Photo by Joan Marcus
The reason you want to see The Present - our #ShowOfTheWeek before it closes on March 19th is the duo of Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh. And this is one mighty reason! Watching these two is witnessing a pas de deux of mighty proportions.
For Anton Chekov fans you will be relieved to know that Andrew Upton has cut the play from 5 hours down to a fat three without leaving out a single tidbit of plot. Tucked into those 180 minutes is also the exceptional Toby Schmitz (Nikolai) who acquits himself very well indeed.
The event in question is Anna (Blanchett) and her 40th birthday. She is the widow of a famous general, and the party takes place on her estate. She invites her stepson, Sergei (Chris Ryan) and his wife, Sophia (Jacqueline McKenzie), and Nikolai's girlfriend, Maria (Anna Bamford). Also included are two older gentlemen neighbors who are potential marriage material because they have money and Anna does not.
If she had her 'druthers, however, she would take Mikail (Roxburgh) with whom she has been friends and almost lovers for decades. The two of them speak a specific language of love that is sensuous, intimate and intelligent. It makes your head spin. Watching Blanchett and Roxburgh together is so transfixing that you almost want to turn away because voyeurism on this sort of relationship feels a little tawdry.
Of course you don't turn away because these two magicians will not let you. Their job is to keep you hooked into them at every moment. And you are - even when they are not on stage, which, thank Heavens, is rarely.
Click here for tickets to The Present for performances through to March 19, 2017 at Broadway's Barrymore Theatre.
Cate Blanchett & Richard Roxburgh in The Present More Production PhotosOriginally published on