JANUARY 2017 - AudioFile
Deftly weaving nineteenth-century mannerisms and pace with contemporary theater’s rhythms and naturalism, a fine collection of Hollywood actors presents this story of an aristocratic university student who returns home to grapple with three generations of family. Although Irish playwright Brian Friel and Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev were born more than a century apart, their concerns for their country’s landless poor and collapsing gentry had much in common. So it’s no surprise that in 1987 Friel adapted one of Turgenev’s best-known novels to the stage. This performance is easy with itself—focused and full of life, just like the two great writers who brought the epic masterwork to bear. B.P. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
