Na kazalinome oglasu naslov drame i posebno dodatak Scene iz ivota na selu...

,
upuuje nas na neku idilinu ili realistiku priu iz ivota sela. Pisac nas je zavarao.
Radnja se odvija u zabiti ruskih prostranstava u selu na imanju Serebrjakova. Ista drama
mogla se odigrati u provinciji bilo kojeg drugog gradia, bilo koje zemlje ili kontinenta.
Rusko selo samo je okvir zbivanja, istina jako utjee na protagoniste, ali pisac samo
marginalno prikazuje rusko selo.
ehov nam je satkao lirsko-psiholoku dramu koja se temelji na oslikavanju morbidne
atmosfere jedne porodice. Na unutranjoj dramatinosti anti junaka otkrivamo zamorni i
promaeni ivot glavnih likova.
Porodini odnosi na plakatu daju naslutiti zamrenost koja moe dovesti do
dramatinosti. Jer tada su zajedno na imanju profesor u penziji Serebrjakov i njegova
mlada ena Jelena od 27 godina, te profesorova kerka Sonja iz prvoga braka,pa Marija
Sonjina baka i onda Vojnicki Sonjin ujak, pa jo Telegin kao propali spahija te lijenik i
osebnjak Astrov, ta zabitist karaktera u uskom prostoru razliitih interesa moe dovesti
samo do sukoba. U toj nepovoljnoj rodbinskoj i krvnoj strukturi likova u zabiti imanja
sudaraju se antijunaci koji oplakuju svaki na svoj nain svoj propali i izgubljeni ivot.
Nai su junaci svijesni da su prokockali smisao svoga ivota i da nemaju izlaza da sa
poprave, a kamo li izmjene.
Nai su slabii samo drhtaji, osueni ne umrijeti nego na umiranje, ne ivjeti nego
vegetirati. Ne mogu pobjei od sebe ni iz sebe, ne mogu se pomaknuti iz buke gdje su se
nasukali i sada trunu kao olupine dok se ne raspadnu.
Serebrjakov, Jelena, Vojnicki, Sonja, Astrov, Telegin pripadaju ruskoj inteligenciji koja
ivi na zabaenom imanju okruena provincijalizmom, primitivizmom i zaostaloi
ruskoga sela i sredine. Sredina ih je skrhala kao individue i preobrazila u prosjenost u
kojoj se kreu. Bjeei od malograantine na kraju se utapaju u njoj. U podmaklim
godinama, oko pedesetak i vie, kada prave invebturu svoga ivota shvaaju da su ga
prokockali u zabiti, da ga nisu iivjeli, da su ga utroili uzalud, a najtraginija je spoznaja
da e i ostatak ivota provesti besmisleno, besciljno, dosadno, ubitano dosadno ekajui
smrt kao jedinu moguu promjenu.
Kada se tih est nesretnika nau zajedno svjesni svojih promaenih ivota i kada
pokuaju pronai krivca za svoje stanje, ehov nam razotkriva njihove psihloke drhtaje,
ugoaj trule atmosfere, a sve to ukomponirano u lirskom ruhu. Nema retorike, nema
fabuliranja, nema dramskih zapleta i efekata umjesto zbivanja u drami imamo
raspoloenje.
Pisac ne ocjenjuje postupke likova, pa iz dijaloga ne upoznajemo sve njihove osobine.
ehov ne opravdava niti otkrivljenje razvoj ili razmiljanje svojih junaka. Ulazi u njihovu
psihu i neutralno je razotkriva. Upoznajemo nemire i osjeaje junaka a vanjsko kretanje i
zbivanje sporadina su.
Skuenost i ogranienost vanjskih zbivanja dramski je opravdano zbivanjem u jednom
danu i nou na verandi i u sobi imanja Serebrjakova.
Dramsko knjievno djelo Ujak Vanja slojevito je, umjetniki virtuozno i spada u
antologijske klasike. Redatelj mora biti samo oprezan da u kazalinoj izvedbi neim ne
pokvari vrijednost knjievnog djela.
Drama nosi naslov Ujak Vanja, pa bi glavni lik trebao biti Vojniciki, Ivan Petrovi.
Vojnicki je dekadent koji u 47. godini spoznaje uzaludnost svoga ivota. Dvadesetipet
godina radio je na imanju profesora Serebrjakova da bi se ovaj mogao u gradu baviti

naunim radom. Vojnicki spoznaje da profesor nije bio nikakav veliki literarni strunjak
kojemu se trebalo diviti kao boanstvu i da je on Vojnicki utukao svoj ivot za jednu
obinu niticu.
------------------------------------------------Vojnicki: Ti si za nas bio vie bie, a tvoje smo lanke znali napamet...Ali sad mi je
puklo pred oima! Ja sve vidim! Ti pie o umjetnosti, a nita ne razumije u umjetnost!
Svi tvoji radovi koje sam ja volio ne vrijede ni prebijene pare! Ti si nas obmanjivao! (str.
45.)
Vojnicki: ... Ti si upropastio moj ivot. ( str. 45.)
Sad je on u penziji i sada se vidi cijela bilanca njegova ivota: poslije njega nee ostati
nijedne stranice iz njegovih djela, on je potpuno nepoznat,on je - nula ! Mjehur od
sapunice! ( str. 25.)
------------------------------------------------Vojnicki je nesretan on se ne moe pomirita sam sa sobom, svojim stanjem.
------------------------------------------------Vojnicki: Prvo, pomirite me sa samim sobom! (str.23.)
------------------------------------------------Iako nemoan i izgubljen u svojim mislima Vojnicki jednom progovara muki, odluno.
Kada profesor eli prodati imanje a njega i Sonju izbaciti na ulicu kao stari kufer,
Vojnicki reagira elementarno ljudski i pokuava u efektu pitoljem ubiti profesora.
Njegov je in zavrio oajno i sramotno, promaio je profesora.
Vojnicki je zaljubljen u prelijepu mladu Jelenu ali mu ona ne odvraa ljubav. Tragedija je
Vojnickog kao i Sonje kada shvate da e jo ivjeti a da ne znaju zato i za koga i da im je
budunost besmislena.
------------------------------------------------Vojnicki: ... Meni je etardesetisedam godina; ako budem ivio, recimo do ezdesete,
ostaje mi jo trinaest godina. Mnogo! Kako u proivjeti tih trinaest godina? to u da
radim, ime u ih ispuniti? (str.51.)
------------------------------------------------Vojnicki bi elio nemogue, novi ivot.
------------------------------------------------Vojnicki:...Poeti nov ivot...Reci mi, kako da ponem...od ega da ponem?
(str. 52.)
------------------------------------------------Astrov odgovor izgorio je Vojnickove elje u hip, bez okolianja.
------------------------------------------------Astrov: Kakav nov ivot! Na je poloaj, i moj i tvoj, bezizlazan. (str.52.)
------------------------------------------------Sonja je nesretna ena, zaljubljena u lijenika Astrova koji je ne voli. Sonja sa svojim
ujakom Vojnickim vodi imanje. Ona puno radi. Sonja je realni lik. Predstavlja tip ene
koja je bez prava na pobune, primorana da prihvati svoju nesretnu sudbinu. Sonja je
neiivljena i nikada nee ni ivjeti. Nikada nee biti voljena. Ona je rtvovana i svoju
rtvu prima mirno. Sonja je smirenje, nema krika ni pobune kod nje.

