#simon stephens

[metamorphesque]

Sea Wall, Simon Stephens

[olympain]

There he is. There he is. There he is.

[ilikethisacompletelynormalamount]

[widgenstain]

Birdland in 2025

Now that my thoughts are slightly more ordered, I'm writing some of them down digitally as well. I've scribbled 10 handwritten pages though, so there's a lot more from where this comes from! 😅

First of all, how did I see it? As some of you might know, the V&A Museum keeps recordings of plays in their archive. They're accessible for free and for anyone, provided that you watch them at their facility in East London. They're all digitised, they're all on the same server, you don't even have to order the specific play, you just make appointment for the morning or afternoon and they'll usher you into this very sterile, kinda cold room full of screens and headphones where you can basically watch any play in their collection. It's also video surveillanced and there is no real computer outlet for someone to dock on in case one might want to... uhm... liberate the recordings. In my case I was in there alone, probably making very funny faces, noises, and aerobic figures in my seat.

Why did I make them? Because I was fully emerged into this absolute BRILLIANT fucking play. This may just be the best thing I've ever seen Andrew do.

I love Simon Stephens, that's nothing new, but this is just excellent and I think this play - provided there were some slight changes to the ending - would have even more impact nowadays than it did 11 years ago.

It's the most brutal thing I've seen by him. It's still funny at points, very much so, some great laughs in this and I think at one point the actor playing Johnny even corpses a bit. But it's also much rougher than anything else I've seen by him, more vulgar and to say that Paul is not a nice character is the understatement of the century.

And fucking hell does Andrew deliver!! It's sometimes so bizarre to see what brings people wide-spread accolades, because while I LOVE Vanya of course, duh, #vanyaonstageforlife, this is just as good, if not better, since he gets to work his theatre magic with other actors, who can match him at points. Special shout out to Nikki Amuka Bird here!

The ENERGY that's created on this stage, the way he goes into Paul's coke driven moments of bravado and then abruptly drops it again in the span of a second! These switches that make Vanya so great are totally there already, and I think that's why Simon loves him so, he writes amazing mood changes and Andrew translates them FLAWLESSLY.

Also there are moments from AOUS Adam, the tiny glimpses of vulnerability Paul allows himself, the boyishness, it's almost like watching a child. And the sexy chemistry of course, I mean, that's a whole other post, it's not ok what this man does with his stupid lower lip, NOT OK YOU HEAR ME! And I think I can safely say that he's a way better dancer than singer, JESUS, that NYT dude putting him on the best dancer list wasn't lying!!

Plus there are some moments when he visciously explodes, fucking hell is that scary and I can only imagine how that hit during peak JM fandom times!!

So yeah, amongst many many other things, what fascinated me most about his performance was that you could already see all the things that would get him finally lauded, it'sall there already and brilliant, yet they're somehow not the same thing.

I know I've said it before, but one of the things that fascinate me so about this actor is that he keeps doing similar things sometimes, yet they're still always new and INTERESTING! And fascinating and heartbreaking and just a ridiculous ride of brilliant emotions and horrible human depths.

That's not even slightly all, but I need to sleep in my tiny hostel bunk bed and my fingers are done tapping around on my phone 😂

[everythingandrewscott]

Theater: Andrew Scott in Vanya rehearsals.

Photos by Marc Brenner

Gala Gordon on Vanya, a radical reinterpretation of Chekhov's masterpiece // September 14, 2023

Our contributing editor discusses the most thought-provoking theatre productions – for autumn, she recommends this one-man version of Uncle Vanya, starring Andrew Scott

Highlights:

“Everything that I am saying, I feel very connected to,” says Scott of his profound relationship with the material. “People say acting is pretending to be other people, and more and more I think it’s about exploring different sides of yourself.”

Scott also explains that this raw retelling will have some moments of levity, as “to be able to look affectionally at how ridiculous we all are is kind of wonderful. This play is sexy, it is about people who are trapped in an environment. A lot of questions have been about whether relationships are about love or about filling time and lust. A thrill in the same way that we look for dopamine hits.”

