Review Roundup: Andrew Scott Stars in Sam Yates' VANYA. What Did the Critics Think?

Andrew Scott brings to life multiple characters in Simon Stephen’s radical new version of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, which has now opened in the West End.

Comedic and tragic, Chekhov’s examination of our shared humanity - our hopes, dreams, regrets - is thrust into sharp focus in VANYA. 

This production explores the kaleidoscope of human emotions, harnessing the power of the intimate bond between actor and audience to delve deeper into the human psyche.

So what did the critics think?

Photo Credit: Marc Brenner

Cindy Marcolina, BroadwayWorld: Scott walks on stage, immediately playful and blasé. What ensues is a mesmerising masterclass in acting: he’s sensational. He quickly and precisely establishes the body language, accent, vocal modulation, and relating props of his different characters, spellbinding the audience. He strips back human emotion to lay its raw wounds bare, revealing family politics and internal tensions in their most basic nature.

Sarah Crompton, WhatsOnStage: What’s so magical about it is its delicacy. You imagine in advance that in order to embody so many different characters from the unhappy title figure, to his aged mother, to a crusading doctor, to a glamorous siren, and a plain lovelorn niece, Scott will resort to a lot of busyness, showing his range by leaping around the stage, putting on funny voices.

Sam Marlowe, The Stage: Admittedly, anyone unfamiliar with Chekhov’s text might be bemused. But everyone will recognise the cadences of longing, disappointment, grief and fragile hope. There’s wry humour, too – in Scott’s depiction of housekeeper Maureen, sucking on a cigarette and watching the family antics with weary indulgence; or wheedling Liam, the self-loathing hanger-on so insignificant to the others that they forget he’s there. Only the moment when Ivan softly sings the Jacques Brel standard If You Go Away feels like an unnecessary indulgence. This is theatre that gets under the skin: remarkable.

Ben Lawrence, The Telegraph: Scott is one of our greatest stage actors, and I am happy to say is on mesmerising form here, creating a whole emotional world for each role, and performances that are discrete enough to make you feel you are watching a quiet battle between the various wretched individuals wasting away on a country estate.

Dominic Maxwell, The Times: It’s not a joy to watch, though. Scott has umpteen strengths, but being the man of a thousand voices is not one of them. He is, purposely, trading in fine distinctions. Sonia sometimes grasps a red tea towel, Maureen the housekeeper puffs on herbal cigarettes, but mostly we have to keep our eyes peeled and our ears unwaxed. Dishing out diffidence, defiance and despair, everyone comes up subtly different hues of Andrew Scott. You know what’s going on, but you might find yourself hard at work to stay clued in, like a party guest trying to remember everyone’s names.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: It is precisely because Scott is so exceptional that we want more than the actorly somersaults he performs. By its nature this playful dramatic experiment cannot allow him to penetrate any one part deeply or devastatingly enough for the tragedy to be truly felt by the end. As a concept, the production bears all the thoughtful postmodern experimentalism of the Wooster Group but because its tone leans towards the mischievous and picaresque, it ends up looking like the Reduced Chekhov Company, certainly in the earlier scenes.

Average Rating: 76.7%

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