Main Stage: Longing

Details

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When Kolia is invited to visit his oldest friends on their Estate in the country he anticipates a pleasant break from Moscow life. But as the comedy of provincial life plays out around him, he finds himself adrift in a miasma of false expectations, missed opportunities and unspoken passions.

From two short stories by the Russian master Anton Chekhov, renowned and award winning novelist William Boyd (An Ice-Cream War, Brazzaville Beach, Any Human Heart, Restless, Waiting for Sunrise) spins a tale of nineteenth century Russian life both familiar and unfamiliar.

Director Nina Raine makes a triumphant return to Hampstead Theatre following the sell-out Tiger Country in 2010. Other credits include Shades (Royal Court) and Unprotected (Liverpool Everyman).

Iain Glen (Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones) makes his Hampstead Theatre debut. Theatre credits include Uncle Vanya (Print Room/West End), Ghosts (West End) and The Crucible (West End). Film credits include The Iron Lady and Tomb Raider.

Nina Raine reunites with Tamsin Greig following their critically acclaimed Jumpy (Royal Court / West End) last year. Greig also makes her Hampstead Theatre debut following Little Dog Laughed (Garrick), Gethsemene (National Theatre) and God of Carnage (Gielgud). Television includes Episodes (BBC), Green Wing and Friday Night Dinner (Channel 4).

John Sessions’ theatre credits include My Night With Reg (Royal Court / West End), Waiting For Godot (Young Vic) and The Orton Diaries (National Theatre). Television includes Stella Street and The History of Tom Jones (BBC). His many film credits include The Iron Lady and Made In Dagenham.

Running time is approximately 2 hours including a 20 minute interval.

Dates & Times

Past Performances

Thu 28 Feb	7:30pm	Preview	Archived
Fri 1 Mar	7:30pm	Preview	Archived
Sat 2 Mar	7:30pm	Preview	Archived
Mon 4 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Tue 5 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Wed 6 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Thu 7 Mar	7:00pm	Press Night	Archived
Fri 8 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Sat 9 Mar	3:00pm		Archived
Sat 9 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Mon 11 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Tue 12 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Wed 13 Mar	2:30pm		Archived
Wed 13 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Thu 14 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Fri 15 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Sat 16 Mar	3:00pm		Archived
Sat 16 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Mon 18 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Tue 19 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Wed 20 Mar	2:30pm		Archived
Wed 20 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Thu 21 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Fri 22 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Sat 23 Mar	3:00pm		Archived
Sat 23 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Mon 25 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Tue 26 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Wed 27 Mar	2:30pm		Archived
Wed 27 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Thu 28 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Fri 29 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Sat 30 Mar	3:00pm		Archived
Sat 30 Mar	7:30pm		Archived
Mon 1 Apr	7:30pm		Archived
Tue 2 Apr	7:30pm	Caption Performance	Archived
Wed 3 Apr	2:30pm		Archived
Wed 3 Apr	7:30pm		Archived
Thu 4 Apr	7:30pm		Archived
Fri 5 Apr	7:30pm		Archived
Sat 6 Apr	3:00pm	Audio described Performance	Archived
Sat 6 Apr	7:30pm		Archived

Reviews

Nina Raine’s production captures Chekhov’s distinctive mixture of heartache and comedy and Lizzie Clachan’s lovely autumnal design of a decayed summerhouse in an autumnal country estate conjures the Chekhovian mood perfectly.
The best scenes involve Iain Glen as the lawyer, who like Chekhov himself seems terrified of attachment, and Tamsin Greig as the doctor friend who has long held a torch for him. Their scenes together create a truly Chekhovian atmosphere of rueful longing and the cruel inequality of love.
Eve Ponsonby is also touching as the young Natasha who feels pressured to make a lucrative marriage to save the family from disaster.

Nina Raines’s production achieves some virtuosic flourishes during a riotous party in the summer house, at which the feckless husband, played with a memorably toxic mixture of pomposity, foolishness and malice by Alan Cox, gets disastrously drunk, while John Sessions suggests much of the rough vigour of the wealthy engineer.

Longing Review, Charles Spencer, The Telegraph

William Boyd has fused two Chekhov stories from the 1890s, A Visit to Friends and My Life, to create a new play. The result is inevitably something of a hybrid: neither pure Boyd nor pure Chekhov. But it works because it deals with eternal Russian themes – and because it is performed with rare musical precision.

Nina Raine’s production gains immeasurably from luxury casting. Iain Glen is remarkable as Kolia, suggesting a man who – possibly like Chekhov himself – combines effortless charm and emotional ruthlessness. Tamsin Greig, as the middle-aged doctor clearly besotted by him, subtly evokes the quiet anguish of the unfulfilled heart. And there is a clutch of fine performances from Alan Cox as the alcoholic Sergei, Natasha Little as his despairing wife and William Postlethwaite as the well-born Misail who has a Tolstoyan urge to identify with the workers.

Longing Review, Michael Billington, The Guardian

A new Chekhov play, Longing, has been created by novelist William Boyd from two of the Russian author’s short stories and given a wonderfully skilled and well-cast production by Nina Raine that certainly looks Chekhovian.

Designer Lizzie Clachan provides silver birches and sycamore, birdsong (tits and blackbirds), a colourful betrothal party, samovars and brandy bottles, and a delightful summer house in the wooded corner of a run-down country estate.

The play is tilted towards a melancholic nearly-reunion of Kolia and Varia, and it’s expertly, very touchingly played, with no swooning or sentiment, by Glen (last year’s outstanding Uncle Vanya) and Greig. The young girls, too, are exceptionally good, and Cox and Sessions fill out their contrasting studies in irresponsible alcoholic bonhomie and go-getting, landscape-changing interference with great gusto.

Longing Review, WhatsOnStage, Michael Coveney

Cast & Crew

Artistic Team

Writer

William Boyd

Director

Nina Raine

Designer

Lizzie Clachan

Lighting

James Farncombe

Composer

Patrick Neil Doyle

Sound

Gareth Fry

Choreographer

Jane Gibson

Casting

Amy Ball

Associate Producer

Celia Atkin

Cast

Sergei

Alan Cox

Radish

Tom Georgeson

Kolia

Iain Glen

Varia

Tamsin Greig

Tania

Natasha Little

Natasha

Eve Ponsonby

Misail

William Postlethwaite

Olga

Mary Roscoe

Dolzikhov

John Sessions

Kleopatra

Catrin Stewart