The most surprising thing about this Uncle Vanya is that it’s not that surprising. When it was announced that Robert Icke – who adapted and directed last year’s modern, gut-punching Oresteia – was repeating the trick with Chekhov, I expected something… strange. This, line-by-line, is incredibly faithful to the text, and although modern-set, unshowy. Continue reading “Review: Uncle Vanya, The Almeida”
Tag: Chekhov
David Hare and the cast of the Young Chekhov on why the Russian’s early works of genius
Think you know Chekhov? Think again. No lesser figure than Sir David Hare is on a self-declared campaign to shake up audience’s assumptions about the dramatist. For all the umpteen Chekhov revivals, we largely see only four plays from the turn of the 20th century: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. The tragedy is he died in 1904 at just 44, and left us with so little. Or did he? Continue reading “David Hare and the cast of the Young Chekhov on why the Russian’s early works of genius”