There have been precedents for this in other stage creations by Luís Mestre, such as Do Precipício Tempestuoso de Ricardo III, where he remixed Shakespeare. Now, he will recreate one of the most iconic plays in the world, using as a starting-point Anton Chekhov’s founding Uncle Vanya and certain major variations on it, namely the ones by David Mamet (filmed by Louis Malle as Vanya on 42nd Street) and Howard Barker, who wrote his (Uncle) Vanya in 1991. Luís Mestre’s contribution to this open dialogue with Chekhov’s legacy is Vânia, an intimate play for five characters that is rooted in the social and political reality of our present, thus highlighting the original’s stubborn timelessness. Its focal point? The playwright and director explains: “That long moment in which time appears to freeze, in which we find the characters as they lose themselves, assailed by emotions and words and devoid of hope, in a state of latent alienation from a fate that has not fulfilled their ambitions.”