A Month in the Country: Review by Adam Feldman
The 19th-century Russian aristocrats of Turgenev’s wry, insightful A Month in the Country must continually balance passion and practicality, as well as their social equivalents: candor and discretion. The lady of the house, Natalya (Orange Is the New Black's Taylor Schilling), has married a decent but oblivious older man (Anthony Edwards); she enjoys the attentions of Mikhail (a believably ardent Peter Dinklage) but gently keeps him friend-zoned. This arrangement is upset by the arrival of a pretty tutor (the willowy Mike Faist), who brings out Natalya’s lustful inner tiger—whose claws are then trained on her teenage ward (Megan West), now seen as a rival.
In Erica Schmidt’s brisk, absorbing revival at Classic Stage Company, Schilling brings disarming warmth to a potentially chilly character, and there is great depth of field in the ensemble cast (which includes Elizabeth Franz, Annabella Sciorra and the exceptional Thomas Jay Ryan as a deceptively jovial doctor). A shimmering back wall of trompe l’oeil birch trees contrasts with the spare playing space of Mark Wendland's set: You notice the ceiling, and so do the self-deprecating characters. In this modern-souled production, they’re acutely aware of their limits and place, even when they yearn to run for the woods.
Classic Stage Company (see Off Broadway). By Ivan Turgenev. Translated by John Christopher Jones. Directed by Erica Schmidt. With Taylor Schilling, Peter Dinklage. Running time: 2hrs 5mins. One intermission.
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