Chekhov

Universal and enduring. They’re plays about people who are stuck told in realistic, simplistic
way. With all the comedy and tragedy of real life.

apparently minor or incidental events — ‘people come and go, eat, talk about the
weather and play cards’. At the same time the aim is not simply to reproduce the
‘naturalistic’ surface of life. On the surface, little may appear to be happening; but there
is a tension and dichotomy between this lack of ‘external’ drama, and the significant
changes, the inner drama, that may be occurring just beneath the surface. (4)
Challenges:

1. Buried Action - Important events often happen offstage. Ie the duel in three sisters.
How do we describe an event?

2. Engage with detail. Lots of long monologues. Don’t play tone or general impressions.
Create every detail for yourself. The smells, the look, etc

3. Subtext - Often the characters in chekov don’t say what they mean. They talk about
the weather etc instead. Characters often cant verbally express there true feelings.

4. So you must bring something in with you! The sisters are in tremendous pain. The
major loves women

Uncle Vanya - A play about estrangement (from self, society and others.) About the lives that
might have been

Vanya a lifelong failure

Three sisters

Olga the spinster teacher

Masha - middle and married to a schoolteacher kulygin. Hates him and affairs with vershinin an
officer. An aristocratic artist who married a teacher outside her class

Irina the youngest hates work. finally gives in to tuzenbach

The aristocracy on the way out. Dissatisfaction with life. The sister feel trapped. You love
culture but who do you play for? Moscow is a symbol. Avoid the pedestrian. Its I want my soul
to expand

BAron is philosophical love. He cant do things for himselg=f