David Ashton (actor) Cherry Orchard" and then Kulyegin in "The Three Sisters" at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. At the Royal Court Theatre, London, he played John in Christopher Hampton’s The Philanthropist with Alec McCowan, and also appeared in the West End musical Happy as a Sandbag at the Ambassadors Theatre and portrayed Mister Mulleady in Behan’s "The Hostage" at Greenwich Theatre. Most recently, he appeared as Sandy Sheridan in Uncle Varick, John Byrne’s version of Chekhov’s "Uncle Vanya", at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. He has also taught, directed and lectured at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Rose Bruford College,
Ann Dunnigan but Dunnigan contested that van Itallie's translation was nearly identical to hers, and sued him. In the settlement that followed, van Itallie accepted responsibility for the legal costs, and agreed to cease promotion of his version. Years later, van Itallie applied himself to new renderings of "The Cherry Orchard", "The Seagull", "Three Sisters", and "Uncle Vanya". In the introduction to Applause Books' 1995 compilation of these, van Itallie asserts that he "worked on "The Sea Gull", and later the other three plays, with a specially-made literal English translation and a selection of French translations." Dunnigan's final stage performance was in