BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS
SCHOOL OF THEATRE Presents
Written by Anton Chekhov A New Version by Annie Baker Directed by Christine Hamel
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Uncle Vanya focuses on the sudden upending of normality in life, following “the new normal” of a group of people stranded by change: there is an epidemic, a family stuck together in the same house, systemic inequality and rigid class structures, and impending climate crises knocking on the door. Everyone's been forced to stop; everyone's bored; everyone's anxious about the future. Uncle Vanya was a groundbreaking play in its uneventfulness: people eat, talk, work, sleep, on repeat…and even so, lives are rendered hopeful or hopeless every day. These characters struggle with, push against, and love each other, wrestling constantly with questions both mundane and expansive.
The play is a meditation on enduring life’s challenges and constant change, no matter what. It is a play that asks us to assess and learn about ourselves, our society, and our planet – to admit/accept that decay is certain, and that change is a necessary fact of life. The play asks us to consider the difference between enduring life and living fully, and contemplates what would happen if we accepted the passage of time and honestly confronted ideas who we think we should be or ought to have been? And how can we alleviate our own suffering in the process?
Christine Hamel, Director