------------------------------------------------Sonja: ...Nismo mi jeli kruh zabadava! Ja ne govorim to treba rei, ne govorim ono to
treba, ali ti nas mora razumjeti tata. Treba biti milostiv! (str. 47.)
------------------------------------------------Kada spoznaje da joj je sudbina okrutno zapraena oekujemo njen jauk. Naprotiv,
Sonja pronalazi bizarno kransko otkupljenje i spas. Tko je patio na ovome svijetu, a do
tog kraja mora se strpljivo raditi.
Sonjinim dijalogom tono zavrava drama:
------------------------------------------------Sonja: ..., a kad nam doe na sudnji as, pokorno emo umrijeti i tamo, na onom
svijetu, rei emo da smo patili, da smo plakali, da nam je bilo teko i bog e se saaliti
na nas; onda emo, ujko, mili ujko, vidjeti drugi ivot- svijetli, divan, lijep, radovati emo
se i na sve sadanje nae patnje pogledati emo ganuto, s osmjehom- i odmoriti emo se.
(str.59.)
------------------------------------------------Astrov je lijenik u zabiti i primitivnosti ruskih sela. Naporno radi. Odreenu simpatiju
ehov poklanja Astrovu iako stidljivo. Moda je uzrok tome to je i ehov bio lijenik.
Astrov je osebnjak, bez porodice. Za razliku od Vojnickog gotovo ravnoduno i bez borbe
pomirio se sa besmislom svoga ivota. Astrov vie ne vjeruje ni u svoje sposobnosti pa za
sebe kae:
------------------------------------------------Astrov: ... Kod Ostrovskog u jednom komadu postoji ovjek s velikim brkovima i malim
sposobnostima...To sam ja. ( str. 14. )
------------------------------------------------Tragedija je Astrova to je on gotovo prestao postojati kao ovjek, jer ne vjeruje vie u
ljude i nema vie osjeaje, ne moe voljeti.
------------------------------------------------Astrov:... Ja za sebe vie nita ne oekujem, ne volim ljude... Odavno ve nikog ne
volim. (str. 28.)
------------------------------------------------Jelena Andrijevna, mlada ena staroga profesora u abokreinu ljudskih dua unijela je
nemir. Probudila je mrtvilo u Astrovu , a naroito u Vojnickom. Jelena postaje ena
fatum.
Jelena je nesretna ena koju svoju najveu nesreu prima sa manje emocija donekle
racionalno.
------------------------------------------------Jelena Andrejevna: I mrzi me da ivim i dosadno mi je! Svi napadaju mog mua, svi me
gledaju sa eljenjem: nesrena ena, ona ima staroga mua! To je sauee pram meni - o,
kako ga dobro razumijem (str.17.)
------------------------------------------------Jelena mrzi mua, ali zna da mora ivjeti sa njime.
------------------------------------------------Jelena Andrejevna: uti! Ti si me ubio! (str. 20.)
------------------------------------------------Jeleninoj vjernosti filozofski i lirski razmilja Vojnicki.
-------------------------------------------------

Vojnicki: Zato to je ta vjernost neprirodna i izvjetaena od poetka do kraja. U njoj je

mnogo retorike, ali nema logike. Iznevjereti starog mua kojega ne moe podnijeti- to je
nemoralno. (str.11.)
------------------------------------------------Stari profesor uzrok je unitenja mnogih ivota. Optuuje ga i mrze njegova ena i
Vojnicki. Sonja svoga oca voli i rtvovanje za njega prihvaa kao neto prirodno.
Profesor je star i bolestan i ljubomoran je na mladost. U biti je umiljena veliina koja u
zimi svoga ivota oekuje od svih jo malo panje. Profesor ne govori o svome radu, ali
ga Vojnicki bolno secira.

Vojnicki: ovjek punih dvadesetipet godina predaje i pie o umjetnosti, a nimalo ne

razumije umjetnost. (str.10.)
------------------------------------------------Ono to ubija profesora i ini ga nesretnim je starost. itav je ivot bio sebian, a sada
ivot ostavlja drugima, mlaima.
------------------------------------------------Serebrjakov: ... Prokleta, odvratna starost. avo da je nosi! Otkako sam ostario, gadim
se samom sebi. A i svima vama, vjerovatno, gadno je da me gledate.
(str.20.)
------------------------------------------------Likovi drame su slabii i malenkonini tragiari. Nihilizam se bolesno uvukao u njih i
spremni su na tiho propadanje.
Vojnicki koji je na tren reagirao ljudski i pobunio se pretvara se ponovo u bezlinu sjenu
spreman da sa Sonjom propati ostatak ivota.
Pristati svjesno na predaju, na vegetiranje, pomiriti se sa injenicom da si iv zakopan u
zaostalosti riskog sela i da e tu lagano umirati, ini likove drame drastino traginim.
Oni nemaju mo ni umrijeti brzo. U takvoj atmosferi ivota ehov ponire due svojih
junaka i prikazuje ih kroz dramski dijalog. On ih slika, prikazuje, ali ih ne objanjava ili
optuuje. Kroz dijaloge je oslikana atmosfera i nema poruke ili poruke pisca. Prikazano
je stanje dua u odreenom prostoru i vremenu iz kojega nisu mogli pobjei.
Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov's masterpiece of frustrated longing and wasted lives, was
originally a much more conventional drama in its earlier incarnation. Previously known
as The Wood Demon, the play was rejected by two theaters before premiering in Moscow
in December of 1889 to a very poor reception (it closed after three performances).
Sometime between that date and 1896, Chekhov revised the play, altering it radically.
Although the work that emerged is more static than the originalin terms of narrative
events, far less happensit is considered one of the most poignant evocations of
thwarted desire ever written.
Vanya is literally haunted by the man he might have been: "Day and night like a fiend at
my throat is the thought that my life is hopelessly lost."

