Uncle Vanya

Content Warning: This play includes depictions of alcohol abuse, sexual harassment, and attempted murder, as well as discussions of suicide and depression.

An old nurse named Marina knits quietly in the garden of a country house. Michael Astroff, the local doctor, walks by, and she offers him tea. However, he refuses it and her subsequent offer of vodka. He asks her how long they’ve known each other, and Marina replies that it must be at least 11 years since they first met. Astroff asks if he has changed in that time, and Marina tells him that he has: He is not as young and handsome as he once was, and he drinks too much now. Astroff says that he has grown prematurely old as a result of a decade of overwork. He works all the time and cannot even sleep at night for fear that he’s about to be called on to treat another patient. He feels his life is exhausting and senseless. He finds the people around him silly, and although his mental faculties remain intact, he thinks that he, too, has grown silly. He laments that his feelings have become numb and he is unable to love anyone, save perhaps Marina herself, since she reminds him of his childhood nurse.

Marina consoles him and tries to offer him food, though he refuses. He tells her about the pressures of his work, describing how he treated a typhoid epidemic among peasants crammed into unsanitary huts. He worked all day without eating, and when he returned home, a young switchman from the railway came to him with a crushed foot. The young man died under chloroform on his operating table, and Astroff felt tortured by anguish, as though he’d killed the man himself. Despairing, Astroff says that despite all their suffering, their descendants will not remember them, and no one will have a kind word to say of them. Marina comforts him by saying that God will remember them even if people don’t.

Ivan Voitski, who for the past two decades has been running the estate that belongs to his niece Sonia, joins Astroff and Marina outside. Voitski has just woken from a nap and is visibly disheveled. He complains that the household’s schedule has been disrupted ever since Sonia’s widowed father Alexander Serebrakoff and his new young wife Helena came to the estate. Voitski used to work all day alongside Sonia, but now he leaves all the work to her and just overeats, sleeps, and drinks. Marina agrees that the house is in a state of confusion and disorder because they have to conform to Serebrakoff’s irregular hours. Astroff asks if Serebrakoff and Helena will be staying long, and Voitski explains that they have decided to permanently live on the estate. Serebrakoff was forced to retire from his job as a professor, and they can no longer afford to live in the city.

At this moment, Serebrakoff returns from a walk along with Sonia, Helena, and Telegin. Telegin is an impoverished former landowner who lives with the family; Voitski has nicknamed him “Waffles” because of his pockmarked skin. Serebrakoff asks that the tea be brought to the library for him. He, Helena, and Sonia head inside the house, while Telegin takes a seat beside Marina, loudly expressing his contentment with the beautiful day. Voitski mocks Serebrakoff for dressing warmly and carrying an umbrella on such a hot, sunny day, and he repeatedly remarks on Helena’s beauty.

Astroff asks if Voitski has any news, but Voitski says that everything is the same. His mother is still obsessed with the emancipation of women, and Serebrakoff writes all the time even though his work will never earn him acclaim. Voitski dedicated decades of his life to supporting Serebrakoff’s academic work, but he now believes that Serebrakoff is a self-aggrandizing fraud. He resents that Serebrakoff complains about his hard lot in life despite having been very fortunate. When Astroff accuses Voitski of being jealous, Voitski readily agrees and says he is especially envious of Serebrakoff’s success with women. Voitski’s sister—Sonia’s mother—was the pinnacle of beauty and nobility, and even in his old age, Serebrakoff managed to marry the beautiful young Helena. Voitski thinks it is illogical that Helena must sacrifice her youth by staying faithful to a husband who is so many years her elder. Tearfully, Telegin reprimands Voitski for speaking so lightly of fidelity; Telegin himself has dutifully spent his life and fortune supporting a wife who left him the day after their wedding.

Helena, Sonia, and Voitski’s mother Mme. Voitskaya join the party outside, and Marina leaves to take care of some chores. Several arguments and disagreements unfold between the characters. Astroff berates Helena for calling him to urgently treat her husband’s illness when Serebrakoff seems fine; she protests that he was in a far worse state yesterday. Telegin is deeply upset when Helena addresses him by the wrong name and is only soothed by Sonia’s heartfelt affirmations that he is a dear friend of the family. Voitski is coldly dismissive of Mme. Voitskaya’s interest in a new pamphlet she was just sent, much to her chagrin. She berates Voitski for having changed greatly in the past year; he used to be cheerful and bright, with settled convictions. Voitski attributes his change to the fact he no longer deludes himself as she does, and he is instead tormented by thoughts of his wasted life. Their argument intensifies until Sonia begs them to stop, upon which Voitski apologizes.

Telegin plays a guitar in the ensuing awkwardness, and Marina returns, searching for a missing chicken. A workman appears and says that Astroff is needed at the factory, derailing the doctor’s plans to stay at the estate overnight. Before he leaves, Astroff invites Sonia and Helena to visit the woods he manages near his estate. Sonia praises his dedication to forestry, and in response to Voitski’s dismissive rejoinder, Astroff speaks at length on the importance of environmental conservation. He passionately decries mankind’s wanton destruction of forest habitats, and he describes his satisfaction in helping to preserve the environment for future generations. After this, he downs a shot of vodka and leaves.

Helena and Voitski walk along the terrace together, and she chides him for riling up his mother and insulting Serebrakoff. She accuses him of being petty and behaving badly, and she says that he has no reason to hate her husband, because Serebrakoff is no worse than anyone else. When Voitski suggests that her life must be tedious, she agrees. She thinks that mankind is possessed by a devil that pushes them to destroy everything, including one another. She says that men cannot look calmly at a woman unless they own her, and soon, positive qualities like fidelity and self-sacrifice will be destroyed along with the forests. Helena says that Astroff has a tired, sensitive face that she finds interesting. It’s clear that Sonia is in love with him, and Helena understands why. This was Astroff’s third visit to the house since she’s been staying there, and he clearly finds her disagreeable because she’s yet to have a conversation with him.

She tells Voitski that the two of them get on so well because they are both lonely and unfortunate. She then tells Voitski to stop looking at her in that particular way, to which he replies that he is in love with her. He calls her his life, joy, and youth. He asks that she only allow him to look at her and listen to her voice since he knows she’ll never love him back. She tries to hush him and return to the house, but he follows with renewed professions of his love. Helena exclaims that their interaction pains her.

The curtain falls on Telegin playing a polka on his guitar and Mme. Voitskaya annotating her pamphlet.