Uncle Vanya

There is a constant coming and going at the estate. That said, once people arrive there, they don’t really want to leave. At most, they might leave for a very short while to attend to important matters elsewhere. Take, for example, Dr Astrov who looks after the sick in the district – and his forest, which, in Astrov’s eyes, is actually his most critical patient, threatened by overexploitation and land-grabbing.

Uncle Vanya manages the somewhat run-down estate and, to some extent, the people who have gradually gathered there: Vanya’s mother, who, despite living on the remote estate, still wishes to keep up with the intellectual trends of the day; Vanya’s brother-in-law, the professor, who continues to pursue his publications and correspondence after his retirement; or the professor’s second wife, the young and enigmatic Elena, who spends her days on the estate lost in thought.

As busy and preoccupied as all these people are, discussing their deeds and complaining about the impositions the world places upon them – the day comes when it dawns on Uncle Vanya that, in reality, what all these people might be doing is absolutely nothing, especially nothing of any significance. And with this realisation, like a chemical experiment, a chain reaction is set in motion: a remarkable dynamic emerges, but it unfolds differently than expected.

Between 1895 and 1904, Anton Chekhov succeeded in securing a lasting place in the history of theatre and culture with his four plays: “The Seagull”, “Uncle Vanya”, “Three Sisters”, and “The Cherry Orchard”. As a doctor, his plays are characterised by an analytical and precise view of society. What his gaze captured was far ahead of its time and leads deep into the theatrical worlds of Samuel Beckett or Jean-Paul Sartre.

Enrico Lübbe is once again staging Chekhov’s drama in collaboration with set designer Etienne Pluss and costume designer Bianca Deigner. Since 2013, this collaboration at Schauspiel Leipzig has produced productions that have shaped the theatre, such as “The Measures Taken / The Persians”, “Faust 1 + 2”, “Woyzeck”, and “Heart of Stone”. At the same time, Etienne Pluss has worked at venues including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London and the Salzburg Festival; Bianca Deigner has designed costumes for the Frankfurt Opera, the Residenztheater in Munich, the Oslo National Opera, and the Opéra de Lille / Festival d’Automne in Paris. The directing team also includes Bert Wrede for the music, who is also a key guest at the theatre for productions such as “Richard III” or the world premiere of “Zeiten des Aufruhrs”.