While Nanny knits and tends to her hens and Marya engrosses herself in her radical pamphlets and the crusty old prof Srebrakayov plods on with his endless and pointless writing, the course of love doesn’t run smooth either for the diligent Sonya or the Prof’s glamorous wife Yelena, or for the vegetarian ecologist Dr Astrov or for Marya’s frustrated son, Vanya. But life goes on at the provincial estate: “Spotty” Telyegin hammers out dance tunes on the untuned piano, the samovar is kept warm and there’s always vodka at hand. No-one actually gets killed – though it’s a near thing. And Yefim, the ragged watchman from who knows where, looks on at their antics and sings a song.

Playwright: Anton Chekov

Directed by: Jonathan Weightman