Anton Chekhov (Routledge Modern and Contemporary Dramatists)

201 Pages·2010·1.32 MB·English

by  Rose Whyman

Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov offers a critical introduction to the plays and
productions of this major canonical playwright. A century after
his death, the genius of Chekhov’s writing, the innovatorynature of
his approach to theatrical representation, and the profundity of his
philosophy are beginning to be re-examined.
Emphasising his continued relevance, humour and mastery of the
tragicomic, the author provides an insightful assessment of Che-
khov’s life and work. The text analyses many Chekhov favourites
including The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard in
addition to Chekhov’s vaudevilles and one-act plays, making refer-
ence to Chekhov’s stories and using both traditional criticism and
more recent theoretical and cultural standpoints including cultural
materialism, philosophy and gender studies.
Anton Chekhov provides the reader with a comprehensive and
comparative study of the relationship between Chekhov’s life,
career, ideological thought and view of art and analyses, with
reference to historical and recent productions, his continued appeal.
Rose Whyman is Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Arts at the Uni-
versityofBirmingham.Herbook,TheStanislavskySystemofActing,
Legacy and Influence in Modern Performance, was published by
CUP in 2008. She reads Russian fluently.
ROUTLEDGE MODERN AND
CONTEMPORARY DRAMATISTS
Series editors: Maggie B. Gale and Mary Luckhurst
Routledge Modern and Contemporary Dramatists is a new series of
innovative and exciting critical introductions to the work of inter-
nationally pioneering playwrights. The series includes recent and
well-established playwrights and offers primary materials on con-
temporary dramatists who are under-represented in secondary cri-
ticism. Each volume provides detailed cultural, historical and
political material, examines selected plays in production, and theo-
rizes the playwright’s artistic agenda and working methods, as well
as their contribution to the development of playwriting and theatre.
Volumes currently available in the series are:
J. B. Priestley by Maggie B. Gale
Federico Garcia Lorca by Maria M. Delgado
Susan Gaspell and Sophie Treadwell by Barbara Ozieblo
and Jerry Dickey
August Strindberg by Eszter Szalczer
Anton Chekhov by Rose Whyman
Future volumes will include:
Mark Ravenhill by John F. Deeney
Jean Genet by David Bradby and Claire Finburgh
Caryl Churchill by Mary Luckhurst
Maria Irene Fornes by Scott T. Cummings
Brian Friel by Anna McMullan
Sarah Kane by Chris Megson
Anton Chekhov
Routledge Modern and
Contemporary Dramatists
Rose Whyman
Firstpublished2011
byRoutledge
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SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
©2011RoseWhyman
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Whyman,Rose.
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p.cm.–(Routledgemodernandcontemporarydramatists)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Chekhov,AntonPavlovich,1860–1904—Criticismand
interpretation.I.Title.
PG3458.Z8W492010
891.72’3–dc22
2010009720
ISBN 0-203-84355-X Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978-0-415-41143-1 (hbk)
ISBN13:978-0-415-41144-8(pbk)
ISBN13:978-0-203-84355-0(ebk)
For Brian Door with all my love and thanks

Contents
List of illustrations viii
Acknowledgements ix
PART I
Life and context 1
1 Life, context and ideas 5
2 Chekhov’s art and worldview 26
PART II
Plays and productions 43
3 Vaudevilles and one-act plays 45
4 Suicide and survival: Ivanov and The Seagull 66
5 Space and confinement: Uncle Vanya 98
6 Work and women: Three Sisters 124
7 Modernization and change: The Cherry Orchard 147
Afterword 172
Notes 173
Bibliography 176
Index 187
Illustrations
COVER PHOTO: Three Sisters by Cheek by Jowl, Chekhov Inter-
national Theatre Festival (Moscow, Russia). Nelli Uvarova as Irina.
Photograph by Igor Zakharkin.
1.1 Portrait of Chekhov (1902) x
2.1 Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre: read-through
of The Seagull 35
3.1 33 Swoons by Meyerhold (reproduced by permission
of the A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatrical
Museum) 62
4.1 Ralph Fiennes and Harriet Walter in Ivanov at the
Almeida Theatre © Ivan Kyncl 76
4.2. Mackenzie Crook as Konstantin in The Seagull at the
Royal Court Theatre © Johan Persson 96
5.1 Uncle Vanya at the Moscow Art Theatre (from a
private collection) 119
5.2 Ivan Kuryshev in Uncle Vanya, Lev Dodin’s Maly
Theatre. Photograph by Viktor Vasilyev 123
6.1. Three Sisters at the Taganka theatre. Photograph by
A. Sternin 141
6.2 Three Sisters by Cheek by Jowl, Chekhov International
Theatre Festival, Moscow, Russia. Nelli Uvarova as
Irina. Photograph by Igor Zakharkin 143
7.1. The Cherry Orchard at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-
upon-Avon, Malcolm Davies Collection. Copyright
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 170
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the University of Birmingham and the Arts
and Humanities Research Council for their support of this project.
Many thanks also to the series editors, Maggie B. Gale, and Mary
Luckhurst, for all their help. The opportunity to discuss Chekhov
with directors of his theatre work has been invaluable; my thanks
go to Philip Holyman, Rachel Kavanagh, Ian Rickson, Declan
Donnellan, Katie Mitchell, Yuri Lyubimov. In addition, I have had
much support and help from colleagues and friends, including Mike
Berry, Mike Pushkin, Nina Ischuk-Fadeeva, Alevtina Kuzicheva,
Olga Kuptsova, Andrei Kirillov, Anna Seymour, George Taylor,
Brian Crow, Russell Jackson, Kate Newey, Bella Merlin, Bill Mar-
shall, Victoria Door, Diane Willetts, Liz Tunnicliffe, Martin Leach,
Roy Thompson, Valerie Finegan, Janyce Hawliczek and colleagues
in the Professional Association of Alexander Teachers. I would also
like to thank my family, Rose Lilian, John, Lynne, Laurie and
Georgia Whyman. A special acknowledgement goes to students in
the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of
Birmingham, whose enthusiasm and ideas in studying and working
on Chekhov have been invaluable.