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 Serebryakov is an immoral waste of vitality. Astrov is forced to depart to attend a patient, but not before delivering a speech on the preservation of the forests, a subject he is very passionate about. Act I closes with Vanya declaring his love for an exasperated Yelena. The dining room, several days later. It is late at night. Before going to bed, Serebryakov complains of being in pain and of old age. Astrov arrives, having been sent for by Sonya, but the professor refuses to see him. After Serebryakov is asleep, Yelena and Vanya talk. She speaks of the discord