Uncle Vanya has a typically Chekhovian setting: a ramshackle country estate sometime in the late 19th century. Vanya (Yalin Ozucelik) and his niece Sonya (Abbey Morgan) are attempting to keep it afloat. In large part, their labours fund the metropolitan lifestyle of Sonya’s father, the pompous, oafish Professor Serebryakov (David Lynch). Not much happens on the estate apart from visits from Astrov (Tim Walter), a disillusioned local doctor and environmentalist, with whom Vanya drinks too much vodka and with whom Sonya is falling in love.
As the play opens, the steady monotony of this life has been upended by the visit of Sebreryakov and his beautiful and much younger wife Yelena (Chantelle Jamieson). Serebryakov is difficult company and Astrov and Vanya are both smitten with Yelena. As ever with Chekhov, the scene is set for both comedy and tragedy.
Joanna Murray-Smith has tastefully adapted the play. In her writer’s note she acknowledges that ‘[s]ome people might ask why Chekhov’s language needs to change’, to which she gives the refreshingly honest if perhaps unsatisfying answer that ‘I would say that it doesn’t’. Of course, it depends. It could be assumed that for at least most of Ensemble Theatre’s audience Chekhov’s language needed to be changed from Russian and if there has to be a translation, it may as well be to English that sounds natural to contemporary ears. Murray-Smith has done a great job in that regard – the language feels fresh, but not anachronistically modern. Most importantly, Chekhov’s humour and pacing remains intact.
And her work is well-supported; aside from one or two opening night wobbles, the cast is uniformly excellent. In addition to the leads, John Gaden strikes a lovely balance of pathos and bathos as the long-suffering Telyeghin and Vanessa Downing brings a quiet dignity to her role as Nanny, while also playing Vanya’s mother Maryia. Abbey Morgan is a talent to watch – her scenes with Astrov are heartbreaking, but she never overplays it, managing to convey suffering with a minimum of effort.
The contemporary resonance of Uncle Vanya is in some ways surprising – Astrov’s environmentalism in particular feels ahead of its time – but it probably shouldn’t be. We are told often enough that great art is timeless. A truism, maybe, but it is the truism that this reviewer was left with at the end of this production.
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It is in many ways understated; the set design is tasteful, the cast is polished and there are no flashy twists or sleights of hand. Perhaps when you’re working with a masterpiece, the best you can do is to nail the basics and director Mark Kilmurry has done that here. If you haven’t seen Uncle Vanya before, take this opportunity. And if you have, well, it’s never too early to see it again.
Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov
Adapted by Joanna Murray-Smith
Ensemble Theatre
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Assistant Director: Emma Canalese
Set and Costume Designer: Nick Fry
Lighting Designer: Matt Cox
Composer and Sound Designer: Steve Francis
Dialect Coach: Nick Curnow
Intimacy Coordinator: Chloë Dallimore
Stage Manager: Lauren Tulloh
Assistant Stage Manager: Christopher Starnawski
Cast: Vanessa Downing, John Gaden AO, Chantelle Jamieson, David Lynch, Abbey Morgan, Tim Walter, Yalin Ozucelik
Uncle Vanya will be performed until 31 August 2024.
