Nikolai Ivanov is losing his mind. His life used to be full of possibility, but now he's moneyless on an old farm with his mendicant uncle and his inexplicably happy if slightly criminal cousin. He's in debt to his neighbours, nothing much makes sense to him anymore, and worst of all, his wife is dying. But one afternoon at a local birthday party, a glimmer of a new life reveals itself... Written when he was 27, Ivanov is Anton Chekhov's first full-length play. Eamon Flack's adaptation was written specially for Belvoir. Updated to the present, and set in a 'Russia' that may or may not resemble modern Australia, this is the first professional production of Chekhov's marvellous, overlooked comedy.