Uncle Vanya was scheduled to premiere at the Maly Theater in Moscow, but the
Theatrical and Literary Committee overseeing it and other imperial theaters asked
Chekhov to make substantial revisions to the play. Instead of making the suggested
changes, he withdrew the play and submitted it to the Moscow Art Theater, where Uncle
Vanya was first performed on October 26, 1899, under the direction Konstantin
Stanislavsky. It was well received.
With Uncle Vanya and Chekhov's three other dramatic masterpiecesThe Sea Gull, The
Three Sisters, and The Cherry OrchardChekhov demonstrated that a production could
be riveting with out conforming to traditional notions of drama. In Critical Essays on
Anton Chekhov, Russian author Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita) noted that Chekhov's plays
are not overtly political or freighted with a social message: "What mattered was that this
typical Chekhovian hero was the unfortunate bearer of a vague but beautiful human truth,
a burden which he could neither get rid of nor carry." Today, Chekhov stakes a double
claim in the world of literature: he is equally acclaimed as a master of the short story and
of the dramatic form. Uncle Vanya is widely considered to be his greatest achievement in
the latter genre and a masterpiece of modern drama.

Author Biography
Born on January 29, 1860, in the port village of Taganrog in the Ukraine, Anton Chekhov
was the third son of Pavel Yegorovitch and Yevgeniya Yakovlevna (Morozov) Chekhov.
Though the family was descended from Russian peasants, Chekhov's grandfather
purchased the family's freedom, allowing Chekhov's father to run a small grocery store.
The family's fortunes took a sudden turn for the worse, however, when his father's store
went bankrupt in 1876. Following that disaster, his parents moved to Moscow, leaving
Chekhov in Taganrog to complete his education.
In 1879, Chekhov reunited with his family in Moscow, where he began studying for a
degree in medicine at Moscow University. In 1884, he completed his studies, began to
practice medicine, and started publishing short, humorous sketches in popular magazines.
In 1886 these collected sketches were published as a book,.....
Plot Summary
Act I
The play opens on a cloudy afternoon in a garden behind the family estate of
Serebryakov. Marina, the old nurse, is knitting a stocking, while Astrov, the doctor who
has been called to tend to one of Professor Serebryakov's ailments, is pacing nearby.
Astrov laments that he's aged tending the sick and that life "itself is boring, stupid, dirty."
Having no one to love, he complains that his emotions have grown numb. When he

worries that people won't remember him, Marina answers: "People won't remember but
God will remember."
When Vanya enters, yawning from a nap, the three complain about how all order has been
disrupted since the professor and his wife, Yelena, arrived. As they're talking,
Serebryakov, Yelena, Sonya, and Telegin return from a walk. Vanya calls the professor "a
learned old.....
On the veranda of a country home in Russia on a warm summer afternoon, Marina sits by
a table set for tea and knits a stocking. Astrov paces nearby. Marina offers him a glass of
tea. When he refuses, she offers him vodka instead. He tells her he doesn't drink every
day and changes the subject, asking her how long they've known each other. Marina
struggles to remember, and says he's changed a lot: he's older, he's less good looking, and
he likes his vodka. Astrov explains that he drinks because he's tired from working all the
time, and because "life is a dull, stupid dirty business." He jokes about having an
oversized moustache, about having gone a bit strange, and about how he wants nothing,
needs nothing and loves no one except..... Act 2 Summary
This scene is set late at night, in the dining room of the house. The Professor is dozing in
a chair by a window and Yelena is dozing nearby. Suddenly the Professor wakes up, a
serious pain in his leg. Yelena covers him up with the blanket that had fallen from his lap,
and tells him that it's after midnight. The Professor asks Yelena to look in the library the
next day for a particular book, and wonders aloud why he's so short of breath. Yelena
says he's just tired, but the Professor complains that it's because he's getting old, saying
that as he ages he's getting offensive to himself and to other people. He says he knows
that of all the people he knows, Yelena finds him most offensive. Then tells her.....
Act 3 Summary
This scene takes place in the drawing room. Yelena paces thoughtfully while Vanya and
Sonya watch. Vanya announces that the Professor has asked everyone in the house to
gather for some kind of announcement, and comments that Yelena staggers as she walks
from sheer laziness. Yelena talks of being bored with Vanya talking all the time, and of
being bored in general. Sonya tells her there are lots of things she could do, if she felt like
it: work on the estate, visit the sick, go to market. Yelena says none of those things would
be interesting and it's only in books that people find fulfillment from doing good things
for others. She tells Yelena that everybody around has changed because of her. Vanya
doesn't work any more, but follows her around all.....
Act 4 Summary
This scene takes place in Vanya's bedroom, which also serves as the estate office. There is
a small easel and table where Astrov paints. It's the evening of the day of the previous act.
Telegein helps Marina wind wool and urges her to hurry, saying they're leaving in a hurry
because they're frightened. He says they're leaving with what they're wearing, and they'll
send for their things later. Marina talks happily about things on the estate going back to

the comfortable old routine, and asks where Sonya is. Telegin says that she and Astrov
are looking for Vanya: they're afraid he's going to kill himself. When Marina asks where
the gun is, Telegin tells her he's hidden it in the basement.
Vanya and Astrov come in. Vanya tells everyone to leave him alone, that.....
Characters
Sofia Alexandrovna
Sonya is Serebryakov's daughter by his first marriage and Vanya's niece. Hard-working
and plain in appearance, Sonya is twenty-four and has been in love with Astrov for six
years. When Yelena offers to ask Astrov about his feelings for Sonya, she wavers, saying,
"Uncertainty is better.... After all, there is hope" Like the others, Sonya confesses to
deep unhappiness but is more pragmatic. It is Sonya who holds the family together. When
Vanya complains of how heavy his burdens are, she says: "What can we do, we must
live!" The play closes with her soliloquy about the value of hard work in this lifetime and
rest and beauty in the next.
Yelena Andreevna
A twenty-seven-year-old beauty and charmer, Yelena is married to the already elderly
professor Serebryakov. Like her namesake Helen of.....
Themes
Anger and Hatred
Recognizing that he has wasted his life furthering the professor's scholarship, Vanya
responds in anger, a new and unaccustomed emotion for him. Although Vanya's
displeasure simmers throughout the play, it erupts into violence after Serebryakov
announces his plan to sell the estate so that he and Yelena can buy a villa in Finland.
Vanya then attempts to shoot the professor, only to miss, emphasizing the futility of his
rebellion. Vanya's full name, Voynitsky, hints at his potential for belligerence (the Russian
word for "war" is "voyna").
Appearances and Reality
Vanya rails against Serebryakov's intellectual posturing, knowing that the professors's
claims of intelligence are a fraud. "You were to us a creature of the highest order and
your articles we knew by heart," says Vanya. "But now my eyes are open! I.....
Style
Revision

