Production History

If we are to consider The Wood Demon and its production history, then

technically the first draft of what would become Uncle Vanya premiered on December

27th 1889 at the Abramova Theatre in Moscow. However, this initial production failed

miserably, with half the cast forgetting their lines and audiences booing (not unlike the

premiere of Ivanov a year before). The following May and August, Chekhov worked on

re-writing The Wood Demon, but was rejected by both the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St.

Petersburg and the Maly Theatre in Moscow. Taking this as a sign, Chekov took the next

eight years to work on the script. After so many consecutive flops, Chekhov was hesitant

to have his work produced, but eventually entrusted The Seagull to directors Vladimir

Nemirovich-Danchenko and Konstantin Stanislavsky. The 1898 production was a

massive triumph, and the next year Chekov completed revising The Wood Demon and

renamed the play Uncle Vanya.

He gave the new play to Danchenko and Stanislavsky before being sent to a

health resort in Yalta for his tubercular lung. At the time, Stanislavsky began preparing a

prompt book for the title character. Danchenko, however, did not agree with this and

soon convinced his co-director to play the doctor Astrov. It is noted, however, that

Chekov has hesitant to allow Stanislavsky in the cast of Uncle Vanya at all, since the

writer loathed Stanislavski’s performance as Trigorin in The Seagull. Chekhov was sent

to Yalta to recuperate his tubercular lung while Uncle Vanya premiered in Moscow.

Eventually, the MXAT company took Uncle Vanya on tour, making it a point to play in

Yalta so that Chekov could see his work produced onstage.

 Since its debut, Uncle Vanya has been produced in countless venues worldwide,

with several translations and adaptations offering slightly varying interpretations of

Chekov’s original intent. Some of the most notable productions and adaptations include

its Broadway debut at Jolson’s 59th Street Theatre, which opened Nov. 20th, 1923, the

Cort Theatre production in 1930, starring Walter Connolly as Vanya & Lillian Gish as

Yelena, and another production in 1946 at the New Century Theatre with Laurence

Olivier as Astrov & Margaret Leighton as Yelena. There have also been several film

adaptations, including a version of the 1962 Chichester Festival stage production with

Michael Redgrave as Vanya and Laurence Olivier again as Astrov. Also on the silver

screen, we have seen Vanya On 42nd Street, a 1994 version adapted by David Mamet.

Finally, there are several parody productions, such as the Reduced Shakespeare

Company’s radio show version, which contained only three lines:

“Are you Uncle Vanya?

I am.

[Gunshot]

Ouch!”