{"id":10573,"date":"2015-04-27T12:25:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T19:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=10573"},"modified":"2015-05-12T11:03:28","modified_gmt":"2015-05-12T18:03:28","slug":"vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike-mocks-aging-sibling-rivalries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2015\/04\/27\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike-mocks-aging-sibling-rivalries\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike<\/em> mocks aging, sibling rivalries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike<\/em> blends characters and storylines from various plays by Russian playwright Anton Chekov and adds a modern twist to their themes of aging, regret, jealousy, and yearning. But despite heavy issues at its core, the play is most definitely a comedic adventure, so much so that Deborah Williams, who plays Sonia, has a hard time maintaining her composure on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actor who plays Spike can hardly keep his clothes on,\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to really work hard to not laugh as hard as the audience. It\u2019s just so shocking and wonderful, but that\u2019s part of the performance. This is live theatre and that\u2019s the joy of it\u2014you never quite know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Deborah<\/a>
Deborah Williams plays the role of Sonia in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike<\/em> (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Williams plays the complicated character of Sonia, the adopted sister of Masha and Vanya. Sonia and Vanya have both put their lives on hold to care for their dementia-ridden parents, all while their movie-star sister travels the world and pays their bills. Masha comes with her young, brazen boyfriend for a costume party, and years of pent-up resentment, jealousy, and self-deprecation spills out of the three aging siblings. With so many layers to the play (which was written by Christopher Durang and has won a Tony Award), and to her character, Williams needed to do her research.<\/p>\n

\u201cI re-read a lot of Chekov,\u201d says Williams. \u201cMy character impersonates [actress] Maggie Smith, too, so I had to get that impression down before I hit rehearsal. I did a lot of research on adult children nursing their parents. Also, she was adopted when she was eight, so I looked in to that a bit too, which was a bit harrowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play is inspired by Chekov, who wrote satirical comedies about the aristocracy pre-revolution, but audience members don\u2019t need to be an expert in classical theatre to get the jokes. Vanya, Sonia, and Masha tease each other in the witty, yet sometimes hurtful ways only siblings can do, and the themes of always wanting what we don\u2019t have should resonate with most viewers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll they can see is the vacuum in their life; they can never appreciate what they actually do have,\u201d says Williams of the characters in the play. \u201cIt\u2019s really easy to be North American and think that somehow, with just a bit more money, or a new marriage, or a bigger house, that your life would suddenly be better. All of us are yearning constantly. That is the whole basis of Canadian society; that\u2019s why we spend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the play makes audiences question their own motives for wanting more and acknowledge the bitterness that can accompany getting older, Williams assures viewers that Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike<\/em>\u2019s darkness is masked by the hilarious relationship dynamics within the family. The actress thinks that audience members will leave performances with one thing\u2014hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this play will give people hope for the people around them, not just for themselves. For connection and love, and that working for things is also worth it, and maybe it\u2019ll make them go give their brother or sister a call. It\u2019s easy to let small things come in the way of lifelong relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike<\/em>
\nApril 14 to May 17
\n$23-$52 (25% off w\/student ID), Belfry Theatre
\nbelfry.bc.ca\/vanya-sonia-masha-spike<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike blends characters and storylines from various plays by Russian playwright Anton Chekov and adds a modern twist to their themes of aging, regret, jealousy, and yearning. But despite heavy issues at its core, the play is most definitely a comedic adventure, so much so that Deborah Williams, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10575,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10573\/revisions\/10575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}