“Don’t be miserable, you wonderful woman; be a mermaid. There’s the ocean; throw yourself in. Fall in love with some poor mortal and drag him down with you. Astonish us!”

On an estate deep in provincial Russia time seems frozen: managing its affairs on behalf of her father, Sonia and her uncle Vanya have consigned themselves to a life of loveless drudgery, enlivened solely by the odd pamphlet from Moscow and the occasional visits of their neighbour, the doctor.

But when Sonia’s father and his stunning second wife Yeliena burst onto the scene, everything is thrown into confusion. As beauty stirs repressed desires and youth teases maturity, years of perilously supressed regrets, longings and unrequited loves threaten to explode into farcical life…

Terry Johnson’s new version of Anton Chekhov’s classic tragicomedy is charged with the Russian master’s wit and his acute observation of the comic absurdity of human life.