One way to understand the construction of Uncle Vanya is to contrast it with its earlier
incarnation, The Wood Demon. Eric Bentley, in Critical Essays on Anton Chekhov, called
The Wood Demon "a farce spiced with melodrama." In that version, Chekhov emphasizes
the romantic interests of the characters and the play concludes with the coupling of
Astrov and Sonya. No one is successfully paired up in Uncle Vanya. In The Wood Demon
Vanya commits suicide. In Uncle Vanya Vanya survives only to have his bleakest fears
about life confirmed. Wrote Bentley: "To the Broadway script-writer, also concerned with
the rewriting of plays (especially if in an early version a likable character shoots himself),
these alterations of Chekhov's would presumably seem unaccountable. They would look
like a deliberate elimination of the dramatic element." Uncle Vanya.....
Historical Context
In 1861, one year after Chekhov was born, Czar Alexander II abolished serfdom in
Russia. Serfs were essentially slaves and were forced to work for their owners unless they
could purchase their own freedom. Once peasants were no longer owned by others, they
were not necessarily free because most of them had no possessions and were enslaved
through indebtedness. In the 1860s, peasants constituted eighty percent of the population
of Russia.
Once serfdom was abolished, Russia underwent a period of social unrest, characterized
by student rebellion and protests by political radicals. In 1872, Karl Marx's Das Kapital
was translated into Russian and the Russian people were introduced to the basic tenets of
communism. In 1881, Czar Alexander II was assassinated by terrorists. Alexander III
assumed rule of the country, and what followed was a time of.....
Critical Overview
Uncle Vanya was first published in 1897 but was not performed by the Moscow Art
Theater, where it premiered, until October 26,1899. Well received by audiences, Uncle
Vanya was not entirely a success in Chekhov's own estimation. The directors at the
Moscow Art TheaterKonstantin Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenkodid
not understand Chekhov's artistic vision, and Chekhov, sick with tuberculosis by the time
Uncle Vanya was produced, could not intervene. Nemirovich-Danchenko wrote,
"Chekhov was incapable of advising actors. ... Everything appeared so comprehensible to
him: 'Why, I have written it all down,' he would answer." Stanislavsky admitted to being
slightly confounded by Chekhov's plays; he said that when he went to produce The Sea
Gull, he didn't know how to proceed, the words were too simple.
Even if Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko failed to fully appreciate Chekhov's
vision,.....
UNCLE VANYA
Thanks to you the best years of my life have been thrown down the drain. Vanya
After the success of his The Cherry Orchard and Platonov, Lev Dodin proposes a rigorous

and at the same time poetic lecture of this classic by Anton Chekhov. A staging that
transmits pure theatrical pleasure through the intensive humanity of the characters,
suggesting the richness of Chekhovs writing by displaying little everyday stories.
Uncle Vanja, story of meaningless lives, illusions and dreams destined to be dissolved, of
unhappy loves and silent passions of the retired professor Alexander Serebrakoff, his wife
Helena, his daughter Sonia, the widow Mme Voitskaya and her son Ivan Vanya Voitski,
the old nurse Marina, the doctor Michal Astroff and the impoverished landowner Ilia
(Waffles) Telegin. They all revive in this moving and authentic theatre lecture of the Maly
Theatre.
In Uncle Vanja there are no metaphoric scenes, mass scenes, astonishing effects or even
music. Its most of all a very direct approach to the stage. Dodin lets the text speak, the
actor meets the public in a 'tte a tte' forcing it to look into the profoundness of the
human soul. The set is simple, frontal. What is left to represent? Exactly this, the total
polyphony of this piece and of all its single voices. This show is not suitable for a
journalistic review. It rather fits into a long novel.
M. Davidova, Izvestia
PRODUCTION DATES
Milan, Italy, Teatro Studio, Italian Premire, 4-9 November 2003
Rome, Italy, Teatro Valle, 14-17 April 2004
Palermo, Italy, Teatro Biondo, 20-25 April 2004
Prijevod: Josip Badali
Adaptacija prijevoda: Lada Katelan
Premijera: HNK u Splitu, 28. 10. 2006.
to nam novo jo moe rei ehov? Njegovom dramom teko je napraviti politiki ili
drutveno angairanu predstavu, a opire se i prekrajanjima toliko potrebnima da bi se
zadovoljila tatina autorskog kazalita. Na pitanje kako ga igrati, sam ehov je
odgovarao: "Ja ne znam, pa tamo je sve napisano." Zato se uvijek vraamo ehovu? Za
njim poseu najvei redatelji, nastojei mu dati obrise svojega vremena, a opet ne izdati
njegovu unutarnju strukturu. Odgovor je jednostavan. ehovljev mikrokozmos svaiji je
mikrokozmos i kad odstranimo drutvene, povijesne i politike okolnosti, u nama ostaje
ehov. Prua nam prigodu da govorimo o onome to uistinu jesmo - samo ljudi. Ujak
Vanja jedna je od najsjajnijih ehovljevih studija ovjeka, u kojoj se prepleu posve
jednostavne ljudske tenje: nada, beznadnost, ljubav, sapetost, osloboenje...
Rijeka
"Ujak Vanja": osmero sitih ljudi u dobrovoljnoj izolaciji, negdje usred beskrajnog ruskog
prostranstva, usred nekoc lijepog krajolika koji sada nezaustavljivo nestaje pred
samoivim razaranjem onih gladnih, obespravljenih i siromanih. Do najblie eljeznicke
stanice dalek je put. Ime prvog sljedeceg grada nitko i ne izgovara. U toj pustoi preostaje

