Review: Uncle Vanya - But There's ASMR Soap-Cutting Videos Playing in the Bottom Right Corner at Main Theatre AC Arts campus

Review by Lisa Lanzi

Uncle Vanya – But There’s ASMR Soap-Cutting Videos Playing in the Bottom Right Corner premiered on Saturday July 12^th to an eager and attentive audience.  As the first work presented for State Theatre’s SPARK initiative, designed and launched in 2025 to support local independent creative teams, it is a worthy, entertaining ride and runs until 18 July as part of STCSA’s 2026 season.

There appears to be an element of zeitgeist manifesting around Chekhov’s work.  Simon Stone brought a Korean-flavoured The Cherry Orchard to the Adelaide Festival, while Pony Cam adapted The Orchard for Malthouse’s 2025 season. This month, Melbourne Theatre Company is presenting a production of Uncle Vanya adapted by Joanna Murray-Smith (first produced by Ensemble Theatre in 2024).  Writer/Director (and cast member) Mary Angley has excelled in bringing their slightly unhinged version to life relying on the team’s ‘go to phrase’ in the rehearsal room “we’re not dumbing it down, we’re lifting it up."

Entering the Main Theatre, we are greeted by a seemingly traditional, expansive set and expected costuming designed (by Bianka Kennedy) on several levels with patches of soil patterned throughout the foreground, suggesting a formal garden layout.  Across the entire width of the cyclorama a projected forest vista subtly moves as if a light breeze is blowing – this cleverly and relevantly alters at various stages.  Vanya (Yoz Mensch) is asleep on the couch, swathed in a coverlet as three cast members stroll on stage to speak the Acknowledgement of Country in turn, then seamlessly shift into the performance which immediately reads as a traditionally rendered Chekhov work.

As we are drawn into the Russian pastorale, every performer proves they are more than capable of presenting a captivating Chekhovian-style drama.  The addition of Dan Thorpe’s live piano segueing with their soundscape is a delight and continues to punctuate the action at various moments.

It would be an absolute shame to give away too much about the incorporations in this production.  It should be viewed with a fresh, uninformed and open mind. Layer upon layer of chaotic audacity adapted, invented, and inserted by Angley and team references Chekov’s layered approach to both writing and the techniques of acting: "psycho-physical" action (as an antidote to Stanislavski’s ‘method’ approach), archetypes on show, embodying the invisible, energetic mood of a space, and Chekov’s dramatic principle regarding narrative economy and foreshadowing – ‘the plant’ and ‘the payoff’ (eg: the gun must be used by the third act, after being mounted on the wall in the first).

Cast and creatives have approached this work with energy and grand imagination.  “What if” monologues were arbitrarily shortened?  “What if” a scene of forced affection was cut and merely dissected conversationally by the actors in terms of the current gender culture and female rights to autonomy atmosphere?  How do contemporary audiences connect with classic texts in this era of instant gratification and endless distraction?  Instead of paying attention to characters engaged in long sections of argumentative dialogue, could the work, and audience, be better served by a heightened physical knockabout routine?  The work of choreographer Felicity Boyd is beautifully integrated into Uncle Vanya and adeptly handled by the cast.  

Visual stories (within stories) too have a place in this version of Chekhov.  At a certain point in Act One, Vanya wanders on stage with a phone in filming mode; NOW the playfulness begins.  Aided by excellent technical prowess from Creative Technologist, Fraz the Wizard, the play turns a significant corner, energy ramps up, and the audience attention is well and truly grabbed.

STCSA Artistic Director Petra Kalive has commented, “SPARK is all about igniting the future of theatre in this state and I think Mary (Angley) and her team are theatremakers of the future. They are radical, brilliant and absolutely electrifying. If you want your mind blown by the next generation reshaping Australian theatre, don’t miss this."

This work is certainly a grand experiment and I am eager to see where this creative team might head next.  Uncle Vanya – But There’s ASMR Soap-Cutting Videos Playing in the Bottom Right Corner deserves an audience and without doubt will delight every age group; however, I urge younger folk to make the effort as some of the contemporary-themed shenanigans will make the most sense to you – this is NOT staid, overplayed trad theatre.

Image Credit: Matt Byrne

CONTENT: Simulated gunshots; stylised fight scenes; references to suicide; alcohol; mild, opt-in audience participation; ASMR sounds (amplified whispering, crunching, slicing); densely layered audio and visual material; existential themes; haze; a bright flash of light.