For some reason known only to artistic directors, each production of an Anton Chekhov play must be translated anew, as if past translations had been wiped from the collective consciousness the moment the curtain came down. It makes sense, up to a point: nobody needs Constance Garnett’s moth-eaten 1923 translations, which made the characters sound like pompous late-Victorian stiffs. But do we really want them to sound exactly like us? (Spew emoji, amirite?)
Andrew Upton effortlessly translated Uncle Vanya for Sydney Theatre Company, starring his wife, Cate Blanchett, back in 2010. Simon Stephens completely overhauled it for Andrew Scott’s solo performance at the UK’s National Theatre in 2023. And now we have Joanna Murray-Smith’s effort, a playwright known for depicting the bored upper-middle-class milieu in which Chekhov swims.
