gregory: vanya on 42nd street
Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) is a modern film interpretation of Chekov’s “Uncle Vanya” (1899), adapted by Mamet. It was filmed by Louis Malle and written by Andre Gregory. The film, based on a theatre workshop led by Gregory over the course of three years (although they had been rehearsing the play for over 5 years), was set against the backdrop of the workshop locale — the then abandoned (for nearly a decade at the time), New Amsterdam Theatre on W42nd Street in Manhattan. The origins of the theatre date back to around the time Chekov’s play was written. According to a review in The New Republic shortly after the release of the film, the “performance is the fruit of genuine exploration, of the play and of actors’ selves, a golden instance of a much-mooted, rarely realized goal” (“From Russia”). The ambiance of the theatre setting (old buttressed ceilings, grand staircases, dilapidated, leaky ceilings, nets hung up to catch the falling plaster), without the use of the theatre stage itself due to safety concerns, contributes …