Film: NT Live - Vanya
Tonight, given that the film list is (finally) done, I was off to see.. the NT Live production of Vanya, which is Uncle Vanya restaged as a one-man play starring Andrew Scott! Oh goodee.. was upset not to get around to seeing this live, when it was on. It was showing in a number of Vue cinemas at 7pm- closest to me was Vue Westfield Stratford, so I booked.
Walked to Bermondsey to catch the Tube - I hadn't realised how far north Stratford actually is! Turns out Bermondsey is a little closer to me than is London Bridge Station - just as well, with the drizzle, and the cold wind. Stratford is the end of the line - and how nice it is that they have an underground tunnel that leads straight from the Underground Station (and the others) to Westfield Shopping Centre - makes navigation very easy. The same cannot be said for Westfield itself..
I knew the Vue is in the shopping centre. I had Google Maps to tell me when I'd passed it - and, as it turned out, it proved quite accurate. Problem is.. this is, apparently, one of the largest shopping centres in Europe, spread over three floors. Knowing, now, where the cinema is, I can testify that it is impossible to see as you come in - you have to know where to go. I'm sorry to say, this centre is much harder to navigate than its sister shopping centre in White City - the few maps I encountered give hardly any detail, and although they give the big stores, mystifyingly, they never mention a word about the whopping, 20-screen cinema! FFS - its location is not even mentioned on the websites, either of the cinema, or of the shopping centre! If it hadn't been for a comment on a forum, by someone who mentioned that it was upstairs from the food court, on Level 2 - I might be looking still..
Happily, the food court is easily findable. Actually, there's one on each floor, right above each other - so you can't go wrong. Keep going up - and up.. and finally, you come to a food court in which there is a side escalator, which mentions "restaurants" and "cinema". Holy.. Well, up I went. And there are lots of attractive-looking eateries around the cinema. I'd specifically gone in good time to get something nice to eat. However, I'd spent so long looking for the damn thing, I now didn't have time for a proper meal! I considered waiting until afterwards, and having a proper meal then - but that'd leave me with too much time to kill before the film! So I ended up heading back down to the food court, where I went for the easiest-looking option, Thunderbird Fried Chicken. Where I had to queue for quite a while - I was given a buzzer, and found a seat. When the buzzer went off, I went to the counter, where they were serving by order number - I made the mistake of thinking it was the one on my receipt. Oh no.. they do things differently in Thunderbird, it's the one on the buzzer, which is completely different! Anyway, I got fed - and the chicken is succulent, if rather bland, as is the BBQ dip. KFC it ain't.
And so upstairs for the film - had my ticket checked at the entrance, and it was upstairs to the foyer and concessions. And it turns out that Screens 18-20 (I was in Screen 18) are another level up! There's a lift for that - press level four, as he said. I'm surprised, by this stage, I wasn't getting altitude sickness.. there is yet another concession stand on that level, but it doesn't seem to be manned. Anyway, I went straight in - where it turned out there's only one aisle, so I had to push past a lot of people to get to my seat on the inside.
So - this is an adaptation of the Chekhov play. The characters' names are Anglicised, but otherwise it's true to life - the sleepy life on a potato farm is enlivened by the visit of the lauded film director and his much younger wife, whom a couple of the men there have a thing for. The farm actually belonged to his first wife, who's since died - she used to play piano, and they have a player piano in the background, which eerily represents her spirit. His daughter now runs the farm, along with his first wife's brother - the "Uncle Vanya" of the title (Ivan, here). And.. Andrew Scott plays them all.. plus the servants, and the demented mother, and someone called Elizabeth. And the dog is imagined.
To be fair, the watcher's appreciation of this will be coloured by how much they like Andrew Scott. The guy a couple of seats from me didn't seem to like it - was describing something as being "like torture" as we exited. Personally, of course, I adore Andrew Scott - and I loved this! Whatever you think about the aesthetics of his performance - and he does overact in parts - he does manage to convey quite distinct personalities for each, and helps to convey the characters with little mannerisms, like playing with the chain around his neck when representing Helena (the director's wife). Chameleon-like, he flips from one personality to another - the door helps, as he often uses it for character transitions. There's also a fun bit at the beginning, where he interacts a bit with the audience - it might be a National Theatre production, but this was actually filmed at the Duke of York's Theatre.
It's a ripping yarn - and a touching one at the end. And the range of emotions he expresses is incredible, moving from pathos to humour, naivety to slapstick, in seconds. He's a terrific actor - I am so glad I got to see this production at last! I do love these NT Live presentations.. Afterwards, we were happy to find that the lift accommodated everyone in the audience - it's a decently big lift, and the screen wasn't that full.
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