MTC brings Chekhov’s wit and heartbreak to the Playhouse in Uncle Vanya

For Anne-Louise Sarks, the enduring power of Uncle Vanya lies in its emotional honesty.

More than a century after Anton Chekhov wrote his masterpiece about longing, regret, family tension and lives left unlived, the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) artistic director and CEO says the play still feels urgent.

“The emotional honesty of Uncle Vanya feels just as urgent and resonant today as it did when Chekhov first wrote it,” Sarks told Southbank News.

Chekhov’s characters feel so alive because he understood the messiness and contradictions of being human. He captures beautifully what it is to be in love, to feel heartbreak and disappointment, and his characters move so adeptly between those emotions.

MTC’s major new staging of Uncle Vanya, adapted by Joanna Murray-Smith and directed by Sarks, will take over Arts Centre Melbourne’s Playhouse from July 21 to August 22.

Positioned as the centrepiece production of MTC’s 2026 season, the show brings together an all-star ensemble of stage and screen performers, including Daniel Henshall, Catherine Văn-Davies, Fayssal Bazzi, Carolyn Bock, Don Bridges, Evelyn Krape, Philippa Northeast and Shaun Micallef.

For Henshall, best known for screen roles including Snowtown, The Babadook and How to Make Gravy, the production marks his first stage appearance since 2013. Micallef also returns to the theatre after his last stage appearance in 2016.

“To have Daniel Henshall and Shaun Micallef returning to the stage at Melbourne Theatre Company is very special,” Sarks said.

“They are joined by Don Bridges, who was recently honoured with an Equity Lifetime Achievement Award, alongside Philippa Northeast making her mainstage theatre debut, and an exceptional ensemble including Catherine Văn-Davies, Fayssal Bazzi, Evelyn Krape and Carolyn Bock.”

Anne-Louise Sarks during rehearsal.

“There is an indescribable energy in the rehearsal room: these are artists at the height of their powers, bringing immense creativity, rigour and generosity to the work, day after day.”

Murray-Smith’s adaptation follows her acclaimed work on The Talented Mr Ripley, Julia and Switzerland, bringing what MTC describes as sharp psychological insight to Chekhov’s 1897 classic.

Sarks said the adaptation honoured Chekhov while making the characters feel immediate.

“Their questions about love, family and purpose don’t feel historical – they feel immediate,” she said.

“It could be Melbourne in 2026. What’s most special about her version is the comedy; she’s unlocked the humour, life and playfulness within Chekhov’s classic.”

That balance between comedy and sorrow sits at the heart of the work. Sarks said Uncle Vanya did not offer simple answers, but allowed complexity to remain unresolved.

“At Melbourne Theatre Company, we’re drawn to work that is undeniably entertaining. And Uncle Vanya is exactly that,” she said.

“What first drew me to Uncle Vanya was the idea of someone looking at the choices they’ve made and the life they’ve built and asking themselves, ‘how did I get here?’”

“There’s something quietly destabilising about that moment of reckoning – vulnerable, disorienting, and deeply human. It’s both intimate and universal.”

Sarks said the play’s environmental themes also felt strikingly contemporary, particularly through the character of Astrov, who observes the neglect and degradation of the natural world.

“Those questions of responsibility feel, if anything, even more urgent in 2026 than they did when the play was first written over a century ago,” she said.

The production is being realised on an ambitious scale, with a lush set and costume design by Dann Barber, whose previous credits include Bloom, Yentl and RENT.

Sarks said the physical world of the show was central to its emotional force.

“Dann Barber has created an elegant and richly detailed design,” she said.

“It invites you into the world in a very intimate way, from the way characters are seated, to the dressing of the table, to the natural detail of the landscape. And the costumes are stunning.”

For audiences who may know Chekhov as a classic playwright but have never seen Uncle Vanya performed, Sarks hopes the production will reveal how alive, humorous and moving the play remains.

“I hope they discover just how funny and incredibly moving this show is – it’s even a little ridiculous,” she said.

“This will be a night where audiences will run the gamut of human emotions.”

Most of all, she hopes audiences reconnect with the power of live theatre.

“Nothing compares to sitting in a room together – laughing, grieving, and reflecting in real time,” Sarks said.

“That shared experience is so powerful, and it’s what we’re striving to create with our staging of Uncle Vanya.” •