About this item
Highlights
- In the heat of summer, Sonya and her Uncle Vanya while away their days on a crumbling estate deep in the countryside, visited occasionally by the only local doctor Astrov.
- About the Author: Conor McPherson is a playwright, screenwriter and director, born in Dublin in 1971.
- 88 Pages
- Drama, Russian + Former Soviet Union
Description
About the Book
A fresh, contemporary adaptation of Chekhov's masterpiece from celebrated playwright Conor McPherson.Book Synopsis
In the heat of summer, Sonya and her Uncle Vanya while away their days on a crumbling estate deep in the countryside, visited occasionally by the only local doctor Astrov.
However, when Sonya's father, Professor Serebryakov, suddenly returns with his restless, alluring, new wife, declaring his intention to sell the house, the polite façades crumble and long-repressed feelings start to emerge with devastating consequences.
Olivier Award-winner Conor McPherson's stunning adaptation of Anton Chekhov's masterpiece, Uncle Vanya, is a portrayal of life at the turn of the twentieth century, full of tumultuous frustration, dark humour and hidden passions.
Review Quotes
"[Conor McPherson's adaptation is] perfectly weighted... does not radically reinvent or revolutionise Chekov's 19th-century story. It returns us to the great, mournful spirit of Chekhov's tale about unrequited love, ageing and disappointment in middle-age, while giving it a sleeker, modern beat. McPherson's script has a stripped, vivid simplicity which quickens the pace of the drama... Every character is fully realised, including the ancillary roles that bring more than comic relief... a perfect tragicomedy."
--Guardian"A Vanya for our times."
--Evening Standard"As accessible as a TV drama, without ever betraying the great, melancholy, insightful soul that has made the play last for as long as it has. It is radical and revelatory without ever being gimmicky or insensitive... McPherson pulls off a feat of magical reinvention, and allows us to see the play anew."
--WhatsOnStage"McPherson's new adaptation feels almost impossibly contemporary in the way it packs in so much lust, wit, rage and regret."
--The Times"Nobody quite walks the tightrope between comedy and tragedy with the aplomb of Chekhov... in McPherson's version, more than any others I've seen, the women get to deliver the emotional gut-punches that balance the humour."
--Broadway World"Succeeds resoundingly in making the turn-of-the-20th-century cares of the original resonate today... the contemporary relevance is startling."
--The Arts DeskAbout the Author
Conor McPherson is a playwright, screenwriter and director, born in Dublin in 1971.
Plays include Rum and Vodka (Fly by Night Theatre Co., Dublin); The Good Thief (Dublin Theatre Festival; Stewart Parker Award); This Lime Tree Bower (Fly by Night Theatre Co. and Bush Theatre, London; Meyer-Whitworth Award); St Nicholas (Bush Theatre and Primary Stages, New York); The Weir (Royal Court, London, Duke of York's, West End and Walter Kerr Theatre, New York; Laurence Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics' Circle, George Devine Awards); Dublin Carol (Royal Court and Atlantic Theater, New York); Port Authority (Ambassadors Theatre, West End, Gate Theatre, Dublin and Atlantic Theater, New York); Shining City (Royal Court, Gate Theatre, Dublin and Manhattan Theatre Club, New York; Tony Award nomination for Best Play); The Seafarer (National Theatre, London, Abbey Theatre, Dublin and Booth Theater, New York; Laurence Olivier, Evening Standard, Tony Award nominations for Best Play); The Veil (National Theatre); The Night Alive (Donmar Warehouse, London and Atlantic Theater, New York); and Girl from the North Country (Old Vic, London).
Theatre adaptations include Daphne du Maurier's The Birds (Gate Theatre, Dublin and Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis), August Strindberg's The Dance of Death (Donmar at Trafalgar Studios), Franz Xaver Kroetz's The Nest (Young Vic, London) and Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (West End, 2020).
Work for the cinema includes I Went Down, Saltwater, Samuel Beckett's Endgame, The Actors, The Eclipse and Strangers.
His work for television includes an adaptation of John Banville's Elegy for April for the BBC, and the original television drama Paula for BBC2.
Awards for his screenwriting include three Best Screenplay Awards from the Irish Film and Television Academy; Spanish Cinema Writers Circle Best Screenplay Award; the CICAE Award for Best Film Berlin Film festival; Jury Prize San Sebastian Film Festival; and the Méliès d'Argent Award for Best European Film.