Vanya (Play)

The Olivier Award-winning revival, in which the actor plays all of the parts, is to begin previews March 11 at the Lucille Lortel Theater.Andrew Scott, the Irish actor who has parlayed his “Fleabag” hot-priest-ness into a thriving stage and screen career, will perform a one-man version of “Uncle Vanya” Off Broadway next spring.This will not be Scott’s first go at the Chekhov classic: He previously performed all the play’s parts in London’s West End last year; the critic Houman Barekat, writing in The New York Times, was underwhelmed, but critics for British outlets were far more positive, and the production won this year’s Olivier Award for best revival.The New York production is scheduled to begin previews on March 11 and to open on March 18 at the Lucille Lortel Theater in the West Village. It is a commercial production, led by Wessex Grove, Gavin Kalin Productions and Kater Gordon.The original play was first staged in 1899, and is oft-revived; the most recent Broadway production, starring Steve Carell, closed just three months ago, and there was a small-scale Off Broadway production, staged in a loft, in 2023.This one-performer version was adapted by the playwright Simon Stephens, who also wrote the Tony-winning stage adaptation of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.” Stephens and Scott previously collaborated on “Sea Wall,” a short one-man play that Stephens wrote and Scott performed onstage (in Britain) and on film.The one-man “Vanya,” directed by Sam Yates, is scheduled to run just eight weeks.Scott, 47, who had his big breakthrough with “Fleabag” (where he played the “hot priest”), is also known for the British TV series “Sherlock,” the 2023 film “All of Us Strangers” and the recent streamer “Ripley.” He has appeared on Broadway once, in the 2006 play “The Vertical Hour.” More