Uncle Vanya Review from 1996

The drama doesn't really have a plot as such, it is mainly dialogue between the family of why they are bored and how life could have/be different. We discover their dreams and their hopes as well as their hopelessness. While there are some great lines and some pieces of comedy every now and then, I found it all a bit depressing. I began to feel like the characters!

It is the acting of a great cast that saves the play from being totally like the story, 'boring'. The great Derek Jacobi (Uncle Vanya) is the star of course, he can do no wrong what ever he acts in. What a wonderful actor he is, a dream to watch and admire. Then there is the superb Richard Johnson ( Serebryakov) , who played the hypochondriac brother- in -law of Vanya. We also have the delightful Peggy Mount who played Marina, the old nurse. she played the part to perfection and provided some nice comic touches. Without these and the rest of a great line up of Trevor Eve, Frances Barber, Imogen Stubbs, Constance Cummings, John Normington and others, the play would have died.

(Darren Dalglish)