A Virtual Vanya(after Chekhov)

Translated and adapted by Cynthia Marsh

from Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya

A great classic play adapted to the virtual form becomes live theatre online in your living room.

The relevance to today’s current experience is striking.  The constrictions, the remoteness of Russian rural life 100 years ago affected mental health, finances, ambitions and relationships.

Vanya and his niece Sonya manage the family estate to support Sonya’s father (a professor) and his younger second wife in the capital. Vanya’s sole friend Astrov is an overworked doctor, struggling against rural poverty and peasant ill-health.

The professor retires. He and his wife come ‘home’. Truths and frictions emerge, personalities clash, love and laughter bloom and wither. This family, holed up together, is sorely tested. The psychological tensions are palpable, revealing their personalities and private thoughts about family and friends. Comic situations develop but can as quickly sour and become destructive.

We seesaw with these people between the threat of despair and the sweet grace of humour.

Cynthia Marsh

January 2021