Andrew Upton’s new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s first play, Platonov, stars Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh under the direction of John Crowley. Upon closing, the production will have played 22 previews and 81 regular performances.
The Sydney Theatre Company Australian cast includes Blanchett (Anna) and Roxburgh (Mikhail) with Anna Bamford (Maria), Andrew Buchanan (Osip), David Downer (Yegor), Eamon Farren (Kirrill), Martin Jacobs (Alexei), Brandon McClelland (Dimitri), Jacqueline McKenzie (Sophia), Marshall Napier (Ivan), Susan Prior (Sasha), Chris Ryan (Sergei), and Toby Schmitz (Nikolai).
READ: CATE BLANCHETT AND THE CAST OF THE PRESENT SPILL THEIR PARTY SECRETS
Variously known as Platonov, Wild Honey, Fatherlessness, and The Disinherited, Chekhov’s first play was not discovered until 1920, some 16 years after the playwright’s death. Upton’s adaptation, according to press notes, is set “post-Perestroika in the mid-1990s at an old country house where friends gather to celebrate the birthday of the independent but compromised widow Anna Petrovna (Blanchett). At the center is the acerbic and witty Platonov (Roxburgh) with his wife, his former students and friends and their partners. They may appear comfortable, but boiling away inside is a mess of unfinished, unresolved relationships, fueled by twenty years of denial, regret and thwarted desire.”
The production also has set and costume design by Alice Babidge with lighting design by Nick Schlieper, and sound design and music by composer Stefan Gregory.
The Present is produced on Broadway by Stuart Thompson and Sydney Theatre Company.
The box office of the Barrymore Theatre is located at 243 W. 47th Street. Tickets are also available by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visiting Telecharge.com.
(Updated March 19, 2017)
