Anton Chekhov’s first, unpublished and untitled play has been taken on by many playwrights and directors, given new names and new meaning over the years. Andrew Upton, Sydney Theatre Company’s outgoing artistic director, presents his version, The Present with Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh in the lead roles. Directed by John Crowley, Upton’s drama unfolds in mid-1990s Russia, when the Soviet state has been dismantled and the first wave of oligarchs have emerged.
In an old country summer house, friends have gathered to celebrate the widow Anna Petrovna’s (Blanchett) birthday. Platonov (Roxburgh), his wife Sasha (Susan Prior), his former students Sergei (Chris Ryan) and Nikolai (Toby Schmitz) and their partners Sophia (Jacqueline McKenzie) and Maria (Anna Bamford) are all there. They seem comfortable, yet boiling away inside each of them is a mess of unresolved relationships fuelled by two decades of denial, regret and thwarted desire.
Type of Event: Theatre
Venue: Roslyn Packer Theatre
22 Hickson Rd
Walsh Bay NSW 2000
Date: from 4 August to 19 September 2015
Price: from $93
Website: Sydney Theatre Company
Telephone: (02) 9250 1999
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