Uncle Vanya (Schreck)
by Heidi Schreck, Anton Chekhov

Name: Uncle Vanya (Schreck)
Brand: Heidi Schreck
SKU: 9780573711633
Rating: 3.86 (1 reviews)

Broadway

Uncle Vanya (Schreck) Book Cover — Uncle Vanya (Schreck) Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

120 mins Present Day Ensemble Cast Interior Set Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

Synopsis

Sonia and her uncle, Vanya, have devoted their lives to managing the family farm in isolation, but when her celebrated, ailing father and his charismatic wife move in, their lives are upended.

In the heat of the summer, the wrong people fall in love, desires and resentments erupt, and the family is forced to reckon with the ghosts of their unlived lives.

This strikingly immediate translation pairs Chekhov’s enduring masterpiece with one of America’s most celebrated contemporary playwrights.

Press Reviews

"Sleek, lucid… Heidi Schreck’s smooth, faithful yet colloquial new version… offers a hundred things to enjoy… a lovely evening in the theater."
— The New York Times

"Timeless… Schreck, author of What the Constitution Means to Me, spent time as a teacher and journalist in St Petersburg, and has a clear grasp on the spirit of Chekhov’s material. This translation sounds as natural to the present day as about anything else on Broadway… Schreck’s translation… add[s] a distinctly contemporary current of irony to everyone’s growing crises of purpose."
— The Guardian

"Breathtaking… shimmers with beauty, mirth, and, at least for the audience, hope. Despite the terrible state of things, art is still able to lift us up, take us out of our misery, and move us… with Heidi Schreck’s gorgeous, colloquial translation… the play is as entertaining as it is heartbreaking and profound."
— Variety

"An especially accessible adaptation… There’s a painfully obvious prescience to the Anton Chekhov-penned play, even 125 years after it was first staged. In fact, the tragicomedy grappling with wasted lives and the inevitable decline of the natural world is pushed to further relatability thanks to a lean and contemporary translation from Heidi Schreck."
— Entertainment Weekly

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
Elena His wife	female	—	His wife
Sonia His daughter by his first marriage	female	—	His daughter by his first marriage
Maria A local politician’s widow and mother of the professor’s first wife	female	—	A local politician’s widow and mother of the professor’s first wife
Vanya Her son	female	—	Her son
Astrov A doctor	—	—	A doctor
Waffles A family friend	—	—	A family friend
Marina Sonya’s childhood nanny	—	—	Sonya’s childhood nanny
Neighbor A local kid	—	—	A local kid
Alexander A retired professor	—	—	A retired professor