Michael Billington recently wrote a feature for The Guardian in which he commented that he’s seen nearly two dozen productions of Uncle Vanya in over 60 years as a theatregoer (48 of them as a critic); and even if I can’t (yet) claim quite those numbers on any of those scores, like Billington I consider it to be my personal favourite of all of Chekhov’s plays – indeed, I’d go even further and say it’s my favourite play, period, from a writer who I consider my favourite of all the classic playwrights.