Anton Chekhov was not a happy camper. He wallowed in the unfulfilled dreams and unrequited loves of the bourgeoisie in czarist Russia. His dramatically sophisticated and heart-wrenching plays — Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard — are serious perennial classics, performed around the world.
In contrast, playwright Christopher Durang sees the road to despair as paved with laughs. It’s not that he doesn’t empathize with the pain of those who live dead-end lives — he also revels in how silly and indulgent they can be. He’s an irrepressible satirist with a comic view of our mortal foolishness. When he takes on the sacred oeuvre of Chekhov in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, now playing in a splendid production at the Provincetown Theater, the result is both thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable.
Durang, a graduate of Yale Drama School (along with his friend Sigourney Weaver, who has starred in many of his plays), first came to prominence with the off-Broadway smash Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You in 1979, which savaged (controversially) the Catholic church. Though he was gay and out, he rarely focused on queer issues: his satire was universal. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike arrived in 2013. It was his next-to-last play (he died in 2024 of complications of a chronic form of aphasia), and it was a huge hit on Broadway with Weaver and David Hyde Pierce starring, nabbing a slew of nominations and awards, including a Tony for Best Play.
That was 12 years ago, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike remains entirely fresh and topical, with references as relevant as texting and as quaint as the HBO series Entourage. Of course, the qualities of vanity, self-pity, and loneliness are enduring, and those are precisely what Durang is aiming at.
The play doesn’t satirize a specific work by Chekhov: Durang said he put “Chekhov in a blender,” mixing characters and situations into a comic stew. You don’t have to be familiar with the master to get the jokes — most of the references are throwaway tidbits, and sometimes they’re self-consciously highlighted, as when Vanya is referred to as “uncle” or when a bunch of cherry trees are referred to as an “orchard.”
But the great thing about artistic director David Drake’s new production of the play is the dazzling comic timing of its ensemble cast. That’s terribly difficult to achieve with seasoned pros — let alone in regional theater — and every last member of this Provincetown cast seems to know just how to land their zingers. Some are veterans of the local scene, others are working pros, but the mix is nothing short of magical.
The story is set in a lonely country house in upscale, rustic Bucks County, Pa., outside Philadelphia. The main characters are three aging siblings: Vanya and Masha and their adopted sister, Sonia. Masha, an actress, has found fame and fortune in the movies and owns the old family homestead. Vanya and Sonia live there on her tab, having tended to their late parents — college professors who ran a community theater — till they died.
The play is about a visit by Masha to the house. She arrives with her beefy young actor boyfriend, Spike, who’s a bit of a chaos agent, teasing Vanya, who is gay and sexually timid, and flirting with a young neighbor, Nina, who is starstruck by Masha. The action climaxes with a costume party at a neighbor’s house, which, in typical Chekhov style, takes place offstage. Masha wants them all to go as Disney dwarfs to accompany her Snow White. Sonia, normally a Cinderella-like homebody, defies her, going as the Evil Queen, but tweaked: she’s a glam Maggie Smith going to the Oscars for her nominated performance as the Evil Queen. Sibling rivalry and betrayals erupt.
As the self-pitying Sonia, Jennifer Cabral is simply marvelous. She makes the role completely her own, playing Sonia as a mischievous naïf with killer delivery. William Mullin, as the cranky and passive Vanya, has surprising punch, especially in his 11th-hour speech about the sad state of things. Susan Lambert, as the narcissistic Masha, is vain and vulnerable, furious and restrained in just the right measure.
The three non-siblings are equally good. Hilarie Tamar, as the voodoo-practicing cleaning woman Cassandra, is a hilarious, scene-stealing revelation. Jeff Brackett attacks the role of Spike — Durang’s riff on the classic buxom blonde, with a ripped, muscled torso and bubble butt — with relish, energizing every space he’s in. And finally, Lena Moore, as the sweet and innocent neighbor Nina, finds hidden depth and awareness amid this circus of older loons.
Drake, as director, lets loose on the comedy without straying into cartoonishness. I’ve seen Durang plays on Broadway, where they occasionally sink and stall, but this production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike has unflagging zest — it connects with the audience easily over two acts and two hours. Part of that is the beautiful set by Jenni Baldwin, filled with colorful details and subtle shifts of height and space, as well as the eye-catching costumes and props by Thom Markee and the superb lighting design of Stephen Petrilli.
It all adds up to the perfect summer antidote to the times we live in, when narcissistic goons are turning our reality into a Chekhovian tragedy.
Bouncing the Chekhov
The event: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, by Christopher Durang
The time: Through Aug. 28, Monday through Thursday, 7 p.m.
The place: Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St.
The cost: $57.80, including fees, at provincetowntheater.org or 508-487-7487
