Uncle Vanya review – Trevor Nunn triumphs with Chekhov’s tragicomedy

Orange Tree theatre, London
This chamber staging, movingly played by an immaculate ensemble, fits perfectly with the drama’s hothouse of disappointment

At 84, Sir Trevor Nunn is making his first attempt at Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov’s 1899 tragicomedy of turgid work and hopeless love on a failing rural Russian estate. Familiar with the largest stages – having run both the National Theatre and the RSC – Nunn is working in one of the smallest, Richmond’s Orange Tree, although it would be an injustice if this version ends there.

The minimalist space brings one immediate gain. Frequent references to the characters living suffocatingly together often seem fanciful in vast auditoria. Chekhov’s reputation can command, but here theatregoers nervously tuck their feet in as the eight actors drink, dance, duel and kiss within touching distance. So rawly authentic are the lines and looks that it feels as if we have somehow tuned into a late 19th-century Russian TV documentary.

At the Orange tree theatre, London, until 13 April. Available on demand, 16-19 April.

This article was corrected on 9 March to remove suggestion that Trevor Nunn was the only person to have run both the RSC and the National Theatre.