Uncle Vanya comes to Ensemble

8 August 2024

By Hannah Wilcox

The frustrations and desperate dreams of 1897 Russia are reimagined through the Ensemble Theatre’s rendition of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. 

Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith explores Vanya’s (Yalin Ozucelik) lonely, mundane existence maintaining his family’s crumbling country estate with his niece Sonya. A sudden visit by her father, Professor Serebryakov, and his alluring new wife Yelena brings about long-repressed emotions with devastating consequences.

For two hours and 20 minutes, the tragicomedy takes audience members on a journey through the human experience of wanting more than one can ever have.

“We are tightly wound magnets for anxiety and longing and we find comedy in tragedy to stay alive,” Murray-Smith said in the Writer’s Note.

“As a consummate ‘technician’ of storytelling, Chekhov knows how to say so much more about the human condition than in what is actually spoken.”

She added: “His brilliance is in the nuance of his revelatory writing, in the power beneath what is said.”

“With Uncle Vanya, we leave the play moved by the broken fragments of eternal truths that people stumble over, whether in 1897 or 2024.”

The Sun was particularly impressed with the production’s set and costumes – both extraordinarily intricate and on par with the era.

Ozucelik had the audience enthralled with his witty delivery of lines and boisterous character.

Uncle Vanya runs from July 26 to August 31, with tickets starting at $88 for adults, $81 for pensioners and $43 for those aged 30 or under.