Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike

I have to admit I’d not heard of this Tony and Pulitzer award winning play before, or of the late American playwright Christopher Durang, probably because, apart from a brief run at The Theatre Royal Bath and a covid interrupted ‘off’ West End run in 2019 and 2021 respectively it doesn’t appear to have played to any other British playhouses. A pity because what Director Lester Cooke and his cast did with this would have graced any theatre in Britain.

The story based in Bucks county Pennsylvania is a low key comedy with, apparently, lots of in jokes referencing Chekov about a couple of middle aged siblings, Vanya and Sonia, (although Sonia is adopted) who have lived together in the same house since childhood and have not really done anything with their lives, other than care for their now deceased parents, whilst the third sibling, Masha has become a famous, but by now fading film star, with five marriages behind her, and who pays all the bills to upkeep the family home. She comes to visit to attend a local party with her toy boy of three months, the much younger Spike and threatens to sell the ancestral home, because it turns out she might need the money unless her career takes off again. Add in the attractive younger next-door neighbour, Nina, whom Spike has taken a liking to, plus their eccentric cleaner come soothsayer Cassandra and the often mentioned but never seen agent “Hooty Pie”, and the family resentments rapidly start to surface.

The set by Paul Robbins, Kevin Beirne, Sam Kingstone, Tim Murden and Gerry Stafford was a very striking living room of the ancestral home with a peach coloured theme to the walls with pine wooded furniture and wicker seating, A central arched entrance to the centre of the rear wall led to the unseen outside and kitchen areas left and right. An very authentic outside area, stage left, with pagoda roof and vines, more wicker seating and stone wall to the rear. To stage right was a wooden staircase leading to the bedrooms. It was then very tastefully decorated by Cleo Carter who did set dressing and also did the painting, covering it  with pictures, a Japanese style screen, a hatstand, a wicker bookcase and set of draws covered in flowers, a clock and tastefully chosen brick a back. It all jelled together extremely well and very much set the scene as a comfortable upper income American home. Lighting by Ben Cronin washed the scene highlighting the colour scheme perfectly. Best summed up as one of the neatest coordinated sets I’ve seen at Sharnbrook.

Sound in this no mics production was by Mark Luckin assisted by Alexander Home, Lily Hammond and Natalie Soroko, All cued perfectly and I never gave it a thought, which always means it was spot on all round.

Costumes by The Pin Up Girls (Virginia Pope and Gill Ridley) and complimented with wigs by Susan Moore were great fun and produced some good laughs from the audience, especially with the Disney Snow White, The Wicked Queen and the Dwarfs costumes, and particularly the ears for Nina and the psychedelic outfits for Cassandra.

I can’t say the story grabbed me that well, I found the play more serious Chekov than comedy, but what did grab me was the acting, which really was a class above at times. And my admiration for their line learning was altogether on a different level. Some of monologues were several minutes long, with every mood swing beautifully delivered and not a beat missed

Fraser Haines as Vanya was the quiet character who was always trying to calm things down, often with some well delivered sarcasm, especially when his sister becomes unhinged and throws coffee cups against the wall, until in the very end when he finally looses it over Spike being more engaged with his mobile phone than with anybody in the room. A very astute observation by Durang back in2012 of what would sadly become the norm by the mid-twenties. His subsequent speech, or rather long rant that followed was simply a masterclass in delivery. I doubt anybody could have delivered it better.

Jo Baker as Sonia the depressed moody character complimented him perfectly, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much at somebody crying before. The timing, the little silences between them and their general chemistry as they sat in their wicker armchairs was sublime and incredibly well delivered. This was acting on a different level. The conversation she had on the phone with Joe, the potential boyfriend she met at the party, and the facial expressions she used as she went through the gambit of making up her mind to except or decline his invite to dinner was a comedy delight of facial expressions. Brilliant!

Kaye Vincent as Masha was every bit the spoilt film star now on the wane professionally but still trying to lord it over everybody, whilst denying her aging, by having a toy boy of a boyfriend. But, slowly over the course of the play coming to realise the importance of her close family. Her ‘I don’t wait for people, people wait for me,’ superiority gradually coming back down to reality as she realises she needs her family more than anything else.

Robin Julian as Spike, Masha’s toy boy was every bit just that, tall, well defined, handsome and young and in it for himself, but striking up a friendship with the younger Nina much to the annoyance of Masha. His sexy strip to his underwear and redressing was particularly well done with very tongue in cheek humour.

Lauren Chacon as Nina the young next-door neighbour, star struck at first in the presence of Masha, but for ever being put down by her. One 'of the best moments of the play is when she arrives ready to leave for the party dressed as a sparkling fairy and is told to change into an inferior dwarf costume Masha has brought with her to compliment her Snow White outfit. When she re-enters dressed as the Dwarf the dejected expression on her face is pure comedy genius.

Kim Vaughan completed this cast as the cleaner and completely insane soothsayer, Cassandra who arrives on stage like a whirlwind spouting all sorts of profound mumbo jumbo. She added a great deal to the comedy with her, excentricity, energy and delivery, much to the amusement of the audience.

I really don’t see how Sharnbrook could have done this any better, it was about as good as it gets in the amateur world , sublime cast, excellent set and very well directed, but sadly and unusually for Sharnbrook had failed it sell and was playing to half empty houses, which, to be fair is not an exclusive problem with plays at the moment. But that aside, well done indeed to Lester Cooke, his cast and crew for what was a very fine piece of theatre indeed.

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