The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them, said Russian short-story writer and playwright Anton Chekov, aware his stream-of-consciousness style and rebuttal of traditional structures posed problems for readers.

But for the dramatist, says Daniel Veronese, founder of theatre group El Periférico De Objetos (loosely translated as Edges Of Objects) and whose style has been dubbed the essence of Argentinean drama, reworking and staging his plays is a more straightforward proposition.

Aside from the very obvious, one can do his work and not expect an embittered phone call from an irate bearded Russian – plays such as The Seagull and Uncle Vanya were about moods, expending emotion; they also do not need elaborate stage sets or huge casts.

“Uncle Vanya was one of the works that required little time in production,” says Veronese, whose version of Uncle Vanya opens tonight at Brighton’s Corn Exchange.

“We had a few technical difficulties in premiering, but in terms of the work itself, when we discovered material which we maybe didn’t know which direction to take, we took our own route, and did not worry too much about being too close to the original or its specific era in Russia. That made it an easier, happy experience.”

In terms of the text, Veronese says Uncle Vanya is complicated, but “very generous”, especially when one wants to put things in or take a wander around.

“There is space,” says the man who has transposed the piece to his native Argentina. “It has a lot of passion, as is always in the plays of Chekov, and a lot of things happen. There are other Chekov works, dealing with the elapsing of time and changing revolutions, but in this one, like The Seagull, the theme is about fundamental human survival, where people release their emotions, which is why it is one of my favourite Chekov plays.”

Veronese portrays the protagonists as his predecessors who came to Argentina 100 years ago, dis- illusioned by Europe, hoping for new lives.

He designed the minimal set – a table, some chairs, a window – and handpicked the cast of seven (four men and three women) to play impossibly normal people, the equivalent of Checkov’s “lost generation”, demoralised by broken dreams and wasted opportunities in the New World.

He has a reputation for capturing the raw emotion and unpacking universal Chekovian truths without being nostalgic and that is why, he says, people across the world have connected with the production.

“It’s very funny in moments and very sad in other moments, like a mirror to life. My method was to present a scene in which people are able to see a vision of life, a life close to our lives, a life that’s similar to that of the audience.

“I am interested in the contemporary, with Chekov included, so people can connect. I am not interested in staying close to Chekov’s time, the grand decorations, or the prolonged Checkovian moments, which are his style and a theatrical form; these are things that are finished, they are now for the museum.

“I try to do universals so the people around the world, in Japan, in the US, where we go, can feel themselves reflected in what they see. We do this work in very different countries – Brazil, Germany, for example – and the people feel the same emotions. To me it feels like a work with doors to lives everywhere.”

*Veronese’s Chekov prequel, Women Dreamt Horses (Mujeres Soñaron Caballos), also has its UK premier at Brighton Festival and can be seen as a double bill with Uncle Vanya on Sunday

*Starts 8pm, £15. Double bill with Women Dreamt Horses, 7pm, £22.50, May 23