Life Sucks.

by Aaron Posner

In this brash reworking of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, a group of old friends, ex-lovers, estranged in-laws, and lifelong enemies gather to grapple with life’s thorniest questions—and each other. What could possibly go wrong? Incurably lustful and lonely, hapless and hopeful, these seven souls collide and stumble their way towards a new understanding that LIFE SUCKS! Or does it?

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama

80 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Whatever! This is not some placeholder for life. This is it! This is YOUR ONE, OWN, ONLY little life. And you--and only you--can make it better."
Life Sucks ~~ Aaron Posner



I find Aaron Posner's adaptations of Chekhov to be fascinating. Where Posner best succeeds is in distilling Chekhov’s characters down to their bare essence, and then dramatically heightens those traits. This sharpens the sense of who the characters are, why they’re often at odds with each other, and what’s at stake. It also gives Posner's adaptations a farcical edge, underscoring the humor that’s always present in Chekhov but often lost on stage.

In my opinion Posner is even more successful in Life Sucks, than he was in Stupid Fucking Bird. Both plays are fascinating, but Life Sucks has a humanity to it that Stupid Fucking Bird lacks. I think is in large part due to Uncle Vanya being a better play than The Seagull.

What results is Posner's riffs on subjects like work-life balance; the fate of the environment; why we love to hate gyms; academic pretension; depression; growing old; how families are both impossible and indispensable; and our never-ending effort to balance morality with desire.



By breaking the fourth wall, the characters are allowed to drive home that these stories are our stories. The audience is asked how many of them wish they were sleeping with someone else. Or if they regularly awaken to overwhelming feelings of despair, disappointment and loss. Or do they think, like Vanya, that life sucks.

But does it?

That depends on who you ask. Vanya remains the chief advocate for the view that it does indeed suck, every day. Both Chekhov and Posner are honest about how incredibly hard life can be. But both Chekhov and Posner also recognize lifes redeeming features.

[val · Rating 4 out of 5]

i get it sonia…. i really do. 😭

i tend to dislike plays about reality because they’re so pretentious and fake deep, and i thought that’s how this one was going to be but it was actually an enjoyable read once it got going. everyone hating robert’s pretentiousness is so funny because my ap lit teacher in high school (also coincidentally named robert) was literally like that with his big words and his wife subbed for our class once and we asked her if he was like that at home. 💀
i get sonia’s obsession with that Older Man. fellow dilf lover ✊😞
vanya’s obsession with ella (?) turning into a revelation is soooo… deserved dare i say. leave that woman alone! no means no!
anyway, good play.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like his previous adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull ('Stupid Fucking Bird'), this is both amazingly faithful to the original (in this case, 'Uncle Vanya') and yet hysterically funny and contemporary and really has something to say about modern society. I really don't know how Posner does it. An added bonus to this script is that there is a wealth of monologue material for aspiring actors to use, that haven't been done to death.

[Shannon Osullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ol’Aaron never disappoints. Funny and thoughtful as always. Some of the best character development of any of his plays I’ve read, particularly exemplified in the “What, am I supposed to feel sorry for you” scene. Not my absolute overall favorite of his Chekhov adaptations but that could just be my indifference about the Chekhov play it’s “sort of adapted from.” But regardless, still very entertaining and worth a read.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaron Posner's adaptation and modernization of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya." Posner really captures the rhythms, humor, and essential action of Chekhov's play, while adapting it (seriously - this is not merely an interpretation) for a modern American audience.

I really appreciate the Yiddishisms.

Theatre Kapow performed Posner's adaptation of Chekhov's "Seagull" (called "Stupid Fucking Bird") in 2018. We'll do "Life Sucks." in September - and you heard it hear first.

[Heath A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a reread in preparation for an audition. I really enjoy this play as a standalone but also in conversation with Chekov. The characters are fascinating, the writing is really sharp, and ultimately the messages are well worth hearing but maybe especially so as I sit very comfortably in middle age.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three-and-a-half stars. Relatable hand-wringing, but not nearly as impactful and full of heart as Stupid F***ing Bird.

[Syd]

kinda basic ngl but there were some great moments. excited to see my college do this.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Similar meta-theater to Stupid Fucking Bird, but somehow even better. I now even appreciate Uncle Vanya (which I pretty much despised after seeing an online performance a few months ago).

[Avery Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
I much prefer the original source material, but this still has some of the oomph

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all its in-yer-face bravado, this adaptation shows some spirit and makes, dare I say, some improvements on the original source. Ella has agency and an attitude, Sonia has heart as she works through the ache, and even bit players like Babs and Pickles reveal the chutzpah of their better years behind them. Dr. Aster is less idealistic, given the age he has been transplanted into, probably his best survival tactic while the Professor, still the main cause for so many on-stage lives sucking, has a legitimate reason for becoming such a pest. And about Vanya, dear sweet delusional old man, he just wants the suck to stop; he just goes about trying to stop it with increasingly disastrous decisions. At several points during the play, the audience gets a chance to contribute to the dialogue, with generous pauses from the actors to listen for some answers, and who know what was heard way back when live shows were a thing!