In this imaginative reworking of Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," filmmaker Louis Malle both distances the playwright's work and makes it more intimate. Theater director Andre Gregory and his actors, including Wallace Shawn as Vanya and Julianne Moore as Yelena, arrive at the decrepit New Amsterdam Theater in New York's Times Square, making casual conversation amongst themselves. While still wearing their street clothes, the actors then perform the play on a nearly blank makeshift stage.