ACT ONE
A late afternoon in June. A garden beneath the branches of old trees. Part of a house with a veranda can be seen. On the path a table is laid for tea and snacks. Benches, chairs, a guitar. Itâs overcast and heavy, the sense of a storm brewing.
NANA, a slow-moving woman in her seventies, sits knitting. ASTROV, a doctor in his forties, is strolling back and forth. Heâs a fine-looking man, but a sense of his mortality hangs about him, giving him a darker energy. Unseen beneath a pile of old coats VANYA sleeps on the veranda.
NANA. Will you stop walking up and down? Youâre making me seasick.
ASTROV. Iâm sorryâŠ
NANA. Drink some tea.
ASTROV. Iâm not sure I can.
NANA. Then be done with it and have a vodka.
ASTROV. You think Iâm that bad? I donât drink every single day you know!
NANA. Oh. I see. I didnât realise.
ASTROV considers for a moment.
ASTROV. Nana?
NANA. Mm?
ASTROV. How long have we known each other?
NANA. How long? Too long! Iâm joking. Well, a long time. Sonyaâs mother was still alive, soâŠ
ASTROV. Thatâs right.
NANA. So what â sixteen, seventeen years?
ASTROV. Yes, it must be. You think Iâve changed? In that time?
NANA. Oh God yes. You used to be gorgeous. Young and dashing â we were all mad about you. And now â well â youâre olderâŠ
ASTROV. Yes.
NANA. âŠStill handsome, thereâs no denying that. We all like that. But alsoâŠ
ASTROV. WhatâŠ
NANA. âŠWell you drink now.
ASTROV. Yes.
NANA. SoâŠ
ASTROV. No, itâs true. Iâm a completely different person, youâre right.
NANA. Youâre not a completely different person but youâre a drinker now, and what of it? Good for you. So what?
ASTROV. You know why I drink, donât you? Because Iâm worn out! The moment I lie down, itâs bang bang at the door. Up and out to someoneâs deathbed. Sometimes twenty miles away. And the rare nights when no one bangs at the door? Well you lie awake anyway â in dread of the knock that never comes! So of course you age and wither and get old. Who wouldnât? Thatâs what happens.
NANA (shrugs. Almost to herself). If you can hold your drink, what of it?
ASTROV. You start going a bit wonky because you have to. I mean, look at this beard â have you seen it, Nana?
They laugh.
NANA. I like it!
ASTROV. No you donât!
NANA. No I do! I donât.
ASTROV. I mean everybody gets a bit⊠but you know⊠I just never really feel anything any more, thatâs what it is. I never look forward to anything.
NANA (fondly, trying to rouse his spirits). Oh DoctorâŠ
She holds out her hand to him. He comes to her.
ASTROV. Except you, Nana. Iâll always love you. When I was a little boy I had a lovely nana just like you. Gave me long deep hugs. I used to feel like nothing could harm me.
NANA. You remind me of someone too. Please â have a drink.
ASTROV (shakes his head). During Lent, earlier this year, I went up to MalitskĂłe â typhus epidemic. Theyâd thrown all the sick ones into huts â side by side on the floor, pigs coming in and out. Filthy. Depressing. I never stopped all day. Nothing to eat. By the time I got home I could hardly stand.
Bang bang bang on the door, they carry in this⊠boy. Trainee signalman. Stock car had sliced off half his foot. I got him up on the table, quickly gave him the chloroform and he â he just died. Right there. And just when you could really do without it â all my feelings came back. I felt like I had killed him. They were all looking at me â asking me if he was alright â and I just sat on the⊠Just covered my eyes. All I could think was why canât it be a hundred or two hundred years from now. You know? Weâll all be gone, none of it will matter. I mean, the people then, will they even remember us? Have anything good to say about us? Theyâll just forget all about us.
NANA. The people may not remember but God will.
VANYA is waking up on the veranda.
ASTROV (laughs mordantly). Yes! Well said, Nana. (Absently.) Yes.
VANYA. Yes! (Yawns and stretches, getting up, looking about.) Yes indeed! What were we talking about?
ASTROV. Typhus.
VANYA. Lovely.
ASTROV. Good sleep?
VANYA. Too good. Horrible black hole in the middle of the day. You see this is whatâs happened! Ever since the professor and his young bride returned theyâve knocked me right off my beanpole. I take these stupid catnaps in the middle of the day which means I wander about awake all night. Iâve missed all the regular mealtimes, so I stuff my face with snacks which means I drink too much wine which means then I start into the liqueurs which inevitably lead me on to the spirits â which always knock me sideways â suddenly I wake up, Iâve missed my breakfast, Iâve missed my lunch, and the whole blasted nightmare starts all over again. Itâs no good. I need to be occupied. I need to be worn out, because of all myâŠ
ASTROV. Your nervous energy.
VANYA. Yes â my energy, itâs not nervous. ItâsâŠ
ASTROV. Itâs edgy.
VANYA (enjoying his friendâs familiarity). Itâs a little bit edgy. But ever since the professor came Iâm⊠well Sonyaâs quicker than me, and her eyesightâs better so she gets it all done before I even wake up so IâmâŠ
ASTROV. Youâre cast adrift.
VANYA. Iâve been cast adrift. Havenât I, Nana?
NANA. The professor never even stirs till noon. Before he came we always ate our dinner at the normal hour of twelve oâclock in the afternoon, same as everyone else all over the world, didnât we, Vanya?
VANYA. Yes, Nana.
NANA. You know what time the professor eats his dinner?
ASTROV. I donât know.
NANA. Go on, guess.
ASTROV. I donât know.
NANA. Six oâclock! Six oâclock in the evening!
VANYA. Six oâclock.
NANA. Six oâclock.
ASTROV. Good Lord.
NANA. Then up he sits the whole night, reading, writing, working, insists on keeping that poor young girl heâs married up with him, âattending his needsâ. Suddenly then, at three oâclock in the morning, heâs ringing the bellâŠ
ASTROV. What bell?
VANYA. Heâs brought a bell.
NANA. Weâre all supposed to come running.
VANYA. Everybodyâs up.
NANA. âTea! Tea for the professor!â At three oâclock in the morning! I ask you. No one gets a momentâs rest.
ASTROV. How long are they staying?
VANYA. Staying? Theyâre not staying â theyâre moving here!
ASTROV. To live?
VANYA. The universityâs retired him off! Took his apartment back. He canât afford to live in the city.
NANA (attending the hot water). I mean look at this. You know how long Iâve been keeping this hot water on the go now? Two hours. âTea! Tea for the professor!â he says two hours ago, then up he suddenly announces, âIâm going for a walk.â
VANYA. âA quick walk.â
NANA. A quick walk.
VANYA. âQuick inspection.â
NANA. Quick inspection. And weâre all supposed to justâŠ
Voices and laughter are heard coming through the garden.
TELEGIN (in the distance, indistinct). So I ended up paying twice what I paid for it before I sold it for half what I got it for in the first place!
SEREBRYAKOV (in the distance). Thatâs very good!
Upstage, beneath the branches at the far end of the garden, SEREBRYAKOV, SONYA and TELEGIN are returning from their strollâŠ
NANA. Give you a pain up your backsideâŠ
VANYA. Look â heâll hear you. Donât give him the satisfaction.
SONYA. And you havenât even seen whatâs happening at the old forest yet, Papa.
TELEGIN. Yes, wait till you see up there.
SONYA. We can go tomorrow.
VANYA. Professor! Your tea is ready.
SEREBRYAKOV (on his way towards the house)....