ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on The Uncle Vanya Project, an evolving series of site-specific, durational versions of Anton Chekhov's classic play performed in particular sites in regional Australia. The Uncle Vanya Project is a study of the correlations between performance, landscape, and time. In every performance, the three elements of place, the play, and the people interrelate and illuminate one another in moving and provocative ways. The Uncle Vanya Project began in 2014 as a conversation with artist Lyndal Jones, whose artwork Watford House, The Avoca Project, in the small regional town of Avoca Victoria is dedicated to art that addresses the urgent question of climate change. Written by Chekhov in 1896, Uncle Vanya is a seminal play concerned with themes of environmental deterioration and climate change. As well as a writer, Chekhov was an environmentalist, medical doctor, and social activist, passionate about forests and aware of their ecological importance.
