So you can at a pinch play a supreme masterpiece like Uncle Vanya for the gag lines if you want to but it will be a strange mutation. Given the extraordinary tug-of-war that ensues between Philippa Northeast’s Sonya and Catherine Văn-Davies’ Yelena the upshot is distinctly weird. There’s an energy and a frontal attack on the quietness of the play but it does loosen up the audience. The most celebrated twentieth-century production of Uncle Vanya uses Constance Garnett, with no updating. We should be grateful for it but it’s a pity that it is so much greater than this energised but also compromised Uncle Vanya.