In Andrew Upton鈥檚 new adaptation of Anton Chekhov鈥檚 first play, Platonov, a group of friends gathers at an old country house to celebrate the birthday of the independent but compromised widow Anna Petrovna, played by Oscar winner Cate Blanchett. Following an acclaimed run at Sydney Theatre Company, the production begins performances on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre December 17鈥攊n celebration of the American debut, the Australian cast shares their best and worst party memories with 半岛体育.
Cate Blanchett (Anna): I was 14 when I went to my first proper, big party. It was deep out in the suburbs [of Melbourne, Australia] and I wore a bright yellow 鈥�80s number I had designed, and my mother had made my outfit. It had some crazy colors. There were so many girls there and this poor boy鈥攐nly boy showed up. The boys probably saw my outfit and ran in the other direction.
Jacqueline McKenzie (Sophia): I was traveling with the cast of a movie called Eisenstein on a train from Kiev to Odessa in Ukraine. We鈥檇 been to an open-air market that day and bought a tin of caviar for ten dollars and all this cheese. We drank a lot of bad vodka and were riding in between the carriages鈥攁nd it was snowing! It was pretty memorable.
Richard Roxburgh (Mikhail): When I was a student in Canberra, there was a party at the local bar, after which I woke up鈥攊t was freezing cold and I hadn鈥檛 been able to make my way back to my accommodation鈥攂etween two sewage pipes that ran alongside the bridge that crossed the creek. They were obviously warm and I鈥檇 gone out like a heat-seeking fool and found comfort.
Brandon McClelland (Dimitri): I met my girlfriend at the last party I went to, so that was pretty special. She had just flown over to Sydney to see another guy who broke up with her as soon as she got off the plane. She ended up at the same party as me and we hit it off.
Andrew Buchanan (Osip): I had to go to a party where the theme was the letter P so I went as a giant poo but people thought I was a potato. I鈥檇 say: 鈥淣o, I鈥檓 a poo.鈥� They couldn鈥檛 deal with it. They would just stare at me and walk away.
David Downer (Yegor): My most recent birthday party we went to a charming Italian restaurant in Sydney. My son gave my wife and I a night in a hotel overlooking Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. It was very romantic, and a magical night.
Eamon Farren (Kirrill): I grew up on Australia鈥檚 Gold Coast so we had really great beach parties. We鈥檇 enjoy ourselves all night by the water with music. They鈥檙e the best parties I鈥檝e ever been to.
Martin Jacobs (Alexei): I grew up in New Zealand and it鈥檚 very similar [to Eamon]鈥攁 lot of beach parties.
Susan Prior (Sasha): The first thing that comes to mind is being terribly sick in front of the boy that I really, really liked from school. But he helped me home and we may have even kissed after.
Chris Ryan (Sergei): I used to have a girlfriend who was Serbian and I went to Serbia to meet all her family鈥攚ho didn鈥檛 speak a word of English. We were out in the countryside and they plied me with the local alcohol called Rakia鈥攊t鈥檚 yellow and kept in soda bottles. I thought I鈥檇 try to match her cousins [drinking] and the universe started spinning. Her cousin dragged me out onto the lawn and made a bed for me by the fire.
Anna Bamford (Maria): I remember rolling around on the floor at my first drama school party and telling people I didn鈥檛 care what they saw. I was shouting it out. I never lived that down.
Toby Schmitz (Nikolai): I kissed a very attractive designer while I was at drama school but I had a mouthful of beer and accidentally sprayed it all over her.
Marshall Napier (Ivan): The best and the worst parties I鈥檝e been to in my life鈥擨 can鈥檛 remember them the next day.
Scroll through photos of the cast meeting the press below:
For tickets and more information visit
