What I’m going to say about Cutting Ball’s Uncle Vanya is completely unrealistic and unfair, but the problem here is rehearsal time and how theaters produce work. The production feels like a very well-rehearsed first draft, where everything was attempted and nothing rejected. You wonder what might have happened if they had spent an equal amount of time with a scalpel, paring closer and closer to the bone until every effect was either excised or found its way into the blood of Chekhov’s stunning play. There are real pleasures here, but too many experiments for the sake of experimenting.

‘Uncle Vanya’ runs to October 21 at the Exit on Taylor in San Francisco. For tickets and information click here. For full review click here.

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