National Theatre Live Screening: Vanya
Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 3pm
adapted by Simon Stephens
directed by Sam Yates
Running time: 1 hour and 45 minutes. There is no interval.
Anna
Died nine years ago
Ivan
Anna’s brother. Sonia’s uncle
Sonia
Anna and Alexander’s daughter. Ivan’s niece
Alexander
Widower to Anna. Helena’s husband and Sonia’s father
Elizabeth
Sonia’s grandmother
Helena
Alexander’s second wife
Michael
A doctor
Maureen
Housekeeper
Liam
Alexander’s estate manager
An extract from an article by Simon Stephens in the Duke of York's Vanya program.
Chekhov was a man not of the museum but of the theatre. His plays don’t need parasols and samovars and reverence (although the parasols might be coming back into fashion in a way he would have enjoyed.) They need a sense of wit and a sense of sex and a sense of a world in which the money is running out and everything seems unstable but in which people are nevertheless capable of doing remarkable and ridiculous things like falling in love and recovering from hangovers.
His plays need to live in this century and this decade. You can tell it by the twinkle in his eye.
Whether or not Chekhov would have enjoyed our approach to his brilliant play can never be known and to speculate about it is a little silly. Knowing the stories and plays as I do, Chekhov was fond of a touch of silliness but nevertheless it is a futile exercise.
What I do know is that Chekhov loved theatres. He wrote for them, not for libraries. He loved back-stages. He loved audiences and auditoria. He loved the mad collaborations that go into bringing a play to a stage. He loved the gambling spirit of the producer. He loved other writers and encouraged and patronized and scolded them alike. He loved actors. I think he would have loved Andrew Scott because he was palpably a man of taste and intelligence.
Performer & Co-creator
Andrew Scott
Adaptor & Co-creator
Simon Stephens
Director & Co-creator
Sam Yates
Designer & Co-creator
Rosanna Vize
Lighting Designer
James Farncombe
Sound Designer
Dan Balfour
Video Designer
Jack Phelan
Movement Director
Michela Meazza
Music
Kelly Moran
Costume Designer
Natalie Pryce
Director for Screen: Matthew Amos
Technical Producer: Christopher C. Bretnall
Lighting Director: David Bishop
Sound Supervisor: Conrad Fletcher, Chris Kalcov
Script Supervisor: Stephanie Rose, Laura Vine
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