Uncle Vanya reducing the cast-list from almost two dozen down to nine, changing the climactic suicide of "The Wood Demon" into the famous failed homicide of "Uncle Vanya", and altering the original happy ending into a more problematic, less final resolution—critics such as Donald Rayfield, Richard Gilman, and Eric Bentley have sought to chart the development of Chekhov's dramaturgical method through the 1890s. Rayfield cites recent scholarship suggesting Chekhov revised "The Wood Demon" during his trip to the island of Sakhalin, a prison colony in Eastern Russia, in 1891. A garden in Serebryakov's country estate. Astrov and Marina discuss how old Astrov
Uncle Vanya improved. "Uncle Vanya" became a permanent fixture in the Moscow Art Theatre. Other actors who have appeared in notable stage productions of "Uncle Vanya" include Franchot Tone, Cate Blanchett, Peter Dinklage, Jacki Weaver, Antony Sher, Ian McKellen, William Hurt, George C. Scott, Donald Sinden, Derek Jacobi, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtney, Trevor Eve and Laurence Olivier. The play was also adapted as the new stage-play "Dear Uncle" by the British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, who reset it in the 1930s Lake District—this adaptation premiered from July to September 2011 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. <poem>Are you Uncle Vanya? I am. [Gunshot sounds]