By Anton Chekhov (new translation by Richard Nelson, Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky). Anthropocene Play Company. Theatre Works, St Kilda. 7 – 17 June 2023
In Uncle Vanya – first produced in 1899 - Chekhov gives us a familiar cast of characters. They are stuck in a country house, stewing in thwarted hopes, burning resentments, complacent privilege, misdirected desires, and loquacious evasions. That’s not to say, ‘we’ve seen all this before’ – and in this production, it’s too individual, dynamic, incisive, and too funny for that. Apart from the old nurse, Maria (Clare Larman), the only honest character is Dr Astrov (Catherine Morvell), a medical doctor (like Chekhov himself) a