Vanya’s depressed. The Professor frets about aging. Ella, his much younger wife, wants men to stop falling for her.
Dr. Aster wants Ella to run away with him while Sonia pines away for the good doctor. Meanwhile, Bab and Pickles pass out bromides as if they were cookies.
These characters agree on just one thing: life sucks. They differ only on to what degree it sucks and what to do about it. That is the premise of “Life Sucks” by Aaron Posner and “Uncle Vanya,” the Anton Chekhov play on which it is based.
True North Theatre brings Posner’s characters lovingly and hysterically to life at the Cyrus Pavilion at the University of Maine this weekend. Director Angela Bonacasa has forged a finely tuned ensemble that on Saturday night proved to be insightful and sardonic about the human condition, but in the end, hopeful that all will end well if these people would just not take themselves so darn seriously. It also is a great escape from the uncertainty of the real world.
This is not the first time a Posner play has been produced at the university.
Posner’s “This Stupid F##king Bird,” a satire of Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” was launched in early 2018 by the School of the Performing Arts in Hauck Auditorium, three years after it premiered.
The intimacy of the pavilion, built in 1908 as the Stock Judging Pavilion for the agricultural school, is better suited to Posner’s habit of breaking the fourth wall and having actors engage directly with the audience than Hauck was. The audience, which sits on three sides of the stage and looks down on the action, feels like it is part of this slightly dysfunctional family undergoing a crisis of its own making.
Vanya (Jared Roxby) is the sun the other six characters revolve around. The actor carries Vanya’s melancholy as if it were a cloud encircling him. His sadness infects those around him no matter how resistant they are to it.
Roxby is a solid performer, who made his theatrical debut in Bangor last year in Ten Bucks Theatre’s “The Book of Will” and was in True North’s “The Children’s Hour” earlier this year. In Roxby’s hands, Vanya’s layers of darkness are peeled away and a sensitive, albeit self-centered, Everyman is revealed. Vanya has trouble laughing at himself but Roxby, thankfully, is adept at getting the audience to laugh at him.
Dr. Aster (Josh Harrison) is as smitten with the married Ella (Holly Roach) as his childhood friend Vanya is. Harrison, who recently returned to acting after a long hiatus, is the perfect foil. The men fight and fume as adults the same way they did as boys. Their dialogue dances as these long-time partners vie for Ella’s affections and take care of each other as only childhood friends can.
Roach’s Ella is a reluctant bombshell but often a willing flirt. She is attracted to the doctor but loyal to her husband. The actress, seen last year in True North’s fine production of William Inge’s “Picnic,” charms the audience just as Ella does the men in her orbit. Ella’s desire to be appreciated for her brain as well as her curves will hit home with women theatergoers.
The Professor (Tellis Coolong) convincingly captures the foibles of an aging man unsure of how much more time he has in life. Coolong is a regular in True North ensembles with memorable performances as Big Daddy and Oscar in the pre-coronavirus productions of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “The Odd Couple,” respectively. He is more subdued in this role but just as impactful.
Sonia (Gracie Farrar), The Professor’s daughter, who is a theater major at UMaine, gives a quieter but just as spunky performance in this show as she did a year ago in the company’s “Once Upon a Time There Was a Forest.” She is a talented performer who understands how to contribute to an ensemble and has an uncanny insight into Chekhov’s unhappy family.
Pickles (Holly Costar) and Babs (Jeri Misler), friends of Vanya and family, counter his contagious sadness with some sappy optimism. Both characters embrace this tumultuous journey called life with joy and laughter.
Costar, who was so enchanting as the dog in True North’s “Sylvia” in 2023, is equally engaging and genuine here. Misler, seen most recently in Penobscot Theatre Company’s mind-blowing “Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play,” convincingly dispenses wisdom with both feet firmly planted on the ground but with her eyes gazing intently on a horizon where adventure awaits.
The technical work — with set design by Tricia A. Hobbs, lighting design by Scout Hough and costume design by Mark Muir — fits perfectly with Bonacasa’s vision for the two-act show.
The production includes adult language, gunshot sound effects and mentions of suicide.
True North Theatre’s production of “Life Sucks” will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Cyrus Pavilion at the University of Maine. Tickets are available at the door or at linktree.com/TrueNorthTheatre.
