Uncle Vanya

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? 

A Stratford East and Bristol Old Vic Production