Home > Drama > General Drama > Chekhov: The Essential Plays

Chekhov: The Essential Plays: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters & The Cherry Orchard

List Price: $8.95

Save 5.0%

You Pay: $8.50

Want this eBook?Our eBook Library Software is required to purchase and download eBooks. Download it here.

Tell a Friend

Overview

Because Chekhov's plays convey the universally recognizable, sometimes comic, sometimes dramatic, frustrations of decent people trying to make sense of their lives, they remain as fresh and vigorous as when they were written a century ago. Gathered here in superb new renderings by one of the most highly regarded translators of our time-versions that have been staged throughout the United States, Canada, and Great Britain-are Chekhov's four essential masterpieces for the theater.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews for this product are not available at this time.

Author Information

Bio of Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the provincial town of Taganrog, Ukraine, in 1860. In the mid-1880s, Chekhov became a physician, and shortly thereafter he began to write short stories. Chekhov started writing plays a few years later, mainly short comic sketches he called vaudvilles. The first collection of his humorous writings, Motley Stories, appeared in 1886, and his first play, Ivanov, was produced in Moscow the next year. In 1896, the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg performed his first full- length drama, The Seagull. Some of Chekhov's most successful plays include The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, and Three Sisters. Chekhov brought believable but complex personalizations to his characters, while exploring the conflict between the landed gentry and the oppressed peasant classes. Chekhov voiced a need for serious, even revolutionary, action, and the social stresses he described prefigured the Communist Revolution in Russia by twenty years. He is considered one of Russia's greatest playwrights. Chekhov contracted tuberculosis in 1884, and was certain he would die an early death. In 1901, he married Olga Knipper, an actress who had played leading roles in several of his plays. Chekhov died in 1904, spending his final years in Yalta.

Bio of Michael Heim

Michael Henry Heim is professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. His previous translations include Anton Chekhov's Life and Thought: Selected Letters and Commentary (with Simon Karlinsky); The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera; and My Century, by Gýnter Grass. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews available at this time. To add your review, Register or Sign In to your account using our free eBook Library Software.

Additional Info

Imprint

Random House Inc

Filesize

1.50 MB

Number of Pages

288

eBook ISBN

9781588362667

Excerpt from: Chekhov: The Essential Plays by Anton Chekhov

characters

Ir na Nikol evna Ark dina (Tr pleva by marriage). An actress.

Konstant n Gavr lovich Tr plev (K stya). Her son, a young man.

Pyotr Nikol evich S rin. Her brother.

N na Mikh ilovna Zar chnaya. A young girl, the daughter of a rich landowner.

Ily Afan syevich Shamr ev. A retired lieutenant, the manager of Sorin s estate.

Pol na Andr evna. His wife.

Mar a Ily nichna (M sha). His daughter.

Bor s Alex evich Trig rin. A writer.

Yevg ny Serg evich Dorn. A doctor.

Semy n Serg evich Medved nko. A schoolmaster.

Y kov. A workman.

A Male Cook.

A Housemaid.

The action takes place on Sorin s estate. Two years pass between Acts Three and Four.


Act One

The grounds of Sorin s estate. A broad tree-lined path leading away from the audience to a lake is cut off by a makeshift stage for an amateur performance. The lake is hidden from view. Bushes to the left and right of the stage. Several chairs, a small table.

The sun has just set. On the stage behind a lowered curtain Yakov and other Workmen are heard coughing and hammering. Enter Masha and Medvedenko, left, on their way back from a walk.

Medvedenko. Why is it you always wear black

Masha. I m in mourning for my life. I m unhappy.

Medvedenko. But why (Thinking hard.) I can t understand it . . . You re healthy. Your father may not be rich, but he has a comfortable life. My life s much harder than yours I make only twenty-three rubles a month minus pension-fund deductions and I don t wear mourning. (They sit down.)

Masha. Money doesn t matter. Even a pauper can be happy.

Medvedenko. In theory perhaps, but not in practice. I ve got myself, my mother, my two sisters, and my little brother to support and all on twenty-three rubles. We need to eat and drink, don t we We need tea and sugar. We need tobacco. Just try and make ends meet.