Anton Chekov’s 1897 play Uncle Vanya has found newfound popularity as of late, with several large scale productions adapted for the stage — notably Andrew Scott’s one-man version of the play, and Heidi Schreck’s adaptation earlier this year featuring Steve Carrell in the titular role.
Ensemble Theatre’s put their hand in for an Australian production of Uncle Vanya, adapted by playwright and screenwriter Joanna Murray-Smith and directed by Mark Kilmurry.
Honi Soit had the opportunity to sit down with Murray-Smith and Kilmurry to discuss Uncle Vanya, Chekov, and their relationships with this particular play.
Honi Soit: What is your relationship to ‘Uncle Vanya’ as a play? How has this influenced your directorial decisions in staging this particular production?
Mark Kilmurry: I have always admired Uncle Vanya and it is my favourite Chekhov play. I feel for these characters and their resilient foibles. The way in to think about staging very early on was to ask and commission Joanna Murray-Smith to adapt a new translation bringing her eye for humour and compassion. Chekhov liked his characters and was affectionate but honest. Joanna brings that same sense of rigour.
HS: You are quite a prolific Australian playwright. Why make the decision to adapt a play rather than write a new one? And why this specific play?
Joanna Murray-Smith: I was asked to adapt it for the Ensemble, for whom I previously adapted Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. I think the theatre wants to pay tribute to classics that rarely get produced these days, but contemporised that makes it effortless for the audience to identify with the characters on the stage. With Chekhov, like so many of the great playwrights, his themes and preoccupations are timeless. His characters battle with the same issues that we see in Aeschylus right through to my own plays and those of my contemporaries. I love the opportunity to lose myself inside my favourite playwright and to make sensitive and judicious choices for how to reframe the play for a modern audience.
HS: What does adapting a play involve? What would you say is most difficult about the job?
JMS: I think it involves different things for different adapters. For me it’s about reading a very early and quite literal translation and then reading every other translation I can lay my hands on to see what choices others have made, to try to determine what Chekhov himself was getting at by seeing those different versions’ decision-making. After that, I find a path that feels essential to the drama. This mostly means sticking to the author’s intention but using language that feels every-day to us now — so that audiences easily recognise themselves in what is happening on stage. Sometimes it means rewriting comedy because comedy dates faster than tragedy. And sometimes it means presenting the same excruciating choice for character but fine-tuning the choices so they feel accessible to audiences now. The language I use is the same language I use in my own plays most of the time. So I end up with a play that sounds like one of mine, but is much better!
HS: There have been quite a few productions of ‘Uncle Vanya’ of late. What is different about this production, and how is it relevant to Australian audiences today?
MK: Relevant because Chekhov creates universal relationships we all understand; unrequited love, jealousy, ambition, frustration, love, yearning … it’s all there in the play and it’s all still with us. The beauty of Vanya is it is open to many interpretations.
HS: What have you enjoyed most in adapting ‘Uncle Vanya’ for Australian audiences? Did you face any bumps along the way and if so, how did you overcome them?
JMS: It’s effortless to immerse yourself in Chekhov and enormous fun in trying to elicit the same reaction from the audience in 2024 as Chekhov wanted to elicit in 1899. Of course, I have to deduce what that was but I try very hard to get it right. I don’t want to rewrite his intention, I want to clarify it in contemporary language so it hits the audience hard.
HS: What are you most proud of in this production?
MK: I’m not sure if it’s pride exactly but I am very excited about this translation and this extraordinary cast. We have a wonderful team of creatives working on the production and this is shining through. This version simply tells the story but that doesn’t make it any less exciting for me. Chekhov was very careful to present a dramatic reality in his writing and that’s what we are setting out to achieve.
HS: What do you most want audiences to take away from this production?
MK: To meet Vanya and enjoy the wonderful way Chekhov, via Joanna Murray-Smith, can still amaze.
HS: Why should people come along to watch this particular version of ‘Uncle Vanya’? What does it bring to the table?
JMS: I think seeing any production of Vanya is worth the risk of the ticket price. This is the master playwright’s masterpiece. You can see terrible versions on mainstages and brilliant versions in tiny theatres — a great theatrical experience is not determined by the cost of the production or the size of the space — it’s alchemy. In particular, I would take a punt on this version because the director Mark Kilmurry and I don’t want to undo anything in the original, we just want to make it sing for the audience now. So I’m hoping — and who knows! — but I’m hoping this is as close as you’ll get to feeling and hearing Chekhov’s version in this place and time. Also, it has to be said, is there a more beautiful little theatre in the world than the Ensemble?
Joanna Murray-Smith is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. Her plays have been produced around the world, including on Broadway and the West End, the National Theatre, London and in many languages. Her most recent play, JULIA, is touring Australia in 2024, returning to the Sydney Opera House in September. Ensemble Theatre: adaptation of Chekhov’s UNCLE VANYA, SWITZERLAND, adaptation of Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE, HONOUR, BOMBSHELLS, NINETY. Melbourne Theatre Company: BERLIN, THREE LITTLE WORDS, PENSYLVANIA AVENUE, TRUE MINDS, THE GIFT, SONGS FOR NOBODIES and many more. Playbox Theatre Company: RAPTURE, NIGHTFALL, REDEMPTION, HONOUR, LOVE CHILD, ATLANTA. Queensland Theatre: L’APPARTEMENT, SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, SWITZERLAND. Sydney Theatre Company: JULIA, SWITZERLAND, FURY. West End, London: SONGS FOR NOBODIES, SWITZERLAND, SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES, HONOUR, BOMBSHELLS. Novels: SUNNYSIDE, JUDGEMENT ROCK, TRUCE.
Mark Kilmurry Ensemble Theatre: THE GREAT DIVIDE, MIDNIGHT MURDER AT HAMLINGTON HALL, BENEFACTORS, RHINESTONE REX AND MISS MONICA, BOXING DAY BBQ, A DOLL’S HOUSE, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, OUTDATED, KENNY, CRUNCH TIME, THE ODD COUPLE, THE LAST WIFE, MURDER ON THE WIRELESS, THE BIG TIME, THE NORMAN CONQUESTS, SHIRLEY VALENTINE, TAKING STEPS, NEVILLE’S ISLAND, TWO, ODD MAN OUT, RELATIVELY SPEAKING, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, BETRAYAL, GOOD PEOPLE, MY ZINC BED, EDUCATING RITA, ABSENT FRIENDS, OTHER DESERT CITIES, THE ANZAC PROJECT, RICHARD III, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, FRANKENSTEIN, MANAGING CARMEN, RED, THE SPEAR CARRIER and HAMLET. THE ODD COUPLE; The Comedy Theatre, Melbourne & Theatre Royal, Sydney for Crossroads Live Australia. Film: Co-writer and co-director of BEING GAVIN. Literature Illustration: CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS.
Uncle Vanya runs from July 26-August 1 at Ensemble Theatre. Tickets can be found here.
