When a teenage Peter Hall first saw Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya performed at London's Old Vic theatre at the end of the Second World War, he was left baffled and shocked.

"Larry Olivier was the doctor," he recalls. "Ralph Richardson was Vanya and Margaret Leighton was Yelena. I was amazed when Uncle Vanya produced a gun and everyone started laughing. I didn't think it was funny. How wrong I was."

Sir Peter is referring to the pivotal scene where Uncle Vanya (performed in his new production by Nicholas le Prevost), angered by his selfish brother-in-law, shoots twice at point blank range and misses both times.

As Vanya curses himself for his inability to commit murder, his terrified would-be victim, Professor Serebryakov (Ronald Pickup) is left staring at the floor on which he assumes his own corpse must be lying.

"It's awful and hilarious, both at once," says Sir Peter. "Chekhov always said his plays were comedies and people never understood what he meant. They're comic in the sense that they show both sides of a character. If somebody has qualities of courage, Chekhov will show his cowardice."

Such is Sir Peter's admiration for Chekhov that he has directed all his major plays except for The Three Sisters which, he says, "I hope to do one day".

Sir Peter has returned to Uncle Vanya for the first time in 56 years, having directed it for the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Society in his student days.

"When I last directed Vanya, I was trying to become a director," he says. "It's not for me to say I've become one now, but I think I'm a little better than I was all those years ago."

Sir Peter's humour and humility is refreshing, considering his towering stature in the dramatic world.

This is the man who founded the Royal Shakespeare Company, ran the National Theatre for 15 turbulent years, won two Tony awards and an Olivier Award for Lifetime Achievement and, most recently, championed the new Rose Theatre in Kingston, where Uncle Vanya began its run.

The 77-year-old refuses to rest on his laurels and has poured his energies into Chekhov's "masterpiece".

"I'm always looking for something to do," he chuckles. "I'd never choose to retire and I certainly hope I'll drop down in the rehearsal room."

Sir Peter says that Chekhov's plays are second only to Shakespeare for their universal power and perception. According to him, Uncle Vanya is one of the best ten plays ever written.

"Out of all the Chekhov plays, Uncle Vanya is the most economical, the tightest, the least sentimental and the least confused of them all," he says. "Like any great work of art that has integrity, its relevance is timeless, although it speaks to different generations in different ways.

"It's pretty amazing to hear Astrov making big speeches about the need to conserve the forest and look after nature.

"Considering Chekhov wrote the play in the 1880s, it's most certainly ahead of its time. And what is wonderful is that he gets the message across by slightly mocking Astrov for having such progressive and green opinions."

As well as warning of the danger of destroying nature, Uncle Vanya also addresses the perils of undermining the family unit.

"Chekhov shows that if we destroy each other at family level and have no consideration for each other's pains and needs and hurts, we're likely to make a very nasty world," Sir Peter says.

But the illustrious director rejects the idea that Chekhov's themes make for a glum and didactic night of theatre.

"Uncle Vanya is extremely funny," he insists. "It gets a huge amount of laughs - but the humour is in the irony.

"The trick as a director is to play it absolutely dead straight. You can't try to make it funny. Chekhov does this himself by ridiculing his characters.

"All Chekhov's characters are immensely selfish and inconsistent and one's reaction is to laugh at them."

  • Starts 7.45pm, Thurs and Sat mats 2.30pm, tickets £16-£26. Call 08700 606650.