A Visit from Vanya

Second only to Shakespeare, Chekhov is the most performed playwright in the world; but he was more a man of letters than a man of the theatre. How should his work be played? Oleg Efremov , the director of the Moscow Arts Theatre where Chekhov's plays were originally performed under the direction of the legendary Stanislavski, was in Oxford this summer with three of his actors to make masterclasses for the British American Drama Academy. Apart from the students, actors and directors from the RSC at Stratford came to see them, to listen, to learn and to watch them perform. Observing the text of Uncle Vanya emerge from the page into performance in its original language, theatre and film director, David Jones , identifies how much we can still learn from the theatre at which, 80 years ago, Chekhov's own wife created some of his most famous roles.