cate Blanchett on broadway

The luminous Cate Blanchett makes her Broadway debut at long last, starring in acclaimed drama The Present. She plays Anna Petrovna, a well-to-do widow whose birthday celebrations threaten to spill over into violence as the wine flows and long held grudges and desires push themselves towards the surface. Blanchett's playwright husband Andrew Upton adapted the story from Anton Chekhov's Platonov, honing the lengthy text into a very funny but also very tragic exploration of missed opportunities. Oscar nominee John Crowley (Brooklyn) directs.

Two time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett (The Aviator, Blue Jasmine) has always maintained a busy stage career amidst her film work. The Present marks the fourth time that she's led a Syndey Theater Company production to New York, having previously wowed the city's audiences in Hedda Gabler, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Maids. Her STC co-star Richard Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge!) reprises his role as Platonov, also making his Broadway debut.

Chekhov's Forgotten Play

The Present is the latest adaptation of Chekhov's most obscure and confounding work. Penned in 1878 when the playwright was only twenty, Chekhov's first full length drama (later christened Platonov in English) was written specifically for Russian theater star Maria Yermalova, yet was never finished. It was first published in 1923, 19 years after Chekhov's death, but due to its unwieldy structure and sprawling run time of five hours, was seen as a 'problem' play and was rarely performed. Not until Michael Frayn's slimmed down 1984 adaptation, titled Wild Honey, did the story truly enter the theatrical canon.

What is The Present About?

It's summer in the Russia of 1993, and the once wealthy widow Anna Petrovna is throwing a party at her country house to celebrate her 40th birthday. Among the guests is the witty and sardonic Platonov, a known womaniser who is attending the party with his wife, but still holds a flame for Anna. As the evening wears on, and the wine flows, the guests reminisce about the lives they could have had, and this nostalgic mood spills over into frustration and resentment.