What distinguishes these visiting Moscow productions (played in Russian with English surtitles) of two great Chekhov classics directed by Andrei Konchalovsky? I'd say the use of cinema, spectres and sex. Given Konchalovsky's movie background, playing interpolated film between acts is unsurprising: it works oddly in Uncle Vanya, where we see shots of urban traffic, but more effectively in Three Sisters, where the actors talk interestingly about their vision of Chekhov. ("He is theatre of the absurd," says one, "with characters constantly bypassing each other.")
Spirits also feature in both productions, with the Professor's first wife in Vanya and the Prozorovs' mother in Three Sisters turning up like romanticised revenants. And there is a good deal of sexual explicitness, especially in Vanya, when the title character slides his hand up Elena's nightdress while the doctor, Astrov, rudely thrusts himself between her thighs. Because much of the action rests on the beautiful Elena's unattainability, neither gesture seems a good idea.
But, for all their modish trappings, I'd describe both productions as good, solid examples of psychological realism based on the teachings of Stanislavsky, still a ruling god of the Mossovet State Academic theatre from where these productions come. In the course of a long day, however, two actors stood out. Julia Vysotskaya is a luminous Sonya in Uncle Vanya, brimming with unreciprocated love for the vodka-soaked Astrov. In Three Sisters, Vysotskaya turns into the restless Masha whose passion for the visiting battery commander, Vershinin, ends with her clinging to his legs in a despairing rugby tackle.
I was also impressed by Alexander Bobrovsky, who lends great distinction to two Chekhov cuckolds: in Uncle Vanya he is unforgettable as the impoverished Waffles, whom he plays as a Laughtonesque man mountain. And in Three Sisters he lends Masha's pedantic, schoolmaster husband, Kulygin, a touching dignity. There is pleasure to be had from both productions, but I rarely felt the force of unexpected revelation.
• Until 3 May. Box office: 0844 482 5120. Venue: Wyndham's theatre, London.
• Andrei Konchalovsky: 'Forget freedom – wars and plagues make the best art'
