Synopses & Reviews
Anton Chekhov wrote that "narrative is my legal wife and drama a flamboyant, rowdy, impudent, exhausting mistress." At a time when the Russian stage was dominated by farces, formulaic melodramas, and vaudevilles, Chekhov created plays that focused on characters grappling with moral questions. His works baffled his audiences, but his sensitive explorations of love, loss, and time as well as his portrayal of complex characters and ambiguities, revolutionized the theater with an exhilarating new form of drama.
This volume includes new translations, full explanatory notes, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, and a glossary, as well as an introduction by eminent Chekhov scholar Richard Gilman.
Synopsis
Five masterful dramatic works from one of the world's best-loved playwrights. This collection includes The Cherry Orchard, now on Broadwayin a Roundabout Theater Company production at the American Airlines Theater. Directed by Simon Godwin and starring Diane Lane, John Glover and Susannah Flood. At a time when the Russian theatre was dominated by formulaic melodramas and farces, Chekhov created a new sort of drama that laid bare the everyday lives, loves and yearnings of ordinary people. Ivanov depicts a man stifled by inactivity and lost idealism, and The Seagull contrasts a young man's selfish romanticism with the stoicism of a woman cruelly abandoned by her lover. With 'the scenes from country life' of Uncle Vanya, his first fully mature play, Chekhov developed his own unique dramatic world, neither tragedy nor comedy. In Three Sisters the Prozorov sisters endlessly dream of going to Moscow to escape the monotony of provincial life, while his comedy The Cherry Orchard portrays characters futilely clinging to the past as their land is sold from underneath them.
In this edition Peter Carson's moving translations convey Chekhov's subtle blend of comedy, tragedy and psychological insight, while Richard Gilman's introduction examines how Chekhov broke with theatrical conventions and discusses each play in detail.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Synopsis
Five masterful dramatic works from one of the world's best-loved playwrights. This collection includes The Seagull, soon to be a major motion picture starring Saoirse Ronan, Elizabeth Moss, and Annette Bening At a time when the Russian theatre was dominated by formulaic melodramas and farces, Chekhov created a new sort of drama that laid bare the everyday lives, loves and yearnings of ordinary people. Ivanov depicts a man stifled by inactivity and lost idealism, and The Seagull contrasts a young man's selfish romanticism with the stoicism of a woman cruelly abandoned by her lover. With 'the scenes from country life' of Uncle Vanya, his first fully mature play, Chekhov developed his own unique dramatic world, neither tragedy nor comedy. In Three Sisters the Prozorov sisters endlessly dream of going to Moscow to escape the monotony of provincial life, while his comedy The Cherry Orchard portrays characters futilely clinging to the past as their land is sold from underneath them.
In this edition Peter Carson's moving translations convey Chekhov's subtle blend of comedy, tragedy and psychological insight, while Richard Gilman's introduction examines how Chekhov broke with theatrical conventions and discusses each play in detail.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Synopsis
Five masterful dramatic works from one of the world's best-loved playwrights, Anton Chekhov's Plays is translated with notes by Peter Carson, and an introduction by Richard Gilman in Penguin Classics.
At a time when the Russian theatre was dominated by formulaic melodramas and farces, Chekhov created a new sort of drama that laid bare the everyday lives, loves and yearnings of ordinary people. Ivanov depicts a man stifled by inactivity and lost idealism, and The Seagull contrasts a young man's selfish romanticism with the stoicism of a woman cruelly abandoned by her lover. With 'the scenes from country life' of Uncle Vanya, his first fully mature play, Chekhov developed his own unique dramatic world, neither tragedy nor comedy. In Three Sisters the Prozorov sisters endlessly dream of going to Moscow to escape the monotony of provincial life, while his comedy The Cherry Orchard portrays characters futilely clinging to the past as their land is sold from underneath them.
Peter Carson's moving translations convey Chekhov's subtle blend of comedy, tragedy and psychological insight. In his introduction, Richard Gilman examines how Chekhov broke with theatrical conventions and discusses each play in detail.
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was born in Taganrog, a port on the sea of Azov. In 1879 he travelled to Moscow, where he entered the medical faculty of the university, graduating in 1884. During his university years, he supported his family by contributing humorous stories and sketches to magazines. He published his first volume of stories, Motley Tales, in 1886, and a year later his second volume In the Twilight, for which he received the Pushkin Prize. Today his plays, including Uncle Vanya, The Seagull, and The Cherry Orchard are recognised as masterpieces the world over.
If you enjoyed Plays, you might like Chekhov's The Shooting Party, also available in Penguin Classics.
About the Author
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a physician and writer of short stories and plays.
Peter Carson learned Russian during his time in the Navy and at home from his mother. He has worked for many years in publishing in London.
Richard Gilman is professor emeritus of playwriting and dramatic literature at Yale University's School of Drama. He has been drama critic for Newsweek, Commonweal, and The Nation, and is the author of Chekhov's Plays and The Making of Modern Drama.
Table of Contents
Plays Introduction
Further Reading
Chronology
Translator's Note
Glossary
Ivanov
The Seagull
Uncle Vanya
Three Sisters
The Cherry Orchard
Notes