Ruth Leon London theatre pocket review… Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike – Charing Cross Theatre

Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike at Charing Cross Theatre Review
The playwright Christopher Durang says that his delightful play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, currently at the Charing Cross Theatre, “takes Chekhov characters and puts them in a blender”. He’s much too modest. This is a serious comedy and a hilarious drama and that’s a hard trick to pull off. It won a Tony for Best Play when it opened in New York in 2013 and I bet it would win it again today, so fresh does it still feel.
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The cast, led by the incandescent Janie Dee and the pitch-perfect Michael Maloney, is irreproachable. Every actor, oldest to youngest, is perfect for his or her role. I don’t know how the tiny Charing Cross Theatre nabbed this one, perhaps because it is directed by Broadway heavyweight Walter Bobbie, but I’m very glad they did because it’s a gift to see a play close up in a small theatre when it’s as well done as this.

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