im samo sjecanje na bivi, optimizmom pamcenja uljepani ivot. I kajanje zbog

uzaludnosti ovog sadanjeg.
Udaljenost od civilizacije nije im jedini problem cini se da su odustali i od sebe samih.
Stoga ih kroz cetiri cina, od vrelog ljeta do prvih hladnih jesenjih dana, promatramo kako
grcevito pokuavaju vratiti svoju izgubljenu ljudskost: nemoguc zadatak za one koji su iz
svog vokabulara izbacili futur. Bolno im je jasno da su se rodbinske veze icaile i
obezvrijedile, da su erotski naboji izmedu spolova splasnuli, a modane stanice odumrle
natopljene alkoholom. U religiozne obmane vjecnog ivota koji ce nadoknaditi tugu
doline suza, cak ni najmlada od njih, Sonja, odavno vie ne vjeruje. Svejedno nitko od
njih ne urla, a morao bi; nitko od njih ne die ruku na sebe, a samo bi to imalo smisla;
nitko od njih ne ljubi, a jedino bi se tako uutkao besmisao koji ih je zadesio.
ehov je nemilosrdan. Dubok. Mudar. On zna da pisac nije zabavljac, da je sklopio pakt s
vlastitom savjecu i stoga mirno priznaje (cak izrijekom, u svojim pismima) kako svijet
koji nas okruuje uopce nema smisla. Zato se bavimo njime vec puna tri mjeseca.
Bavimo se odgovorno, savjesno. I svakom probom otkrivamo neto novo, dublje,
mudrije. Zapravo potresnije, cudnije. "Ujak Vanja" raste s nama, ali obrnuto
proporcionalno s naim razumijevanjem komada... to ga vie razumijemo, to komad
postaje iracionalniji.
Plai nas kad prepoznamo ehova u nama, kad ehov procita nas, umjesto da mi citamo
njega. No samo tako, upitani nad vlastitom covjecnocu, zabrinuti za vlastitu svrhu i
smisao, moemo pronaci tocan stil, samo tako uspostaviti pravi nacin igre i proizvesti
jedini moguci ton recenice. Iz dana u dan zrijemo kako samo moemo uz dar velikoga
pisca. I to nas raduje. Nadahnjuje. Zavodi nas jednostavnost njegovih recenica, jasnoca
njegovih misli iza kojih se skriva mutna i neuhvatljiva, alosna ljudska dua. Kopamo.
Zatrpavamo. Pa opet kopamo. Sve vie vjerujemo da se ehov u stvari zabavljao, da mu
je medicina doista "bila zakonita supruga, a literatura ljubavnica". I divimo mu se.
Svjesni smo da cemo u jednom trenutku zaustaviti ovu nau igru i morati se susresti s
publikom. Za glumce ce to biti tek pocetak pravog putovanja. Za redatelja je to svretak.
Ili pocetak odustajanja. I tad mu valja, poput ehova na samrti, ispiti cau ampanjca i
blaeno zauvijek usnuti s nadom u boansku pravdu koju propovijedaju smrtni,
nesavreni ljudi.
Lary Zappia
Ovo je pria o upropatenim ivotima, neostvarenim oekivanjima, zalud potroenim
ivotom te svijetu melanholije i letargije. ehovljevo dramsko pismo se esto kree
podjednako u oba pravca kominom i traginom, mamei tako kod publike u isto
vrijeme suze i smijeh.
Reditelj Ozren Prohi, koji je prvi put angairan u Kamernom teatru, istie da se u "ovog
Ujaka Vanju" krenulo iz savremenosti koja je osnaena promaenim sentimentom i
htijenjima, to rezultira velikom ironijom, odustajanjem i ogorenjem.
"Te tri stvari su osnova naeg vremena. ivimo neke ivote u kojima se smisao

kompenzira, a socijalne, drutvene i druge situacije nas mogu dovesti do gorine"..

Prohi je miljenja da ehovljevi stavovi prevedeni u naa razmiljanja i vrijeme
dovode do egzistencijalnog sistema u kojem ljudi jedni druge dovode do tuge, gorine i
alosti. Tako ehov i postaje potpuno na i savremeni pisac, smatra reditelj.

Biljeka o piscu
ehov, Anton Pavlovi ( 1860.-1904. ), ruski novelist i dramatiar, po zanimanju
lijenik. Zapoeo je knjieni rad kritikama humoreskama, nastavlja novelama u kojima
obrauje izgubljene i otuene likove. ehov ne donosi u svojim novelma dogaaje,
zbivanja, a niti velike izrazite linosti koje nastupaju u drutvu glasno i buno. Fabule su
vrlo jednostavne, ili uope nije teite na njima, jer ehov nastoji izazvati dojam,
ugoaje, atmosferu; on stvara raspoloenje oko likova, u kojima se oni potpuno oituju.
Zbog toga je uvijek saet, na svoj nain lakonian,a obilno se slii pejzaima i lirskim
digresijama.
I u drame ehov ne unosi vee dramske zaplete, nego je sav u stvaranju scenskih
raspoloenja i onoga neuhvatljivog ugoaja u kojima se likovi oituju kao ivi i
neposredni ljudi. U tome je ehov velik majstor i s potpunim opravdanjem nazvan je
osnivaem ruske impresionitike drame; njegove se drame uzimaju kao iprimjer tzv.
lirske drame.

ANTON CHEKHOV (1860-1904)

Born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia, on the Sea of Azov, Anton
Pavlovich Chekhov would eventually become one of Russia's most cherished
storytellers. Especially fond of vaudevilles and French farces, he produced
some hilarious one-acts, but it is his full-length tragedies that have secured
him a place among the greatest dramatists of all time.
Chekhov began writing short stories during his days as a medical student at the
University of Moscow. After graduating in 1884 with a degree in medicine, he
began to freelance as a journalist and writer of comic sketches. Early in his
career, he mastered the form of the one-act and produced several
masterpieces of this genre including The Bear (1888) in which a creditor hounds
a young widow, but becomes so impressed when she agrees to fight a duel with
him, that he proposes marriage, and The Wedding (1889) in which a

bridegroom's plans to have a general attend his wedding ceremony backfire

when the general turns out to be a retired naval captain "of the second rank".
Ivanov (1887), Chekhov's first full-length play, a fairly immature work compared
to his later plays, examines the suicide of a young man very similar to Chekhov
himself in many ways. His next play, The Wood Demon (1888) was also fairly
unsuccessful. In fact, it was not until the Moscow Art Theater production of
The Seagull (1897) that Chekhov enjoyed his first overwhelming success. The
same play had been performed two years earlier at the Alexandrinsky Theatre
in St. Petersburg and had been so badly received that Chekhov had actually left
the auditorium during the second act and vowed never to write for the theatre
again. But in the hands of the Moscow Art Theatre, the play was transformed
into a critical success, and Chekhov soon realized that the earlier production
had failed because the actors had not understood their roles.
In 1899, Chekhov gave the Moscow Art Theatre a revised version of The Wood
Demon, now titled Uncle Vanya (1899). Along with The Three Sisters (1901) and
The Cherry Orchard (1904), this play would go on to become one of the
masterpieces of the modern theatre. However, although the Moscow Art
Theatre productions brought Chekhov great fame, he was never quite happy
with the style that director Constantin Stanislavsky imposed on the plays. While
Chekhov insisted that his plays were comedies, Stanislavsky's productions
tended to emphasize their tragic elements. Still, in spite of their stylistic
disagreements, it was not an unhappy marriage, and these productions brought
widespread acclaim to both Chekhov's work and the Moscow Art Theatre itself.
Chekhov considered his mature plays to be a kind of comic satire, pointing out
the unhappy nature of existence in turn-of-the-century Russia. Perhaps
Chekhov's style was described best by the poet himself when he wrote:
"All I wanted was to say honestly to people: 'Have a look at yourselves and see
how bad and dreary your lives are!' The important thing is that people should
realize that, for when they do, they will most certainly create another and
better life for themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be
quite different, quite unlike our present life. And so long as this different life
does not exist, I shall go on saying to people again and again: 'Please,
understand that your life is bad and dreary!'"
During Chekhov's final years, he was forced to live in exile from the
intellectuals of Moscow. In March of 1897, he had suffered a lung hemorrhaage,
and although he still made occasional trips to Moscow to participate in the
productions of his plays, he was forced to spend most of his time in the Crimea
where he had gone for his health. He died of tuberculosis on July 14, 1904, at
the age of forty-four, in a German health resort and was buried in Moscow.
Since his death, Chekhov's plays have become famous worldwide and he has

