If I was slightly apprehensive about seeing a Chekhov play performed in its native Russian, I needn't have been.

This British premiere of Uncle Vanya by the Maly Drama Theatre of St Petersburg is nothing short of spell-binding.

From the opening scene, set in a garden on a stifling summer's day, you are drawn into the world and social mores of 19th-Century rural Russia.

A visit by Professor Serebryakov to his estate with his beautiful new young wife, Elena, triggers latent emotions and frustrated longings in the residents, in particular Ivan Voinitskiy (Vanya) who is struggling to come to terms with the erosion of his existing life and uncertainty of his future.

Sergei Kurishev plays an alluring, and surprisingly sprightly Vanya who exudes rakish charm and sex appeal by the bucket-load.

His playful, impassioned attempts to woo Elena, make his eventual spiral into despair, attempted murder and thwarted suicide all the more poignant and convincing.

His rival for Elena's affection comes from the hard-drinking, selfdeprecating Astrov, a local doctor and long-time family friend who succeeds where Vanya fails in seducing the flirtatious bride.

There are some touching comic moments when the two men banter and bicker about life and their hopeless part in it, compounded by the production's strong naturalistic bent.

At one point the good Doctor lights up his pipe and proceeds to sit and smoke as he spouts off tongue-in-cheek rhetoric about his futile existence.

David Borovsky's simple set, crowned by the mid-air suspension of three giant bales of hay, is a symbolic representation of the stagnation of the characters' lives and ambitions. Work on the estate grinds to a halt while the complexities and emotional gambit of human nature are played out.

It's a privilege to see Chekhov's unadulterated words acted out by an accomplished and compelling ensemble. A rare treat.