Uncle Vanya
By Anton Chekhov | English version by David Lan | Directed by Rikki HenryTickets go on sale to Artists’, Associates’ & Directors’ Circles on Wed 7 Oct at 12pm, Member Plus on Mon 12 Oct and Members on Tue 13 Oct, at 12pm. Tickets will go on general sale on Wed 14 Oct at 12pm. Become a Member to gain access to priority booking and other exclusive benefits.
“I’ve let my life slip away when all these years I could have had everything – which now I can’t because I’m forty-seven!”
Chekhov’s tragic comedy masterpiece is relocated to a rundown modern(ish) office: dripping water cooler, towering filing cabinets and reams upon reams of paper. A gust of wind throws what little organisation there was into complete disarray. Time seems to stand still. Windows 95 chimes. The phone rings, and rings, and rings.
Vanya can’t sleep. He languishes in a perpetual state of despondency, powerless to escape his melancholic existence. In the midst of a midlife crisis, Vanya, his dedicated niece Sonya and the local doctor Astrov are visited by Sonya’s father and his glamorously alluring, new wife Yelena—whose lavish city lifestyles Vanya has been financing since his sister’s death—with a surprise declaration of his intention to sell the business.
While Vanya and Astrov appear to fall under Yelena’s charms, Sonya is less convinced. Polite facades quickly crumble and long-repressed, vodka-fuelled confessions of love have devastating consequences.
Bristol Old Vic Associate Artistic Director Rikki Henry’s wonderfully creative concept won plaudits at Theater Dortmund in 2023. Now, in an entirely new production with Stratford East, and using David Lan’s “notably sharp, bright translation” (The Times), Chekhov’s classic is brought to darkly witty life once more.
Are we all condemned to live the lives we started, or is fundamental change possible?
Artwork by Rebecca Pitt
British humour meets Russian soul… with tact
Nachtkritik on Uncle Vanya, Theater Dortmund 2023
Dates & Times
- 7:00pmPress NightSold Out