come to be considered the greatest Russian storyteller and dramatist of

modern times.
UNCLE VANYA
by Gail M. Burns, August 2007
One of the trickiest things about being a theatre critic is having to review different
productions of the same play in close succession, particularly if the first one you see
really moves you. I was clear in my review of the Hubbard Hall production of Anton
Chekhovs Uncle Vanya in May that I considered it as close to perfection as possible. It is
one of those productions, out of the hundreds and hundreds that I have seen, which will
stay with me always. While the Barrington Stage production, directed by Julianne Boyd
is very good, and uses the same excellent translation by Paul Schmidt, it will never take
the place of Daisy Walkers staging in my heart.
However this is the production of Uncle Vanya that is available to you to see right now,
and I would encourage you to do so. It has its flaws, notably the woefully miscast Keira
Naughton in the pivotal role of Sonya, but it also has so much to recommend it that I urge
you to go. There is never a bad time to see Chekhov, and Barrington Stage should be
applauded on its first effort to bring this author to their stage.
In May I explained Chekhovs use of comedy (and he did call his plays comedies) and
tragedy using the analogy of a frosted cake: Think of the tragedy as the icing on a cake
of comedy. The cake is what supports the icing and gives it shape and substance. When
you look at the outside, you see the icing, but if I asked you what it was you wouldnt tell
me it was icing, you would tell me it was cake.
Boyd turns my analogy on its ear. Her Uncle Vanya uses the tragedy as the cake and the
comedy as the icing. She and her able cast get a lot of genuine laughs in this production,
but the tragedy is always there, lending the comedy support. For instance, one of the
biggest laughs in the performance I saw came at the end of Act III when Vanya is trying
to shoot and kill the Professor. Whats so funny about attempted murder, you ask? Well,
go and see. And when you do you will realize that you wouldnt be laughing so hard if
every single character on the stage wasnt in the throes of the deepest misery.
While the title of this play might lead you to believe that Vanya (Jack Gilpin) is the
central character, many people believe that it is actually his niece, Sonya (Naughton), on
whom the story turns which is why, although Gilpin is absolutely marvelous, this
production feels lopsided. Naughton is a good actress, but this is not her role. She is
unable to play Sonyas deep tragedy and unable to project the image of a plain woman. I
am not saying that the actress who plays Sonya needs to be unattractive, I am saying that
she needs to be able to comport herself like woman who believes that she is, and
Naughton cant. There is always a twinkle in her eye that conveys a confidence that a
woman like Sonya would never have. Her Sonya is quite cheerful, even turning a
cartwheel for sheer joy at one point.

But Naughton does try and she does clearly convey the part of Sonya who is the sane one
in the family, the dutiful one, the one who does it all without complaining, and that makes
her final monologue, where Sonya tells Vanya of her firm belief that they will have peace
and rest in the next life, authentic and moving.
Since this cannot be Sonyas play, let it be Vanyas. Gilpin captures all the tragedy of this
empty man for whom genuine personal accomplishment is always just out of reach. In a
recent interview with Berkshire Eagle critic Jeffrey Borak he made the following
remarks: "The range and degree of life that coarses (sic) through this character is what
you go into [show] business to do. I feel lucky and privileged to take a whack at this
roleThis play constantly surprises you in its observation of joy and sorrow and
laughter. It's a drink of cold water to a parched throat. It refreshes you for life."
It is no wonder with enthusiasm and insight like that that Gilpin provides a dynamic
center to this production. This is his first professional encounter with Chekhov and it is
such a success that I hope he has a chance to perform in many more of this master
playwrights works in coming years.
The other two central characters in the play are Astrov (Mark L. Montgomery), the local
doctor, and Yelena (Heidi Armbruster), the 27-year-old second wife to Sonyas elderly
father, the Professor (Kenneth Tigar). Sonya harbors a secret and unrequited love for
Astrov, who is a self-absorbed monster unfit to touch the hem of her garment.
Montgomery makes this Astrov every bit as callous as he is written, while delivering his
shockingly current monologues on environmental issues with verve.
Tigar is equally monstrous, and hilarious, as the pompous Professor, whose arrival has
upset the very fabric of life on this quiet country estate. While he keeps everyone on edge
24/7 with his demands for food and medical attention, Yelena has drawn every man
Sonya cares about into her orbit. Vanya adores her, Astrov desires her, and Sonyas own
father actually possesses her, but Yelena remains stubbornly wrapped in her own ennui.
Armbruster is a very, very beautiful Yelena, but I felt she related much better to the men
than to Naughtons Sonya, and I had been looking forward to the girl talk scene
between stepmother and stepdaughter which concludes Act II.
Patricia Conolly is Marina, the faithful old Nanny on the estate, and Robert Grossman
is Telegin, aka Waffles, an elderly servant. Both are endearing and aid in the illusion that
we really are in 19th century Russia, a trick because Schmidts translation is so very
modern and American, and Chekhovs characters are so vibrantly alive that it is only the
sets, with their candles and kerosene lamps, and the costumes that remind us where all
this is actually taking place.
Grossman, whose program bio bills him as an Urban folk-singer-guitarist-composer
since age 16 (and he is considerably older than that now) provides marvelous musical
interludes of guitar music before and between the action. I assume that it is also
Grossman we hear playing in the recorded musical segments. There should be a moment
built in for the audience to give his musical contributions a special round of applause.

