Cate Blanchett :"Slugfest, With Pratfalls"

The New York Times is heaping priase on Andrew Upton's production of Uncle Vanya which stars Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh, Hugo Weaving and the Shuttle's favourite Oscar nominee Jackie Weaver.

Andrew & Cate on opening night

Says reviewer Ben Brantley :" I consider the three hours I spent on Saturday night watching them complain about how bored they are among the happiest of my theatergoing life."..."this “Uncle Vanya” gets under your skin like no other I have seen."
 "With her movie star credentials and fashion-magazine looks, Ms. Blanchett (a dazzling Blanche in the Sydney Theater Company’s touring “Streetcar Named Desire” two years ago) is the obvious popular draw here. And she confirms her status as one of the best and bravest actresses on the planet, with a go-for-broke yet artfully contained performance that keeps sabotaging her own natural elegance."
 Brantley not only raves about our Cate but the all-Australian cast gets the thumbs up in this Tamas Ascher directed play. Read the full review here.
Uncle Vanya is a Sydney Theater Company production, presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,

Cate Blanchett, Jackie Weaver a Hit in Washington

Cate Blanchett * Hugo Weaving * Jackie Weaver * Richard Roxborgh

 Another US hit for the Sydney Theatre Company under the auspices of Cate Blanchett. The latest production Uncle Vanya has received high praise.

Starring a host of Australian theatre heavyweights- Blanchett, Jackie Weaver, Hugo Weaving and Richard Roxburgh ( currently starring in Sunday's ABC TV hit Rake) one can only hold high expectations for staging of Anton Chekov's Uncle Vanya, currently running at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Ben Brantley of the New York Times  describes the production as''outrageously funny and heartbreaking''  and the three hours watching it as among the happiest of my theater going life''.

Peter Marks in the Washington Post says :"The Sydney company, run jointly by Blanchett and (Andrew) Upton, came to town two years ago with an astonishing version of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which was anchored by the actress. In its way, this emotionally in-touch “Uncle Vanya,” buoyed by its entire cast, is just as extraordinary. On the basis of this “Vanya,” no one should ever again try to convince you that Chekhov is a delicate flower. As Ascher shows us in his transformative production, the playwright’s pen could contain dynamite."