Nikolai Ivanov isn’t having a great week/life. His farm’s under renovation (well, falling apart). His wife’s sick (actually dying, but he hasn’t told her). And his wealthy neighbour’s young daughter has developed a crush on him. If that isn’t enough – he’s completely broke, desperately unhappy and growing fat ‘round the middle. But there’s whispers of a party. And the faint strains of music.
Then again, there’s always the gun on the drawing room wall…
Adaptor Eamon Flack puts Chekhov and contemporary Australia in a blender with director Daniel Evans and QUT’s trainee actors serving up a loud, brash version of Chekhov’s first major work that beats with the hallmarks of his classics: love, dreams, restlessness and passion.
Everything about this production of “Ivanov” is first-rate. Just as he did with La Boite Theatre Company’s “The Tragedy of King Richard III”, Director Daniel Evans has not only paid homage to a classic of the theatrical cannon but found the humour and fun within a morally ambiguous play. Eamon Flack’s adaptation of the original text is nuanced already, however, in Evans’ hands it bursts with life, making it both excellent and entertaining theatre. – Meredith Walker, Blue Curtains
Eamon Flack’s new adaptation of Ivanov is such a rich, broad and full-blooded piece of theatre that it’s impossible to put your finger on just one strength. – Daily Review
By Anton Chekhov. Adapted by Eamon Flack. Performed by special arrangement with Eamon Flack.
