Our premiere production was Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' in 2019, performed at the Tuckwell Open Air Theatre Festival in Cheltenham! 

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Uncle Vanya began life as a comedy titled “The Wood Demon” and environmental destruction is a dominant theme in the work; the beautiful environment of the Tuckwell Amphitheatre provided a perfect reflection of this. Claustrophobic and personal, the brooding forest looms over actor and audience alike. Every detail of the play relevant, nothing superfluous- just as Chekhov would have insisted.

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The psychological tension of Uncle Vanya revolves around characters whose lives are wasted.  Each character grapples with a fatalistic, unrealised yearning. Whether it’s a desire to save the countryside from industry, a futile attempt to reclaim lost health, an obsession with a woman who provides escape, or even an attempt to inject music into the stillness, every character’s attempt to break out of monotony is foiled by bitterness and self-sacrifice. In a way, that’s a reflection of many people’s worst fear; that life itself might one day prevent us from truly living.