The Huntington Theater Company opened its 21st season on Thursday, Sept. 12, with an adaptation of Ivan Turgenev's 19th Century drama "A Month in the Country." World-renowned Irish playwright Brian Friel successfully rewrote Turgenev's script, developing the characters into comical and complex personalities recognizable to a contemporary audience. Friel's appeal lies in his ability to remain true to Turgenev's storyline while elaborating his themes and enhancing his astute observations about maturity, love and marriage. Characters who were superfluous in the original become vital aspects of the play, offering comic entertainment while simultaneously portraying a depth and humaneness that Turgenev never fully achieved.

The plot of the story is not as complex as the characters. Natalya Petrovna (Jennifer Van Dyck), the world-weary lady of a country estate, is amused only by the adoring men upon whom she lavishes her fleeting attentions. She manipulates the entire house party, including her doting, oblivious husband, Arkady (Tom Bloom), and her 17-year old ward, Vera (Jessica Dickey). The local doctor, a self-described quack (Jeremiah Kissel) and Vera's easily flustered German tutor, Herr Schaaf (Mark Setlock) provide comic relief. Action proceeds smoothly from the opening scene, where most characters are introduced and instantly defined from a single play in a card game or bright red heels boldly announcing themselves from the midst of a mound of petticoats. Some dramatic techniques seemed to fall flat, like the successive monologues (truly self-dialogues) of Natalya and Michel (James Joseph O'Neil), her first, chaste lover.

The cast worked well as an ensemble. Even the characters with lesser roles, like Natalya's amorous house servants and her overbearing mother-in-law, added integrally to the drama, comedy and major themes of the play.

Natalya's spurned amour, Michel, adeptly portrayed the frustrations of his "lap dog" role and managed to end the play with his dignity intact. An old family friend and her husband's closest confidante, his relationship with Natalya consists mainly of reading Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy ("We never seem to get past page 115," trills Natalya) and speaking of love in broad terms. When he is abruptly jilted for Natalya's son's 21-year-old French and English tutor, Aleksey Belyayev (Ben Fox), he steps aside gracefully, and even endures Natalya's moanings about her overly complicated life.

Dickey, in her portrayal of Vera, seemed one-dimensional in the first act and too hard and mature for her role. She lacked the naavet and spontaneity that characterize Vera in Turgenev's original. In the second act, however, Dickey grew into her role, just as Vera grows into womanhood when she confronts her benefactress. Van Dyck's portrayal of Natalya did justice to the complicated character, who was in danger of appearing cruel and heartless, but whose actions were controlled by an oppressive ennui that adds depth, and often, empathy.

The setting perfectly mirrored Natalya's vivid boredom. While portraying a beautiful, upper-class country estate, it did not give in to clich: The mostly bright and yellow house was streaked with mud, torn curtains, broken fences and porch swings badly in need of a paint job. Books were strewn all over the floor, while period furniture, exquisitely beautiful costumes and painted trees mocked the idyllic countryside. Every detail was considered carefully; even the stage curtain was decorated with lights colored in leafy greens and pastoral browns.

Some might criticize Friel for not remaining true to Turgenev's text, but he certainly remained true to Turgenev's themes. The universal theme of idealized love was absent here, in a place where marriage typically meant finding a man who won't beat you. Romeo and Juliet ended up dead, after all, and not everyone is sure that mutual love is worth that kind of sacrifice.

The audience senses Turgenev's presence. According to the program notes, he spent the last years of his life on the country estate of an old friend - whose wife he was in love with. Allusions to this odd threesome are anything but subtle. Friel's crime was one of elaboration, not of omission.

By developing the character and the history of Natalya's mother-in-law, Anna (Alice Duffy), Friel showed another dimension of this unrequited noble love. Friel's embellishment on romances between other minor characters also serves to depict Turgenev's views on the various kinds of love. He brought out Turgenev's wry commentary; the only "ideal" romance occurs between the servants, who have "never had a day off."

Ultimately, the play was a success; Turgenev's romantic themes were broadly illustrated in well-defined characters, wonderful comic timing and a few surprising tone shifts. In the world of "A Month in the Country," everyone manages to leave with something, as an astonished Arkady cries, "everyone is being so noble!