Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – In VANYA, Andrew Scott singlehandedly takes on a Chekhov classic with brilliant panache, mining its humanity

• By drediman
• May 5, 2025
• No Comments

This past weekend, I finally caught up with Andrew Scott’s much talked about performance in Vanya at Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre. First seen across the pond in London, the show arrives stateside with considerable hype and acclaim (the remainder of the current New York run looks to be solidly sold out). In short, the piece is a one man rendition of Chekhov’s ubiquitous Uncle Vanya — adapted by award-winning playwright Simon Stephens (of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time fame) — in which Scott plays all the characters in the warhorse play.

As such, the handsome stage and screen star performs the same kind of magic trick that Sarah Snook is currently pulling off on Broadway in The Picture of Dorian Gray. But whereas Snook is backed by an elaborate, high-tech production that’s a true hybrid between theater and cinema, Scott’s achievement is pure, unadulterated theater. What he accomplishes is a jaw-dropping feat of imaginative conjuring, finding the perfect balance between having deep empathy for and satirizing Chekhov’s well-worn characters. Despite being a one man show, Vanya is a complete, satisfying version of the play that finds fascinating pockets of insights in a classic we all thought we knew. It’s also surprisingly kinetic — Scott instinctually bounds the largely bare stage in a virtuosic physical performance of astonishing variety and brilliant panache.

Simon Stephens’ adaptation is contemporary without distorting Chekhov’s original intentions and the play’s structure, finding new angles into the tragedy and comedy of the various situations the characters find themselves in. As such, much of the play comes across with an emotional immediacy and freshness that sometimes eludes performances of the Russian playwright’s works. Vanya has been directed with simplicity by Sam Yates, who seems to have devised the staging in collaboration with Scott to maximize both the play’s humanity and sense of play. Audiences will no doubt be talking about this utterly masterful performance for years to come.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

VANYA
Off-Broadway, Play
Lucille Lortel Theatre
2 hours (without an intermission)
Through May 11