Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Chekhov's great play about an elderly professor whose plans to sell off his rural estate threaten the livelihoods of those who have worked tirelessly to keep the estate going. Translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine. Vanya and his niece, Sonya, work relentlessly to keep their meagre estate going. Sonya finds relief in her undisclosed love for Astrov, the local doctor. But all hope of relief is banished when their lives are invaded by Sonya's selfishly destructive father and his beautiful new wife. Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya was first staged at the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1899. This translation by Stephen Mulrine, published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, was first staged by English Touring Theatre at Rose Theatre, Kingston, in 2008, in a production directed by Peter Hall.