Synopses & Reviews
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet's
Uncle Vanya
is a sparkling restoration of a masterpiece of the modern stage, marked
by Mamet's finely tuned ear for dialogue and memorable poetic
imagery.
In Uncle Vanya, a retired professor and his
beautiful young wife return to the country estate left by his deceased
first wife to find themselves overwhelmed by the stagnant inevitability
of the rituals of their life and class, and mercilessly taxed by the
encroachment of age at the expense of youth. All of the play's
characters are plunged into that precarious state where, in
Beckett's words, "the boredom of living is replaced by the
suffering of being."
Working from a literal translation by Vlada Chernomordik, Mamet, who has also adapted Chekhov's Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard, opens the way for a contemporary audience to establish immediate contact with a classic, infusing the power of Chekhov's play with the potent precision of his own modern voice.
Review
"An act of deconstruction designed to exhume the living energies of Chekhovs writing from under the heavy weight of 'masterpiece topsoil.'" Robert Brustein, American Repertory Theatre
Review
"Simply, plainly wonderful." The Boston Globe
Synopsis
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet’s Uncle Vanya is a sparkling restoration of a masterpiece of the modern stage, marked by Mamet’s finely tuned ear for dialogue and memorable poetic imagery.
In "Uncle Vanya," a retired professor and his beautiful young wife return to the country estate left by his deceased first wife to find themselves overwhelmed by the stagnant inevitability of the rituals of their life and class, and mercilessly taxed by the encroachment of age at the expense of youth. All of the play’s characters are plunged into that precarious state where, in Beckett’s words, “the boredom of living is replaced by the suffering of being.”
Synopsis
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet’s Uncle Vanya is a sparkling restoration of a masterpiece of the modern stage, marked by Mamet’s finely tuned ear for dialogue and memorable poetic imagery.
In "Uncle Vanya," a retired professor and his beautiful young wife return to the country estate left by his deceased first wife to find themselves overwhelmed by the stagnant inevitability of the rituals of their life and class, and mercilessly taxed by the encroachment of age at the expense of youth. All of the play’s characters are plunged into that precarious state where, in Beckett’s words, “the boredom of living is replaced by the suffering of being.”
About the Author
Anton Chekhov (18601904) is known both as a playwright and a master of the modern short story. His plays, including The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard, are among the most widely performed in the world. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 44, but didn't achieve American recognition until twenty years after his death.