And while the music sounds quite authentically Russian I see that a credit is given to
Matthew M. Nelson for sound design and original music. Whatever its source, the music
enhances the sense of time and place, and Grossmans musicianship is unquestionable.
I have yet to see a satisfactory performance by an actress in the role of Vanyas mother
Maria. She is something of an enigma as written, lending little support to her son and
granddaughter in their efforts to keep the estate running. Here Alain Warren Zachary
looks lovely and ponders her feminist pamphlets with icy serenity while everyone elses
world is imploding around her. Just who IS this woman?? I must get a hold of Schmidts
translation, and a few others, and ponder her raison dtre.
Karl Eigsti has designed a simple and effective set which replicates that warm yellow
glow that so endeared me to the Hubbard Hall production and which I thought was
partially due to the performance space itself. There is may have been, but here it is
cleverly crafted with color and Scott Pinkneys lighting.
The womens costumes are very believable and historically accurate, but the mens
looked suspiciously modern. There IS a difference between a mans suit of 1890s Russia
and a 20th century American one.
People are wary of Chekhov because he is Russian, because his work is considered
classic, because they are afraid that productions of his plays will be long and
depressing and hard to follow. Nothing could be further from the truth. As we exited the
theatre my companion turned to me and said, I know those people. Chekhovs great gift
was in creating characters who, although they lived in a time and place very different
from the here and now, are so typically human that we can relate to them instantly.
Boyds production is lively, poignant, and often very funny. The show runs a compact
two and a half hours with an intermission in which to stretch your legs. If you are already
a Chekhov fan this is certainly a production worth seeing. If you have never seen a
Chekhov play before, this would be a good place to start. Yes, it is possible you will
discover you are one of those people who just doesnt cotton up to Chekhov, but you also
might discover a new kindred spirit in this Russian master. Its worth a gamble!
The Barrington Stage Company production of Uncle Vanya runs through August 26 at
their Main Stage theatre, 30 Union Street in Pittsfield. The show runs two and a half
hours with one intermission and is suitable for ages 14 and up (younger children will find
Chekhov too wordy). For tickets, call the box office at (413) 236-8888 (Pittsfield); (413)
528-8888 (South County) or visit www.barringtonstageco.org.
Uncle Vanya
It is unclear exactly when Uncle Vanya was written but it owes a debt of gratitude to
The Wood Demon. This earlier work used the same settings and similar characters and
some of its dialogue Chekhov imported into Uncle Vanya. Yet The Wood Demon is
completely unambiguous: in Act 3 the Uncle Vanya character commits suicide and at the
end of the play Sonyas love for the Dr. Astrov character is requited.

Uncle Vanya was first published in a collection of his plays in 1897 and it is likely
that it was written after The Seagull some time in 1896. The Moscow Art Theatre was
eager to premiere the piece but Chekhov had promised it long ago to the Maly Theatre,
Chekhov was keen to pacify the situation not wanting one theatre to lose out to another
but saw no amicable resolution. The plays fate was decided instead by the Theatrical
and Literary Committee of the Emperors Court who controlled the programming of the
Imperial Theatres, of which the Maly was one. They read the play, interviewed Chekhov
and requested extensive revisions to the text.
With an easy conscience, Chekhov was now able to refuse changing the play and pass
it to the Moscow Art Theatre. To placate the Maly, he offered to write a play especially
for them but he failed to deliver on this promise.
You must not think that when we met after the success of The Seagull there was
anything affecting about the encounter. He shook my hand more firmly than usual,
smiled pleasantly, and that was all. Chekhov was not in favor of expansive expression,
whereas I felt a strong urge towards it since I had become his ardent admirer. Konstantin
Stanislavsky, Co-founder of The Moscow Art Theater
The secret of Chekhovian mood is hidden in the rhythm of the language, and the actors
of the Art Theatre heard just this rhythm during the days when they rehearsed the first
Chekhov production. They heard it through their affection for the author . . . Vsevolod
Meyerhold, Actor/Director
It seems to me that with Anton Pavlovich, everybody unwittingly felt an inner longing to
be simpler, more truthful, to be more himself. More than once I saw how people cast off
their motley attire of bookish phrases and fashionable expressions . . . Maxim Gorky,
Author
Criticism

Elizabeth Judd
Judd is a writer and book reviewer with an M.F.A. in English from the University of
Michigan and a B.A. from Yale. In this essay, she discusses various the methods of
indirect action employed by Chekhov in Uncle Vanya.
About suffering they were never wrong/ The Old Masters: how well they understood/ Its
human position; how it takes place/ While someone else is eating
or opening a window or just walking dully along... . Musee des Beaux Arts, W. H.
Auden
When it comes to portraying the anguish of the human condition, no other dramatist, past
or present, equals Chekhov, especially in Uncle Vanya, his classic of thwarted desire. In
practically every scene of the play, the characters give voice to their boredom, pain, and
despair, yet Uncle Vanya is also filled with moments of lightness and comedy. Chekhov

examines frustration and loss of hope indirectly, placing nearly all the climactic moments
off stage, many of them in the distant past.
Chekhov is known for pioneering a dramatic technique indirect action which
concentrates on subtleties of characterization and the interactions between individuals,
instead of on flashy revelations or unexpected plot twists. In this play, Everything, as
Vanya says, is an old story. Vanya has been editing Serebryakovs work for twenty-five
years; Sony a has spent six years loving Astrov without her affections being returned; and
Astrov has slaved away as a country doctor for the past eleven years. Emotional scenes
have been played out and the characters are exhausted and cranky. When Maria
Voinitskaya begins to describe a letter shes received, Vanya interrupts her: But for fifty
years now we talk and talk, and read pamphlets. Its high time to stop.
If Uncle Vanya were a more conventional drama, Chekhov would have begun the play
with the arrival of the professor and Yelena. Instead, the characters are already bored with
one another by the time the curtain rises, and the first glimpse the audience catches of
Vanya highlights the sense of malaise: he is yawning after an afternoon nap. In a less
innovative play, Chekhov would have shown Vanyas growing disillusionment with the
professor as it unfolded, rather than presenting it as an accomplished fact. In fact, the
central drama of the play Vanyas realization that hes squandered his own talents in
serving the professor occurs a year before the play begins.
When Vanyas mother observes that hes changed beyond recognition, he says: Up to
last year, I deliberately tried just as you do to blind my eyes with this pedantry of yours
and not to see real life and I thought I was doing well. And now, if you only knew! I
dont sleep nights because of disappointment, and anger that I so stupidly let time slip by,
when now I could have had everything that my old age denies me! Strikingly, Chekhov
is not content to let the drama of such an impassioned speech pass without a moment of
deflation. Sonya chides: Uncle Vanya, thats boring, withholding even the most meager
comfort.
Love is also denied, again and again, in Uncle Vanya. Except for two hurried embraces
between Astrov and Yelena, the only romantic consummation occurs in Vanyas
daydream of proposing to Yelena ten years prior, before shed married Serebryakov. It
was so possible, says Vanya. Now we both would have been awakened by the storm;
she would have been frightened by the thunder and I would have held her in my arms and
whispered: Dont be afraid, I am here. Oh, beautiful thoughts, how wonderful, I am
even smiling. Vanya is so demoralized that he cant even bring himself to fantasize in
the present tense.
More telling is the fact Vanya doesnt sustain the thought of a romance with Yelena but
launches immediately into another mental harangue about the piteous state of his life.
Why am I old? cries Vanya, who then give voice to his real passion: how he has been
deceived by the professor: I adored that Professor, that pitiful, gouty creature, I worked
for him like an ox! For Vanya, the self-deception of his love for Serebryakov is far more
painful than his unrequited love for the professors wife.

