A befuddled “Uncle Vanya” can often be found dozing amid a deep pile of pillows in the drawing room.
Having long labored to preserve his family’s crumbling country estate, he has finally woken to the reality that his youth has flown, all his efforts have been in vain, and mortality is nipping at his heels.
In an understated new adaption of the 1897 Chekhov masterpiece by Conor McPherson (“The Weir,” “Girl from the North Country”), suffering suffuses the quiet with a poignant sense of stillness. Hugh Bonneville, of “Downton Abbey” and “Paddington” fame, imbues the hapless Vanya with a ruffled sense of gentility in Simon Godwin’s delicate staging, running through March 23 at Berkeley Rep in a co-production with Shakespeare Theatre Company (which hosts the production March 24-April 30).
Alas, Godwin’s gentle take on the tragicomedy misses the explosive nature of this moment, the desperation these characters feel to change their fate right now or live and die steeped in stifling ennui. The lack of existential dread mutes the narrative, which unfolds on a cleverly deconstructed tableau marked by those pillows, a table lit by candles and a row of shoes and costumes.
These are the trappings of identity, holding these lost souls in place. This framing revels in the artifice of the endeavor, much like the iconic 1994 film “Vanya on 42nd Street.”
No matter how rumpled, however, Bonneville has an aristocratic air about him. He’s a dapper Vanya who chafes at letting the Professor Serebryakov (Tom Nelis) rule the roost but he never quite digs into the ecstasy of rage.
If this production misses some of the heartbreak of the original piece, the chaos unleashed when Serebryakov returns home with his young wife Yelena (Ito Aghayere) in tow creates a lovely sense of intimacy amid the melancholy.
Vodka-soaked confessions upset the status quo as passions erupt and pistols are drawn. As ever in the Chekhovian universe, nothing happens yet everything is at stake at all times.
McPherson has a deft touch with the material, lightly capturing the fierce idealism of Doctor Astrov’s (a riveting John Benjamin Hickey) battle to save the forests and the woozy intoxication of Sonya’s (Melanie Field) crush. The drunken revelations between Vanya and the doctor are among the most insightful moments in the show.
Futility stalks them all but they never succumb to it. They are all dreamers, lost in their yearning for something beautiful amid an ugly world.
While the production doesn’t cut as close to the bone as it should in its brushes with sex and violence, it’s still shot through with devastating little details such as the specter of timid servants like Nana (Nancy Robinette) toiling in the shadows, pacifying the ladies with tea and plying the men with shots of vodka.
McPherson has a gift for the way people spin stories to bind themselves to their destinies. Sharon Lockwood breathes such despair into the way she says “Sonya” you see the grandmother anew in that moment.
If the famous pistol scene feels a bit anticlimactic, the end of the play distills a shattering feeling of longing for something long lost. That’s the magnificent solace of Chekhov, the knowledge that no one is alone in their fears for the future or pining for the past.
As the playwright put it: “Any idiot can face a crisis — it’s day to day living that wears you out.”
Contact Karen D’Souza at karenpdsouza@yahoo.com.
‘UNCLE VANYA’
Adapted from the Anton Chekhov play by Conor McPherson, presented by Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Through: March 23
Where: Berkeley Rep’s Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley
Running time: 2½ hours, one intermission
Tickets: $25-$134; www.berkeleyrep.org