Don’t be surprised if, when you come to the Vakhtangov Theatre to see the play «Uncle Vanya,» you don’t recognize the familiar characters, and the well‑known words are delivered with unexpected intonations. No, we haven’t shortened or rewritten A. P. Chekhov’s classic text. We’ve simply read it anew, from the script, without being weighed down by the heavy burden of the history of the famous play and its interpretations.
The Vakhtangov Theatre cleared the stage of everyday life, leaving behind a battlefield of passions, shattered illusions, and unfulfilled hopes. The characters of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov live in a clash of ambitions, philosophizing, diligence and laziness, service and consumption. Chekhov’s work is seen as a precursor to the theatre of the absurd: they say one thing, do another, and think a third. The Vakhtangov Theatre’s «Uncle Vanya» is about what Chekhov’s characters think and what they only admit to in moments of emotional turmoil. They are sometimes inarticulate, like Uncle Vanya, or overly brutal, like Astrov, but their confessions burst forth from the soul with fury, like a person escaping from a stuffy room into the fresh air. Actors love their characters — such diverse, lonely, and sometimes funny ones. Yes, yes, funny! A. P. Chekhov called his plays comedies. Directors and audiences wondered why these stories, filled with suffering and unspoken words, always ending on a poignantly sad note, were comedies. For us, Chekhov’s plays are a journey of discovery, a revelation of the essence, a justification of the genre. Each production is an attempt to grasp the meaning of this enigmatic word — comedy — which so contradicts the context of the plot. How can one not recall the words of A. S. Pushkin: «High comedy is not based solely on laughter, but on the development of characters and often comes close to tragedy.»
Winner of the «Crystal Turandot» award in the category «Best Performance of the 2009−2010 season.» Winner of the Stanislavsky International Theatre Award — 2010. Winner of the annual theatrical award of the Union of Theatrical Figures of Russia «Nail of the Season», 2011. Winner of «„Golden Mask“» National Theater Award (nomination «The best performance of the Year»), 2011.