Many critics have observed that Chekhovs three great plays Uncle Vanya, The Three
Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard are difficult to describe because so little happens. Yet
a lack of dramatic action is central to Chekhovs design. Articulating his artistic approach
in a critique of a performance of Uncle Vanya, Chekhov faulted the actress who played
Sonya for having thrown herself at Serebryakovs feet in Act III. Thats quite wrong,
said Chekhov, after all, it isnt a drama. The whole meaning, the whole drama of a
persons life are contained within, not in outward manifestations. . . . A shot, after all, is
not a drama, but an incident. In other words, what matters to Chekhov is the individuals
emotions and motivations, not the activities that occupy his or her days. True to his
convictions, Chekhov portrays the gun shot in Uncle Vanya as a ludicrous non-event,
with Vanya firing at point-blank range only to miss the mark. Underscoring the absurdity
of this act of untutored violence, Chekhov has the beautiful and bored Yelena struggle
with Vanya, preventing him from firing again.
Although a conspicuous absence of drama is certainly a form of indirection, Chekhovs
penchant for inserting humor into the most gloomy pronouncements or situations is an
even more radical, anti-dramatic strategy. In Uncle Vanya heartbreakingly sad moments
are undercut by incongruous details or moments of outright silliness. In some ways,
Chekhov works like a magician, using the misdirection of humor to divert the audience
from the sadness that engulfs Vanya, Astrov, Yelena, and Sonya. No matter how great the
misery of the characters, Marina offers the same, simplistic cure linden tea, vodka, or
some noodle soup. The old nurse is unruffled by the accusations family members hurl at
one another, reducing passion to the nonsense sounds made by animals. Its all right, my
child, Marina tells Sonya. The geese will cackle and then stop . . . cackle and
stop. And when Marina believes that Vanya has shot Serebryakov, she says, Ough!
Botheration take them! and goes right on knitting.
Despair itself takes on its own black humor in Uncle Vanya. When Yelena makes the
casual observation, And fine weather today. . . . Not hot. . . . Vanya responds: Its fine
weather to hang yourself. The intense self-pity of Vanyas pronouncement is so
inappropriate that it catches the audience off guard in much the way the physical comedy
of a pratfall does. In Chekhovs plays, even pleasantries are subverted. The humor of
Vanyas relentless gloominess is heightened by the nonchalance of those around him. For
the characters in Uncle Vanya, talk of suicide is so unexceptional that no one bothers to
ask Vanya whats wrong or even to respond to his noisy despair. At times, the play
possesses the deadpan humor of an Addams Family cartoon, where dark statements are
viewed as too banal, too commonplace, to warrant acknowledgment or comment.
Writing in Anton Chekhovs Plays, Charles B. Timmer maintained that elements of
incongruity, which he termed the bizarre, have been overlooked in Chekhovs work,
and he described the dramatists approach this way: The bizarre is not necessarily
absurd: it is, as it were, a statement, or a situation, which has no logical place in the
context or in the sequence of events, the resulting effect being one of sudden
bewilderment; the bizarre brings about a kind of mental airpocket: one gasps for breath,
until the tension is relieved by laughter.

To illustrate, Timmer pointed to the moment in Act IV when Astrov is about to take leave
of Vanya and Sonya. In a scene that should be highly emotional, Chekhov flouts
expectations by having Astrov observe a meaningless detail a map of Africa hanging
on the wall. I suppose down there the heat in Africa must be terrific now! exclaims the
doctor as Sonya and Vanya pay bills. According to Timmer, this element of restraint,
applied in a scene that is charged with emotions, greatly intensifies the impression on the
spectator. The element of the bizarre as a technique to retard the action and restrain the
emotions is used frequently by Chekhov in his plays.
Why would Chekhov write about the frustration and sadness of the human condition,
only to undercut these emotions time and again with a noticeable lack of drama and
eruptions of humor? In many ways, the lack of drama is Chekhovs point. Many critics
have observed that Uncle Vanya is, in some sense, an anti-play, one where the characters
try to strike out and change their lives, only to fail miserably. At the end of the final act,
when Marina invites Astrov to drink some vodka, the audience is reminded of the very
first scene of the play when she makes the exact same offer to him. Chekhov further
underscores that old patterns have been re-established by having Vanya tell Serebryakov
at their parting, You will receive what you used to receive accurately. Everything will be
as always.
Imprisoned in static lives, Vanya, Sonya, and Astrov make a bid for something larger and
grander for love or for an acknowledgment of how theyve suffered but nothing
comes of their tired rebellion. The action of the play is indirect because its internal, the
plotting of a break that fails to materialize. As Eric Bentley wrote in Critical Essays on
Anton Chekhov:In Uncle Vanya, recognition means that what all these years seemed to
be so, though one hesitated to believe it, really is so and will remain so.
In Uncle Vanya there is no way out of misery, no light at the end of the tunnel. You
know, says Astrov, when you walk through a forest on a dark night, if you see a small
light gleaming in the distance, you dont notice your fatigue, the darkness, the thorny
branches lashing your face . . . but for me there is no small light in the distance. Vanya is
also without hope: Here they are: my life and my love: where shall I put them, what
shall I do with them? This feeling of mine is dying in vain, like a ray of sunlight that has
strayed into a pit, and I myself am dying. Such a bleak message can hardly be
contemplated directly. Nor can Chekhov provide an answer beyond the half-hearted
suggestion that the only way to live with such pain is to practice indirection.
When Astrov asks why Vanya isnt seeing Yelena and Serebryakov off, he answers: Let
them go, and I . . . I cant. I feel very low, I must busy myself quickly with something. . . .
Work, work! Ultimately, in a world where theres no hope that the frustration will end,
when there is no light and the characters own sparks have been extinguished in a pit of
engulfing darkness, all there can be is indirection and distraction moments of humor,
oases and panaceas like hard work and Marinas cup of linden tea.
Source: Elizabeth Judd, for Drama for Students, Gale, 1999.