NEW YORK—Actor Andrew Scott is nothing less than brilliant in the one-man show “Vanya,” Simon Stephen’s very affecting adaptation of the 1897 work “Uncle Vanya” by Anton Chekhov. A triumph when it first premiered in London, it has repeated its success this side of the Atlantic.
The Old Life and the New
In the Russian countryside, title character Ivan oversees a large estate with his niece Sonia, daughter of his much-beloved deceased sister, Anna. Living with them is Ivan’s aged mother, with whom he doesn’t always get along.For the last 25 years, life has been an endless, mind-numbing routine as Ivan and others work the land and strive to keep it profitable. But this practice is suddenly upended with the arrival of Sonia’s father, Alexander—owner of the estate, and his much younger second wife, Helena.
