- 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]