Turgenev's A Month in the Country Comes to the Gate

Brian Friel’s version of Turgenev’s A Month in the Country comes to the Gate Theatre.

Directed by Ethan Sweeny, Brian Friel’s adaptation of A Month in the Country by Ivan Turgenev is a study of the cruel inequality of love, mingling tragedy and comedy, laughter and tears.

The setting is the Islayev country estate. Natalya Petrovna, a headstrong woman, is married to Arkady Islayev, a rich landowner. Bored with life, she welcomes the attentions of Michel Rakitin as her devoted but resentful admirer, without ever letting their friendship develop into a love affair. The arrival of the handsome student Aleksey Belyayev, as tutor to her son Kolya, ends her boredom. Natalya falls in love with Aleksey, but so does her ward Vera. To rid herself of her rival, Natalya proposes that Vera should marry a rich old neighbour, but the rivalry remains unresolved …

Cast (in alphabetical order):

Anna Semyonovna Islayev – Barbara Brennan
Lizaveta Bogdanovna – Ingrid Craigie
Arkady Sergeyevich Islayev – Nick Dunning
Herr Schaaf – Peter Gaynor
Matvey – Dermot Magennis
Afanasy Ivanovich Bolshintsov – Pat McGrath
Natalya Petrovna – Aislin McGuckin
Katya – Clare Monnelly
Michel Aleksandrovich Rakitin – Simon O’Gorman
Vera Alexsandrovna – Caoimhe O’Malley
Ignaty Ilyich Shpigelsky – Mark O’Regan
Aleksey Nikolayevich Belyayev – Dominic Thorburn

Director – Ethan McSweeny
Set Design – Francis O’Connor
Costume Design – Peter O’Brien
Lighting Design – Sinead McKenna
Sound Design – Denis Clohessy