As Sonya (Margaretta Campagna) confronts feelings of inadequacy in her desired courtship of Astrov, Elena (Samantha Routh) moves in to offer friendship and assistance. | Uncle Vanya (2014) | Photo: Annie Paladino
The Stranger’s Brendan Kiley caught our Sunday, March 22, matinee. With typical trademark sardonic tone — even in moments of complement — his review is primarily straight reportage and doesn’t attempt to address symbolic or metaphorical layers of the production. But he seemed especially appreciative of the music:
The music, directed by Zhenya Lavy (who also translated this world-premiere version of the script), is one of the best things about the show—15 musical numbers, most of them gauzily melancholy but crisply performed.
He also remarked upon the effect of the setting’s immediacy and intimacy, with the actors so close he was, apparently, “tempted to reach out and offer a comforting pat on the back.” One audience member swears she saw him wipe a tear from his eye in Act IV, but nobody in the company can corroborate.
Read the entire review here:
“Cheer Down With Chekhov: A [sic] Intimate and Music-Heavy Uncle Vanya,” by Brendan Kiley, The Stranger, March 26, 2014
About Akropolis Performance Lab
Founded in 2000 by Co-Artistic Directors Joseph and Zhenya Lavy, Akropolis Performance Lab (APL) is Seattle's premiere ensemble-based theatre company. The ensemble practices rigorous, ongoing vocal and physical training and devises original work through long-form rehearsal process. APL's signature aesthetic, Theatre of Polyphony, is our original approach to crafting ensemble performance events that symbiotically interweave music, movement, and poetry to tell compelling and vital stories while reinventing the given spatial location and audience relationship to our art.
Company members include Annie Paladino (Associate Artistic Director), Catherine Lavy, Emily Jo Testa, Jennifer Crooks, Joseph Lavy, Margaretta Campagna, Matt Sherrill, Sara Kaus, Tyler J. Polumsky, and Zhenya Lavy.
The co-artistic directors' artistic lineage comes through the Central and Eastern European heritage of Meyerhold, Vakhtangov, and Grotowski.
Recent work includes Ecce Faustus (2016), The Glas Nocturne (2015), and Pomegranate & Ash (2015).
The ensemble hosts quarterly Salons and offers regular workshops in physical and vocal praxis.
Akropolis Performance Lab is a Washington State Non-Profit Corporation.
