There’s one thing that can be definitely said about the Soho Rep’s production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya: You’ll probably never again feel so closely involved with its characters.

That’s because they’re literally at arm’s length in this revival adapted by Annie Baker and directed by Sam Gold, who previously collaborated on the playwright’s Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens. With audience members sitting on risers surrounding the action in the tiny theater space, there is an unmatched intimacy to the proceedings.

That’s the chief novelty of this rendition which proves largely faithful to the original. Although the set and costumes are contemporary, the play has not otherwise been updated, and the language, while peppered here and there with contemporary phrases, is not particularly jarring.

The results play somewhat as if we’ve been invited to a private rehearsal. And much of it works very well indeed, especially when it comes to the work’s considerable humor. Chekhov’s iconic characters have never seemed as pathetically silly as they do here, presented at uncomfortably close range.

(Speaking of uncomfortable, you may want to schedule a chiropractic appointment immediately after the show, since the confined seating means that some audience members spend nearly three hours with their legs tightly crossed. That, or risk kicking the person in front of you in the head.)

A first-rate cast has been assembled for this limited run, the first six weeks of which are already sold out. The superb Reed Birney plays Vanya; Peter Friedman is the blustery professor; Maria Dizzia is his sexy young wife, Yelena; Merrit Weaver, currently a regular on TV’s Nurse Jackie, is the desperately lovesick Sonya; and Michael Shannon is the distracted Astrov, the doctor who is the object of her affections. Even such smaller roles as the matriarch Maria and the nanny Marina are played by such old pros as Rebecca Schull and Georgia Engel respectively.

Still, despite the fine efforts of everyone involved—adding to the put-on-a-show vibe, playwright Baker even did the costume designing—there’s nothing particularly revelatory about this Vanya save for its closeness, which inevitably starts to wear thin after a while. The opening scenes, with the actors bustling all around you, are extremely involving. But the late-night encounter between Yelena and Sonya, performed in near total darkness and staged as if we’re overhearing a private conversation, has a near soporific effect.

The performances are mostly faultless. Birney’s Vanya is both amusing and unsettling; Shannon brings his expert brand of neurotic intensity to the troubled doctor; the gorgeous Dizzia is so dazzlingly sexy as Yelena that Astrov’s obsession with her is totally believable; and Weaver is deeply moving as the woeful Sonya. The supporting turns are equally expert, with Matthew Maher particularly hilarious as the impoverished landowner disparagingly referred to as “Waffles.”

This Vanya, although certainly unique, is by no means revelatory, and may well be eclipsed by the acclaimed version starring Cate Blanchett arriving here later this summer. But there’s no denying the intense commitment of its cast and creative team, and will prove a memorable experience for those fortunate few able to snag tickets.

Soho Rep, 46 Walker St. 212-352-3101. www.sohorep.org. Through July 22.