THE STORY: Two lives, Uncle Vanya and his niece Sonya, are at the core of this play. They work their small estate, live frugally and keep their emotions tightly reined in. Then they are visited by a relative, Professor Serebryakov, and his beautiful young wife, Elena. Vanya falls helplessly in love with Elena, Sonya with a local doctor—and their lives implode.
“This UNCLE VANYA, which Friel worked up from a literal translation by Una Ni Dhubhgaill, is a fresh, stripped-down take on the 1899 Russian play. With a sharp ear, Friel tightens the diction; with a dramatist’s eye, he sharpens the confrontations…Friel has magically managed to find a Friel in Chekhov and a Chekhov in Friel…” —New York Post.
“Friel and Chekhov constitute a fine match…Friel [makes] of…a century-old play a contemporary plea for mercy and grace.” —Variety.
