Acclaimed Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky will bring foreign language productions of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters to the West End next year following successful runs in Moscow.
The Russian classics, which will play at the Wyndham’s theatre from 23 April to 3 May, will be performed in their original language with English surtitles, feeding the capital’s increasing appetite for international theatre productions.
They follow previous productions of Three Sisters, by Sovremennik theatre company, and Uncle Vanya by Vakhtangov Theatre, which played in the capital in 2011 and 2012.
The director, whose recent screen credits include the Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close-led TV movie The Lion In Winter and award-winning film House Of Fools, has directed productions across Europe, most recently presenting another Chekhov play The Seagull in Paris and Italy.
For his forthcoming West End season, Konchalovsky will direct the same cast on the same set in order to draw attention to the similarities that emerge in the Russian playwright’s profound works, both of which have enjoyed numerous revivals in the capital within the past year.
Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters will add to what is becoming an increasingly eclectic season for the Wyndham’s theatre, with profanity-packed comedy Barking In Essex and Conor McPherson’s Olivier Award-winning rural tale The Weir playing at the venue prior to the arrival of the Russian productions.