Vanya
Duke of York’s Theatre

IT SOUNDS preposterous: the great Chekhov masterpiece Uncle Vanya reduced to a one-man show. But yes, this is the latest sensation to hit the West End in a version co-created by adaptor Simon Stephens, director Sam Yates and actor and erstwhile “hot priest” from Fleabag Andrew Scott.

As if not daring enough that Scott plays all the parts, this highly potent version also abandons its Russian setting, renames its characters and tentatively modernises, turning the demon professor into a self-regarding film-maker and the samovar into a teapot.  

Irish accents proliferate and the vast distances of Russia are minimalised to fit the British Isles by suggesting that those made potentially homeless in the play decamp to the Isle of Man.    

So why this approach, other than as a massive showcase for a brilliant actor? Does it serve to distil the genius of Chekhov? Or is there another agenda?

The playwright wrote his work for a full cast performance so that we can not only listen to what the characters say but observe their body language and witness their interaction. Chekhov’s genius lies in his ability to detail the gruelling misery of people’s lives but then to reveal it as a universal truth and capture its bitter comedy.

With the best will in the world, no single actor can encompass this range of response, nor allow us to dwell in the hearts of characters who sit silently alone, displaying the relentless prison that is the self.  

That said, Andrew Scott performs an astonishing feat here. He brings us the thrust of the original story as well as a heightened sense of comedy which never lets up. And while the pathos is lessened because of the constant shift from one character to another, the subtlety of personal definition is superbly portrayed in a manner that you feel would have pleased the original writer.

Strolling easily around the stage in casual clothes, Scott animates each character not through props or swaggering voice, but through gentle immersion in each person’s soul.

It’s a formidable display, switching from man to woman and from egotist to humble also-ran with barely a quiver. And, while Scott’s fame alone will draw the punters in, this performance will make them love him all the more.

The agenda of the production, though, is paramount. While the actor swings from role to role, so we as audience are constantly brought up sharp as we see that this is not reality but illusion: theatre as art and artifice.

Thus, the wizarding trio of Stephens, Yates and Scott take the stage, not so much to match the greatest productions of Chekhov already set in stone but, rather, to unearth the creativity and potential of living performance just as the playwright, himself, must have done so long ago. For this alone, the project is valid.

Stephens – true to form – brings us a blazing script and Yates revels in artistic freedom. But Scott is the star. And Chekhov one of the team: a definite contemporary take.    

Until October 21. Sold out!