Sonia Friedman Productions has announced Conor McPherson’s new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya directed by Ian Rickson which will run at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 14 January to 2 May 2020, with opening night on 23 January.
Olivier Award-winner Conor McPherson’s new adaptation of the of Uncle Vanya is a portrayal of life at the turn of the 20th century, full of tumultuous frustration, dark humour and hidden passions. Critically acclaimed director Ian Rickson returns to Chekhov for the first time since his landmark production of The Seagull in 2007, reuniting with BAFTA and Olivier Award winner Toby Jones (The Birthday Party) alongside Richard Armitage, who returns to the UK stage six years after his Olivier Award-nominated performance in The Crucible.
Uncle Vanya is the eleventh collaboration between Rickson and Sonia Friedman Productions, with previous productions including Rosmersholm, Jerusalem, The River, Betrayal and The Children’s Hour.
Uncle Vanya is designed by Rae Smith, with lighting by Bruno Poet, music by Stephen Warbeck, sound by Ian Dickinson and casting by Amy Ball CDG. Full casting will be announced soon.
Bios
British actor Toby Jones will play the title character of Uncle Vanya. He is known for his performances both in the theatre and on screen. This autumn Jones will return to the Royal Court Theatre in Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp; four plays written by Caryl Churchill and directed by James Macdonald. He will also voice the role of The Reverend Chasuble for the animated adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost and can currently be seen in the Netflix prequel series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. In 2018 he appeared in the revival of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party.
Theatre credits include: Circle Mirror Transformation (Royal Court Theatre), The Painter (Arcola), Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (National Theatre), Parlour Song (Almeida Theatre), Dumb Waiter and Other Pinter Pieces (Oxford Playhouse), Measure for Measure (with Complicite) (National Theatre), The Play What I Wrote (winner: Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor) (West End/Broadway).
The role of Astrov will be played by Richard Armitage. Armitage is a multi-award-winning stage and screen actor best known for his role of Thorin in Peter Jackson’s trilogy of The Hobbit and more recently as Daniel Miller in Epix Berlin Station, as well as Claude Becker in Oceans 8. In theatre, he is well known for his critically acclaimed performance as John Proctor in The Crucible at the Old Vic Theatre. He was nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance. His leading role in the Off-Broadway play, Love Love Love directed by Michael Mayer also garnered critical acclaim.
