Uncle Vanya
Playhouse, Festival Centre
Fri 13 Oct

Thinking about is afterward, I concluded Sean Taylor is the 'almost man'. To look at, he's almost exactly what you expect a successful actor to look like. So near to the mark was he that I was able to identify him and introduce myself as we walked to the cafˇ, even though we'd never met. He's almost - but not quite - as well known as his wife, the actor Jacki Weaver, and the two have just moved into the fashionably boho Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst. He's almost one of the most pleasant men I've met, and almost the best conversationalist, with his mellifluous voice, mildly tinged with its South African accent.

Sean Taylor is also - and there is no 'almost' about it - in Adelaide to play the part of the doctor Astrov in Anton Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya', which stars Garry McDonald in the title role. His instantly recognisable face can be found adorning bus shelters all over Adelaide, so I felt it best to concentrate on Taylor and his part in this most Russian of plays, and what makes it of relevance to today's theatre audience.

"It's interesting how contemporary Chekhov is," says Taylor, leaning back and showing a good spread of teeth as he laughs. He laughs easily, and genuinely, even when he's halfway through a sandwich... "He's a greenie, is Chekhov, he was a bit of a treehugger in his day. To put it into perspective - 1897 - it was a very troubled time in Russia. I feel there was a sense of something in the air, though perhaps they weren't talking of revolution. People lived very isolated lives, and Russia was one of those societies. People didn't travel vast distances, though they moved around on wagons or in carriages, but twenty miles was a long way for them to travel."

The setting for 'Uncle Vanya' is on a Russian estate, somewhere in the country. Vanya is accompanied by his niece Sonia, the local doctor Astrov, and they are joined by a beautiful young woman and her older husband. Funnily enough, Taylor and I agree, we both know just such a couple - I suspect everyone does.

"And as you know," Taylor continues, "Chekhov was a doctor, so compared to many others in Russian society he got to move around a bit and see things happening in his district. It's a pretty bleak landscape, and 'Uncle Vanya' is set in a pretty bleak landscape; it's a crumbling country estate and there's not much money involved, and everyone is very, very bored with their lives.

"And then this woman - this catalyst - who is married to an older man, they arrive on the estate and their presence causes tension in the group."

So bored are they in Chekhov's world that this woman's arrival is quite a destabilising influence; could it be in Checkhov's existential mind she represents the influx of new ideas to Russian society?

The beautiful young woman (played by Elena Carapetis) "just drapes herself around things, is very lazy and Vanya is totally in love with her. He's following her around, whereas Astrov just wants to root her. He just says 'My God, you are a beautiful woman', and he just wants to have a tryst with her.

"I find it really funny - it's very funny and Garry McDonald is a very funny man, and people are saying how miserable they are... I just find it really funny."

It's a funny play - in the terms Taylor describes because of the potential for conflict, for misunderstanding between so many of the characters. You get to what is almost a murderous situation where the emotions of all the protagonists are heightened. It becomes a difficult situation; what is often described in polite society as 'fraught'.

We have a wide ranging discussion about politics - and about world affairs. It's always interesting to get an idea of other people's perspectives on things.

"When I first arrived to live here Tampa was happening and I was appalled," he says frankly. "I expected most Australians to be likewise appalled and I was quite surprised that they weren't. They knew a lie was being told but it had no impact on their voting." He smiles and shakes his head as if to indicate he's wiser know, and more understanding of the Australian way of thinking.

We won't get fooled again... a line from the Who song springs into my mind as our discussion turns to the Iraq situation. Taylor and I range across many topics during our conversation, partly because he's giving up his lunch hour during a very busy rehearsal schedule for 'Uncle Vanya' and likely wants to talk about anything but Chekhov, and me - because I like to talk about lots of things.

Alex Wheaton

'Uncle Vanya' opens in the Playhouse, Festival Centre, on Fri 13 Oct