SOURCE: "A Director's Introduction," in Uncle Vanya: Scenes from Country Life in Four Acts, by Anton Chekhov, translated by Tyrone Guthrie and Leonid Kipnis, The University of Minnesota Press, 1969, pp. 3-8.

In the essay below, Guthrie underscores the ironic tone of Uncle Vanya.

The impression made by Chekhov's plays depends a great deal upon the period of time from which they are viewed.

In the first decade of this century, when they were new, it was their lack of event which seemed so very noticeable. A group of characters compelled the attention, because they were so lifelike, so interesting, and so various; but, compared to the characters in other plays of the epoch, they did nothing. A milieu was created, but there was scarcely any activity—no big scenes, no strong situations, as in the still popular plays of Scribe and Sardou; no great rhetorical set pieces, as...