about production
A palpable sense of "what might have been" fills the air for the characters who inhabit a country estate in a small Russian village. Set in the 1890s, Uncle Vanya uncovers the desperate longing, unrequited love and bitter frustrations that surface when an ageing professor and his young wife return home.Darkly comic, deeply touching and rich in language and emotion, Chekhov's masterpiece is a passionate and opften very funny exploration of love, desire and loss.
Peter Hall is one of Britain's most distinguished directors of plays, films and operas. He founded the Royal Shakespeare Company and was subsequently Director of the National Theatre. His many awards and nominations include two Tony Awards and an Olivier Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Memorable ETT productions include Hamlet with Ed Stoppard and Anita Dobson, King Lear and The Old Country with Timothy West, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Mother Courage with DIana Quick and Hello and Goodbye with Saskia Reeves and Rafe Spall.
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reviews
The Sunday Times
""Peter Hall's production brilliantly brings out this hardness in Chekhov...Tough and taut, wading briskly across puddles of unhappiness without pity, but with an understanding that doesn't miss a thing...the comic moments are painfully serious, the dark ones grimly comical.""
Times
""Hilarious.""
The Guardian
""Hall brings out not just the dynamism but also the quality of endurance that makes Chekhov so moving""
The Daily Mail
The Independent
The Telegraph
""Piercing performances... catching the miraculous mixture of humour and sadness at the heart of Uncle Vanya with superb precision.""
