Uncle Vanya

Scenes from Country Life

Robert Icke, Anton Chekhov

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781783197309
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Drama
• Index: Literature

Chekhov's late masterpiece examines human behaviour in all of its beautiful, terrible, laughable contradiction. Following his reimagining of Oresteia (Almeida / West End), Almeida Associate Director Robert Icke directs a new production of Chekhov's greatest play. Things your life could be:
(1) a farce.
(2) a tragedy.
(3) pointless.
(4) all of the above. Things you could do about it:
(1) keep living.
(2) stop living.
(3) stop someone else living.
(4) nothing. Even so, what has your life been worth?

THREE

Some time later. A room in the house. 12:45.

JOHN and SONYA. ELENA walks around, thinking.

JOHN	His eminence the Professor has deigned to express his sincere desire that we are all assembled in this particular room at precisely one o’ clock. Which is in fifteen minutes. He will speak and the world will listen.
ELENA	Business, probably.
JOHN	He doesn’t have any business outside writing, whining, being jealous – that’s it.
SONYA	Uncle
JOHN	All right, [I’m] sorry – (About ELENA.) – hobbies include walking around being bored, and being bored. Charming. She’s charming.
ELENA	I’m bored with the sound of your voice. It never stops.
	It’s killing me, the boredom. I don’t know what to do.
SONYA	There are plenty of things to do.
ELENA	Such as?
SONYA	Work. It’s a farm. The crops. The animals. The fields. Teaching. Making people better. Isn’t that enough? Before you and Daddy were here, Uncle Johnny and I used to sell the produce at the market ourselves.
ELENA	Yeah, I don’t know how to do that. It wouldn’t be interesting, anyway. Sounds like something from a fairy story. Teaching the poor. Healing the sick. Anyway, you can’t just wake up one day and start teaching.

SONYA	You can – I don’t understand how you aren’t doing it already! Just try it and with a bit of time, you’ll get used to it. Don’t be bored. It’s contagious.
ELENA	Contagious?
SONYA	Look: Uncle Johnny does nothing. Well, he follows you round like a shadow, and I’ve left my work and I’m standing here talking to you. Doing nothing – and there’s so much to do! Doctor Michael used to visit us once a month, it was hard to get him to come at all, and now he comes here every day and he’s abandoned medicine and forests and everything. You’re a witch.
JOHN	(To ELENA.) What’s wrong with you, anyway? Come on, think about it – you’re a mermaid, with mermaid’s blood rushing through your veins – let yourself go for once in your life, fall headfirst in love, dive deep down into the water and leave the Professor and the rest of us standing on the shore –
ELENA	Leave me alone – it’s just cruel

ELENA tries to leave, JOHN prevents it.

JOHN	I’m sorry, I’m sorry, come on, I didn’t mean [to upset you] – forgive me

JOHN kisses her hand.

	Peace perfect peace?
ELENA	It’s getting close to the limit, John. It really is.
JOHN	As an olive branch, to engender harmony, I’ll bring you an armful of roses – picked them this morning – autumn roses, beautiful, mournful roses –

JOHN goes.

SONYA	Autumn roses, beautiful, mournful roses –
	,
ELENA	That’s September already. And being here in winter, God, it’ll be [horrible] –
	,
	Wher...