Platonov!

Thursday night it was the first preview of the Rep Experiment's , 'Platonov'. With respect to everyone involved, I'd been expecting the worst from this the very earliest Chekhov play. This was the first night for the show too, so hiccups should have been expected. I was more than pleasantly surprised. This holds together, and together very well! I know there has been a lot of paring down of the original 4 and a half hour play, but one has to wonder what could be added.

The story is fairly basic. Platonov, a once promising intellectual, winds up as a teacher in a small town. He enjoys a certain imposed celebrity in the community and women tend to find him irresistible. He's not averse to taking advantage of his charm and when an old flame appears on the scene married to his friend, trouble looms. Steadily he tangles himself up in a dramatic web of passion and betrayal. It's not revealing to much to say that Chekhov's infamous gun gets an outing.

Platonov is his own nemesis, a man addicted to making people fall in love with him, but with too little sense of self worth, and too lazy, to commit to the inevitable implications. There is a black comedy in embryo here, but despite some genuine laughs, Chekhov plays it straight. If it's not the tragedy he intends, it is an engrossing play of characters. Talking to David Horan, the director of 'Metamorphosis', at the interval, he pointed out that many of the characters and themes that populate Chekhov's more mature works are evident here. For that alone it is worth a look.

Once again the cast are equal to the challenges involved. Perhaps a little over-exuberant in the first half, they settle down to a perfect pitch as the play progresses. Fergal McElherron is a startling Platonov. Shorter than almost everyone else on stage, he dominates proceedings, as he should. In a lesser actor's hands, Platonov's weaknesses might dominate, but his performance never alienates us. The rest of the cast includes the entire cast of 'Metamorphosis' ( Peter Daly, Paul Reid, David Heap, Janet Moran and Ailish Symonds) and amazingly, given the workload they have, each is a standout. Gillian McCarthy, Sam Corry, and Kathy Rose O'Brien fill out the large cast, and are just as exemplary.

Although she disagreed with me, I thought Janet was particularly good, but she wasn't the only member of the Moran clan on stage last night. In what I had been told was a walk-on part, her brother, Barry Moran, was treading the boards for the first time ever. It was far from a walk-on role, and he had more than a little to say. He was wonderful; he really had a presence I never expected. An acting dynasty in the making?

There were some small misjudgments. Music by Satie and Steve Reich is used throughout and though it was fine between scenes, personally I felt it was too intrusive within them. The set, resembling a classroom, is perhaps a tad too clever, though the blackboards function well as windows, etc.. But what flaws there are principally rest with Chekhov. There, go tell it to Uncle Vanya!