Uncle Vanya

Ah, Chekhov….

Chekhov is one of those playwrights that I really need to see his work onstage to fully understand and appreciate it. I remember reading (or perhaps fake-reading) several of his plays in college, and being rather bored by them. Yes, he was a prolific writer of his time. Yes, his work influenced Stanislavsky, the most important actor and director of that time. But I just honestly couldn’t get into them. It wasn’t until after I saw a production of The Cherry Orchard and directed a scene from The Seagull that I began to see the merit in Chekhov’s work. Since then, I have seen a couple other productions, and even though I usually feel depressed and exhausted after seeing them, I realize that Chekhov was a good writer, and thus begins my foray into re-reading his plays.

In the forward to the edition that I read (Dover Thrift Editions), the editor notes that Chekhov insisted in his mature years that his dramas were comedies, not tragedies. It also stated that Chekhov thought that Stanislavsky never achieved the “light touch” that he craved in their presentations. With this in mind, I tried to read Uncle Vanya not as a comedy per se, but not as a heavy and depressing drama. A lot to ponder. Uncle Vanya takes place on a rural estate in 19^th century Russia. This estate belonged to the late wife of Professor Serebrakov, who is visiting with his new and much younger wife, Helena. Living at the estate are Madame Voitskaya, the mother of his late wife; Vanya, the brother of his late wife; and Sonia, his daughter by his first marriage. Also staying at the estate are Astrov, a local doctor; Telegin, a poor landowner and godfather to Sonia; and Marina, an old nurse.

Serebrakov and Helena have come to the estate because of his poor health and declining income. However, their arrival has completely uprooted the tranquil lifestyle of the people who live there. Vanya, who is in love with Helena, constantly professes his love for her and his loathing of her husband, who has, in his mind, held him back from doing bigger and better things. Helena is unhappy with her lifestyle and is bored from living in the estate. Sonia confides in her stepmother that she is in love with the doctor, but we find out that he is in love with Helena, and she is also a little in love with him back. The play is saturated with unrequited love and misdirected idealism, and as the play progresses, the characters’ weaknesses and inabilities to communicate lead to frustration and misery. Towards the end, even though most of the characters, particularly Vanya, are still unhappy, there is a glimmer of hope that things will get better if they just move on and continue with their lives.

I really can’t see why Chekhov would choose to categorize this play as a comedy, but it was an interesting way of reading it. Perhaps in its original form, the play The Wood Demon, this was more apparent. Although nothing really changes from the beginning to the end, there is a sense that something (although what, I don’t know) has been accomplished. This play is a good study on how mood is more effective in a play than character development or action.

Take that, Chekhov!