Full article:

Book tickets now for 'Vanya', a new one-man play starring Andrew Scott of 'Fleabag' fame

Our contributing editor Gala Gordon discusses the most thought-provoking theatre productions – for autumn, she recommends Vanya starring And

Photos by Craig Sugden

Andrew’s Vanya is an incredible watching experience. You get it all, action, love, lust, fear, loss, longing, comedy, and more - it’ll change your life. You can watch it on the National Theater at Home app.

[denimbex1986]

The Most Infamous Narcissist in Literary History Gets a Smartphone

A new stage production of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" conveys the cost of posturing online.

'...The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of two starry new stateside arrivals from London in which a single actor plays every part in a classic story adapted for a modern moment; the other, Vanya, starring Andrew Scott, is quiet and introspective where Dorian Gray is frenetic and exaggerated. And at a time when the omnipresence of social media has brought a kind of self-conscious posturing to the cultural forefront, the two offer markedly different ideas about what it means to imagine oneself as a character, or several, to be watched.

The Wilde adaptation, written and directed by Kip Williams, twists that critique into one tailored for a very different kind of image-centric era from Wilde’s own, using the device of a single actor to develop a pointed reflection on the ways in which performing a persona for others can rot away every trace of an interior life. Vanya, adapted by Simon Stephens from Anton Chekhov’s turn-of-the-century original, makes for something of a counterpoint, suggesting that there’s extraordinary richness to be found in seeing yourself as the embodiment of multiple intertwining voices, and letting those voices freely engage with one another.

In the difference between them lies a question bedeviling modern culture as it decides whether new norms forged by social media are forces of corruption, opportunity, or both: When is putting on a performance a perversion of the truth, and when is it a kind of manifestation—a way of becoming more freely oneself?...

In contrast to Dorian Gray’s technological wonderland, Vanya is starkly analog. The props that Scott uses onstage are notably low-key: a tape player, a player piano, an electric kettle. And although he initially distinguishes his characters from one another with telling accessories and mannerisms, he eventually comes to differentiate them with little more than a shift in expression and voice. So we come to see them emerging, one after the other, from within him, passing across his face as if Scott’s emotions each take on the characters of fully realized people.

Vanya, which examines the crumbling relationships within a family managing financial woes while stuck in close quarters on a country estate, is a story about the ways people delude and deprive themselves, and how their intimate misunderstandings of themselves can ripple outward, quietly changing the course of other lives too. The plot is propelled by everyday self-deceptions, the kind that could make someone marry a partner they actually dislike—as Helena, the beautiful young wife of the delusional film auteur whose late first wife owned the estate, comes to suspect she might have—or believe that their beloved local doctor’s drinking really isn’t that big of a problem.

But as in Dorian Gray, the interactions of a set of closely linked characters take on a different meaning when all of them have the same face. So when Scott plays a scene in which Helena sees perfectly well what the plain but good-hearted Sonia, the auteur’s daughter by his first wife, cannot—that Sonia’s passion for the alcoholic doctor is never going to be reciprocated—it reads less as a delicate difference of perception between two friends than as a careful compartmentalization of truth within a self. One part adores; the other part knows that that adoration may be unreturned but—at least at first—lets it continue, out of an understanding that if the love were quenched, some essential part of the shared self would die.

You must be every part of yourself to be all of yourself, Scott’s sensitive exploration of these linked characters suggests. It is natural to have many different selves, and the ways they interact, when given the chance to speak honestly with one another—as Scott’s quiet, tormented souls so movingly do—can be powerful. At both the start and the end of Vanya, Scott walks to the edge of the stage and flicks a switch on the wall, sending the theater into darkness. He has complete control over how much we see; he’s letting us in as a favor, not because he’s interested in the attention. The audience has been optional all along.'

[rpfofficial]

32 minute-long single take of andrew scott delivering one of the most breathtaking and engaging performances ever, where it's literally just him walking around a room rambling and moving his hands. i could look at him and listen to him forever. please watch this it left me with an gaping empty pit in my stomach and im so grateful

[do-you-know-this-play]

Do You Know “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”?

Yes, I’ve been in/worked on it

Yes, I’ve seen it

Yes, I’ve read it

No, but I’ve heard of it

No, never heard of it

Voting ended onDec 7, 2023