and disliking (re: hating) what he does, interacting with the other characters through the filter of his circumstances. But would I ever want to make the choices he makes in real life? No. Would I be disgusted with Vanya, were I to meet him in real life? Probably.

I believe that part of the task of playing a character means empathizing with their wants and “taking their side” in grand scheme of the play’s arc. Because I struggled so much to empathize with Vanya, I was really interested to know whether anyone else took his side. I’m glad a few people did. In fact, it made me proud that responses were so spread across the board; I think the fact that there was no one audience “favorite” is a testament to 1) the strength and diversity of Chekhov’s characterizations and 2) the honesty and depth with which we all brought our roles to life onstage.

Jules Odendahl-James December 11, 2013 at 9:54 pm

Thomas,

I wish I’d thought about #TeamSonya #TeamYelena and so on when I was doing Twitter promotions for the show! Of course given the multi-casting, we’d done our best to remove language that smacked at all of competition in an effort to thwart any understanding in the audience that actors were pitted against each other for the “winning” of roles. But it makes total sense to look into the text itself and consider how Chekhov himself seems to root for (or loathe) different characters at different moments in the play. I find myself thinking of the parts of Chekhov’s own personality that he “gifts” to characters either as blessings or curses. Astrov is the most direct doppelgänger, but there are pieces of him in Yelena, the Professor, Maria, Vanya, … all. In fact, since almost every character carries on conversations with themselves — which the double-casting allowed us the opportunity to physicalize –and since (designer) Sonya compartmentalized the set but without walls, both things made me think of our production as illustrating the inner workings of Chekhov’s mind. Certainly, it’s unfair to make an automatic assumption that artists draw from or work out their own biographies or psychologies within their characters. That said, I think we read and researched enough about this man to be confident to believe he’s working through some personal demons/dynamics in this piece (not the least of which being that earlier Wood Demon :: grin:: ). I think we could even take it further to say folks might be inclined to say I’m on Team Sonya from the scene with Yelena in Act 2 or the end of Act 4 because there’s not only the different characters in relationship to each other but within themselves and then within themselves under unique stresses or in specific contexts. And in the end, the play would be bereft if any of these parts were missing. They each need the others for contrast, counterbalance, push and provocation. Fundamentally, they’re all my favorites because they’re all Chekhov and they’re all, in bits and pieces (some bigger than others), me too.

— Jules

One thought on “I’m on Team Sonya”

Jules Odendahl-James December 11, 2013 at 9:54 pm

Thomas,

I wish I’d thought about #TeamSonya #TeamYelena and so on when I was doing Twitter promotions for the show! Of course given the multi-casting, we’d done our best to remove language that smacked at all of competition in an effort to thwart any understanding in the audience that actors were pitted against each other for the “winning” of roles. But it makes total sense to look into the text itself and consider how Chekhov himself seems to root for (or loathe) different characters at different moments in the play. I find myself thinking of the parts of Chekhov’s own personality that he “gifts” to characters either as blessings or curses. Astrov is the most direct doppelgänger, but there are pieces of him in Yelena, the Professor, Maria, Vanya, … all. In fact, since almost every character carries on conversations with themselves — which the double-casting allowed us the opportunity to physicalize –and since (designer) Sonya compartmentalized the set but without walls, both things made me think of our production as illustrating the inner workings of Chekhov’s mind. Certainly, it’s unfair to make an automatic assumption that artists draw from or work out their own biographies or psychologies within their characters. That said, I think we read and researched enough about this man to be confident to believe he’s working through some personal demons/dynamics in this piece (not the least of which being that earlier Wood Demon :: grin:: ). I think we could even take it further to say folks might be inclined to say I’m on Team Sonya from the scene with Yelena in Act 2 or the end of Act 4 because there’s not only the different characters in relationship to each other but within themselves and then within themselves under unique stresses or in specific contexts. And in the end, the play would be bereft if any of these parts were missing. They each need the others for contrast, counterbalance, push and provocation. Fundamentally, they’re all my favorites because they’re all Chekhov and they’re all, in bits and pieces (some bigger than others), me too.

— Jules

Comments are closed.