Afterplay (Brian Friel) - The Coronet

[Jan]

"Afterplay is a 2002 one-act play by Brian Friel. It centres on two characters from Chekhov (Sonya from Uncle Vanya and Andrey from Three Sisters) meeting in Moscow in the 1920s."

Just starting this thread now in case anyone might be interested in seeing it, opens 7 March. 1hr running time, so another short one, 

[Dave B]

Yup, have this one in the diary.

[Forrest]

I am going to see this on the first night of previews, and am very much looking forward to it: both because I think that the play is absolutely beautiful, in a kind of gentle, quietly and anonymously tragic sort of way, and because John Haidar, who directed Richard III for Headlong last year, is directing it.

I might be a bit of a weirdo, but I love following career paths of people whose work I came across and really enjoyed at some point: it makes me incredibly happy to see the things that they do next, and to watch them grow professionally. Quite by chance I also got to interview Haidar recently for a small project, and he struck me as such an unusually thoughtful, interesting and intelligent young creative, that I genuinely cannot imagine this being anything else but lovely. We'll see. :) 

[Jan]

Mariah Gale in this I see - one of the last actors who stayed at the RSC long enough to make a name for themselves.

[Dave B]

[Forrest]

I saw the first preview last night and absolutely loved this.

I thought the staging really brought out and made tangible all of the subtle emotional nuances of the text: the unbearable weight of disappointments and of time lost, the suffocating heaviness of the prospect of facing the future alone. The uneasiness of questioning what may have been, what still might be, what mistakes have been made... The giddy joy of catching an elusive spark of hope. And that reluctance to take the leap into the unknown because the familiarity of a devastating existence still feels safer and more comfortable than exposing all our vulnerabilities for an uncertain outcome; consciously living in a delusion easier than letting it all go. I thought it was wonderfully acted (particularly by Mariah Gale as Sonya) and I found the design of it rather enchanting. A friend who came along, who had no idea what to expect, loved it too.

It benefits from being done in such a small auditorium, because you really feel like you are sitting in a tiny corner of the universe, amidst a romantic winter, eavesdropping to an intimate conversation. The vagueness of the fact that it could be happening anywhere perfectly matches the vagueness of what the two of them know about each other. They are Andrey and Sonya, but in a way they could be almost anyone, too. (Well, with all the fables involved they almost are, aren't they!?) It makes for an excellent reminder just how many lives are lived in a similar manner, that we are perfectly unaware of. It is equally beautiful in its anonymity, as it is sad.

I randomly spoke to someone who'd overheard my conversation with my friend, as I was explaining to her how the play relates to Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters, and he told me he enjoyed Gale's Sonya much more than Lou Wood's in the current rendition of Uncle Vanya. I thought they were both terrific in their own way, not sure if I could make that choice, but Gale seems to give her character more resilience and determination... Perhaps that can be ascribed to the years gone by between the imaginary timings of the two plays.

I'll be taking someone else to see this on the 20th and am excited to see how it will grow. 

[nash16]

Feb 12, 2020 15:44:34 GMT Dave B said:

Great actors but bizarre casting.

The play is meant to be these characters meeting after years and years.

John Hurt and Penny Wilton played the roles in the West End years back.

[Jan]

It’s meant to be 1920 I thought so at 40 Mariah Gale is about the right age ? Rory Keenan is 39, in 1920 Andrey would be about 45 so not a big stretch.

[princeton]

I think the play takes place around 20 years after Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya. So assuming that each of these characters is in their mid-20s at the time those plays end (I'm not sure that either of their ages are clearly stated but I've always imagined Andrey to be somewhere in the middle of his sisters and Sonya to be slightly younger than Yelena) then Gale and Keenan are possibly nearer to the age of the characters, albeit a tad on the young side, than Wilton and Hurt were in the original. Though I suspect it doesn't matter much because from what I recall, and it's been around 20 years since I saw it, it's about people reflecting on how youthful idealism gives way to adult realism, and how the acknowledgement of this helps you shape plans for the future.

Am very much looking forward to seeing it.

[Dave B]

We saw it last night and thought it was great.

It's funny and charming and full of desperate loneliness. Both Mariah Gale and Rory Keenan are fab. The set is lovely, the backdrop really gives a sense of place and then the play is really just around a simple table and two chairs.

I think it also works as almost two seperate plays in one. It's the epilogue to Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters and you draw the connections and see what Friel thinks happened to the characters or you can see a play about two random people making a small connection in a cafe one day and the baggage of their lives. And then if both of those combine for you - wow.

Yup, loved it.

[Forrest]

Mar 10, 2020 12:24:44 GMT Dave B said:

Yup, loved it.

It somehow makes me oddly happy that you loved it too! :)
(Also, I believe I may have liked your Tweet about it, although I have no idea how it came to me in the first place. But yes, if your Twitter name bears resemblance to your Board name, and in the unlikely case that you were wondering, I'm that weirdo not in any way related to the Coronet who liked it!)

I fully agree with your point about how it works as a play if you don't know the background, but it is particularly enchanting if you do and if those two images click for you. And that the set is absolutely gorgeous - Lucy Osborne really created a most romantic vision of a Russian winter. 

[floorshow]

Didn't realise this was on and have left it to late to fit it in but loved the early 00s production with John Hurt and Penelope Wilton.