Overview
A loosely structured family is facing breakdown under mounting pressures of the world around them, none more than the eponymous Uncle Vanya. A middle-aged man in a crisis of values, he is further threatened by dispossession at the hands of his brother-in-law, the caustic Professor Serebryakov. Passions run high, compounded by idle intrigues of unrequited love. Serebryakov's daughter, Sonya, is in love with Astrov, a local doctor, while he loves Yelena, a young woman locked in an empty marriage to the professor. Upheaval is inevitable.
Mike Poulton's revised translation of Uncle Vanya was presented at The Print Room, London, in March 2012. In his introduction to the text he writes, "It's a measure of the greatness of this play that while translations lose their power, the original never does. It grows more moving, more gripping, and funnier on each reading. The more one works closely with it, the more secrets it reveals."