SMH
December 10, 2011

The Sydney Theatre Company's Uncle Vanya has been named the best play of the year by the Washington Post after what the newspaper's critic described as the city's strongest year of theatre in a decade.

The production, starring Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver as well as Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weaving, enjoyed a three-week run at Washington's Eisenhower Theatre in August.

Acclaimed US critic Peter Marks put the play, a portrait of rural Russian life, in the top spot on his annual list of Washington theatre's top 10.

"[It] had the mesmerising power to stun an audience out of complacency over the classics and transform ones view of a masterpiece," he said.

Marks added that it had been an exceptional year for the city's theatre scene.

"Of all the top 10 lists I've assembled over the years, compiling this year's drove me the craziest," he said on the newspaper's website.

"That's how strong 2011 has been for Washington theater - the best, in fact, in my decade of steady theater-going in the region."

AAP