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The list of acting greats who have taken on the role of Uncle Vanya is a long one: Laurence Olivier, Ian McKellen, Peter O’Toole, Simon Russell Beale, Derek Jacobi. Earlier this year, Steve Carrell brought his distinct pathos—and humor—to Anton Chekhov’s classic meditation on money, class, work, the environment, and masculinity in a production at Lincoln Center Theater. Yet none of these actors have, it’s safe to say, attempted to turn it into a one-man play.
Last fall, in London, Andrew Scott did just that, playing all the parts in Uncle Vanya—and somehow, by all accounts, carrying it off. That stripped-down, modernized production offered no distraction from Scott as he nimbly pivoted between the eight characters: the professor returning to his country home with his young wife, the brother-in-law (Vanya) who has been bitterly managing the estate that has funded the professor’s exploits, and everyone in between. The performance was described as virtuosic, the foundation for a captivating show that included a one-man sex scene. Scott (also one of the cocreators) was, unsurprisingly, nominated for best actor at the Olivier Awards, and the play won best revival.
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Though widely known (now and probably forever) as the so-called hot priest from Fleabag, Scott has moved definitively beyond the role that made millions of viewers question their inclinations toward the clergy. He starred last year in Andrew Haigh’s gently devastating All of Us Strangers and earlier this year in Ripley, the moody Netflix adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley that earned 13 Emmy nominations, in part due to his sinister reinvention of the chameleonic central character.
And now Scott—along with cocreator and adaptor Simon Stephens, designer Rosanna Vize, and director Sam Yates—is bringing Vanya to New York for its American premiere. (Vanya will arrive just over a century after the vodka-soaked tragicomedy had its Broadway premiere in 1923.) “Performing this play in front of an audience was one of the most magical, exhausting, and thrilling experiences of my life,” says Scott. “I’m so excited to come back to New York and share that experience with the audiences at the Lortel.”
“The connection between the wondrous Andrew Scott and audiences in London was unlike anything I’ve witnessed before in the theater,” says Yates. “I am honored and excited to share this production and Andrew’s remarkable performance with audiences in New York.”
Previews will begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre off-Broadway on March 11, with an opening night set for March 18. Tickets are on sale today.
