The Daily Californian Online

STANLEY SPENGER/Courtesy TRAGIC COMEDY. Stanley Spenger (right) adapted, directed and also stars in Anton Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya,' now playing at Berkeley's Live Oak Theatre.

Anton Chekhov was a brilliant playwright whose plays were intricate and meaningful, and in theater, the meaning is the most important thing to bring to life. Unfortunately, that is something that the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley clearly does not understand. In their production of Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," the actors attempt to create memorable characters and make the plot clear, but they do not bring out the meaning of lines that almost speak for themselves.

The play starts out positively before it descends into pointlessness. The audience is almost immediately introduced to Uncle Vanya (Stanley Spenger), the caretaker of the estate owned by his deceased sister's daughter Sonya (Sarah Meyerhoff). It quickly rolls into the conflict: Sonya's recently remarried father, Professor Serebyakov Aleksander Vladimirovich (Scott Alexander Ayres), and his wife Yelena Andreevna (Maureen Coyne) are living on the estate and have thrown the place into disarray. Vanya sees the professor, who spends all his time reading and writing, as a fraud whose brilliance is a mere fa�ade. All of this information is delivered by Vanya with subtle fervor and anger that if sustained would have made the play a success.

Unfortunately, the simmering cauldron that is Vanya stops steaming and the characters become less interesting. Chekhov intended the play to lack energy, but all too quickly the play begins to lack significance. The plot is rife with detail and various conflicts, such as the psychological frustration of the professor and the unfulfilled love Vanya and a local doctor named Astrov (Aaron Murphy) have for Yelena Andreevna, but none of this comes through effectivelly. The actors seem awkward in their roles, mostly because they are so focused on creating personalities for their characters that they lose focus on what they're actually saying and lack chemistry. The exception to this is the relationship between Sonya and Astrov, whom Sonya loves without reciprocation. This is mostly due to the nearly flawless performance of Sarah Meyerhoff, who displays Sonya's innocence and sweet personality with such naturalism that Meyerhoff and her character become one during the play. Also deserving of praise is Aaron Murphy, whose portrayal of Astrov reveals the delicate workings of the brilliant, mysterious doctor.

On a few occasions, such as the the climax, the cast tries to pull it together. As the professor reveals his plan to sell the estate to earn some much needed money, Vanya finally breaks down and delivers a fiery speech expressing his frustration at Serebyakov Aleksander Vladimirovich and fires two gun shots at him, missing both times. This is the first time in the play that the hidden frustration of Vanya is realized, and the only time in the performance when all of the actors are in the moment. Still, even this section has its flaws, namely the gun shot sound effect that is employed. A simple scream offstage would have sufficed to show that something bad was about to happen, but instead Spenger attempted to make events more obvious by using a sound effect. Sound effects-with varying degrees of technical difficulties-are employed on a number occasions during the play and are tasteless throughout.

At least the performance manages to end well, as Meyerhoff delivers a desperate speech about longing for happiness and hope. Nonetheless, ending this play well is akin to playing an entire piano concerto incorrectly except the last few notes: Although the piece ended well, it doesn't change the fact that the other notes were all wrong. And in this play, except for a few measures, all the notes are off.