Uncle Vanya, Shakespeare Theatre Company

It seems unfathomable that it took until 2025 for the Shakespeare Theatre Company to produce any work by Anton Chekhov, enough so that it conjures images of former Artistic Director Michael Kahn hanging signs around every backstage featuring Chekhov's portrait with a big red X slashed across his face. And yet, here we are, with current Artistic Director Simon Godwin's new production of Uncle Vanya on the Harman stage in an adaption by Conor McPherson that begs the question of why the long wait.

Godwin's production begins in a casual, rehearsal hall style for Act I, gradually transitioning further and further into period costume and a more realistic set through the evening. It's an effective way of quickly sketching out the world of the play by establishing characters and their relationships with each other first, and only later grounding them in the world of late nineteenth century Russia.  Robert Brill's set balances both ends of the production, from the small framed portrait that is set atop a piano as the play opens and later appears in full, hanging on the wall of the country estate where the play takes place. The costume designs by Susan Hilferty and Heather Freedman likewise did strong work establishing how to see each character to a modern eye not well-versed in the fashions of late nineteenth-century Russia. 

Hugh Bonneville and Melanie Field in Uncle Vanya at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Photo by DJ Corey Photography.

It is often a very bad sign when the first thing a review focuses on is the design, but here, the work of the ensemble is equally strong. Hugh Bonneville is excellent as the title character, although there are moments when in Vanya's long absences, the rest of the ensemble steps up so thoroughly that one starts to wonder if naming the play after a single character is entirely fair. Bonneville's best work is in how well he establishes Vanya in Act I and then rebels against the pronouncements of the professor in Act III. Ito Aghayere's Yelana is likewise well drawn, from her boredom to her unhappiness, conflict and capitulation. It's Melanie Field, however, who truly shines in the growing darkness of the final scene, navigating Sonya's hope in balance with our shared knowledge that future years would likely only bring more turmoil even from beyond her own fraught inner circle; it's a beautiful performance that left me breathless.

2025 is a rough year, for reasons too numerous to go into. It's not surprising that a play in which the characters are left staggering amid doom encroaching from all sides would connect with audiences. It's also a reminder that for all the gloom and vain hope that putting our heads down and carrying on will solve the problems of the world, seeing something able to encapsulate that misery beautifully can still touch us.