The Seagull

by Anton Chekhov, Anya Reiss (Adapted by)

Overview

When it opened in St Petersburg in 1896, The Seagull survived only five performances after a disastrous first night. Two years later it was revived by Nemirovich-Danchenko at the newly-founded Moscow Art Theatre, with Stanislavsky as Trigorin, and was an immediate success, changing for ever the nature and possibilities of drama. Chekhov's description of the play was characteristically self-mocking: 'A comedy - three f., six m., four acts, rural scenery (a view over a lake); much talk of literature, little action, five bushels of love'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350423213
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/13/2023
Series:	Modern Plays
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.35(d)

About the Author

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), Russian physician, dramatist and author, is considered to be one of the greatest writers of short stories and modern drama. Born in Taganrog, a port town near the Black Sea, he attended medical school at Moscow University. He began writing to supplement his income, writing short humorous sketches of contemporary Russian life. A successful literary careered followed, before his premature death of TB at the age of 44. He is best-remembered for his four dramatic masterpieces: The Seagull (1896), Uncle Vanya (1899), Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904).

Anya wrote her first play when she was 14 and then became a member of the Royal Court Theatre's Young Writers' Programme. Last year she was invited to take part in the Royal Court's Supergroup of young writers. Her debut play, Spur of the Moment (written when she was 17) opened to fantastic acclaim at the Royal Court Theatre in July 2010, winning her the award for Most Promising Playwright at both the Evening Standard and Critics Circle awards. It also won the TMA Theatre Award for Best New Play in 2010. Her sophomore play The Acid Test was staged at the Royal Court in 2011 to a sell-out run and great reviews. Anya will be contributing a piece to the Bush Theatre's 66 Books: A Contemporary Response to the King James Bible, which opens in October.

Table of Contents

	Anton Chekhov: 1860-1904	v
	Plot	xi
	Commentary	xx
	The Seagull in context	xx
	The seagull and the enchanted lake	xxv
	The play-within-the-play	xxviii
	Time and memory; youth and age; sleep and dream	xxxiii
	Art and life; love and destruction	xxxvi
	Comedy or tragedy?	xxxix
	Problems of translation	xli
	Critical perspectives	xlvi
	The Seagull in production	liv
	Further Reading	lxxvii
	Translator's Introduction	lxxix
	A Note on the Translation	xciii
	Pronunciation of the Names	xcvii
	The Seagull	1
	Notes	68