Uncle Vanya

Characters and cast

  • Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov (Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Серебряко́в): a retired university professor, who has lived for years in the city on the earnings of his late first wife's rural estate, managed for him by Vanya and Sonya.
  • Helena Andreyevna Serebryakova (Yelena) (Еле́на Андре́евна Серебряко́ва): Serebryakov's young and beautiful second wife. She is 27 years old.
  • Sofia Alexandrovna Serebryakova (Sonya) (Со́фья Алекса́ндровна Серебряко́ва): Serebryakov's daughter from his first marriage. She is of a marriageable age, but is considered plain.
  • Maria Vasilyevna Voynitskaya (Мари́я Васи́льевна Войни́цкая): the widow of a privy councillor and mother of Vanya (and of Vanya's late sister, Serebryakov's first wife).
  • Ivan Petrovich Voynitsky ("Uncle Vanya") (Ива́н Петро́вич Войни́цкий): Maria's son and Sonya's uncle, also brother-in-law of Serebryakov, he is the title character of the play. He is 47 years old.
  • Mikhail Lvovich Astrov (Михаи́л Льво́вич А́стров): a middle-aged country doctor. His preoccupation with the destruction of forests is one of the earlier discussions of ecological problems in world literature.
  • Ilya Ilych Telegin (Илья́ Ильи́ч Теле́гин; nicknamed "Waffles" for his pockmarked skin): an impoverished landowner, who now lives on the estate as a dependent of the family.
  • Marina Timofeevna (Мари́на Тимофе́евна): an old nurse.
  • A Workman

Notable casts

Character Broadway revival (1946) [2] Broadway revival (1973) [3] Broadway revival (2000) [4] West End revival (2002) [5] Off-Broadway revival (2009) [6] Sydney Theatre Company (2010) Broadway revival (2024)
Uncle Vanya Ralph Richardson Nicol Williamson Derek Jacobi Simon Russell Beale Reed Birney Richard Roxburgh Steve Carell
Yelena Margaret Leighton Julie Christie Amy Ryan Helen McCrory Maggie Gyllenhaal Cate Blanchett Anika Noni Rose
Sonya Joyce Redman Elizabeth Wilson Laura Linney Emily Watson Mamie Gummer Hayley McElhinney Alison Pill
Astrov Laurence Olivier George C. Scott Roger Rees Mark Strong Peter Sarsgaard Hugo Weaving William Jackson Harper
Professor Serebryakov Nicholas Hannen Barnard Hughes Frank Langella David Bradley Denis O'Hare John Bell Alfred Molina
Maria Bryony Chapman Cathleen Nesbitt Rita Gam Selina Cadell Marin Ireland Sandy Gore Jayne Houdyshell
Marina Ena Burrill Lillian Gish Rosemary Murphy Cherry Morris Cyrilla Baer Jackie Weaver Mia Katigbak
Telegin / Waffles George Relph Conrad Bain David Patrick Kelly Anthony O'Donnell George Morfogen Anthony Phelan Jonathan Hadary
  • In 2023 Andrew Scott starred in a one-man West End adaptation entitled Vanya.[a]
  • Uncle Vanya has been produced on Broadway ten times from 1924 to 2024.[7][8]

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