The Chekhov Theatre: A Century of the Plays in Performance

by Laurence Senelick

• ISBN13: 9780521783958
• ISBN10: 052178395X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

This is the first cross-cultural study of Chekhov’s plays in production. Many now consider Chekhov a playwright equal to Shakespeare, and this book studies how the reputation evolved, and how the presentation of his plays varied and altered from their initial productions in Russia to the most recent postmodern deconstructions of them. In the process, Laurence Senelick analyses the ways in which the reception of Chekhov’s plays reflects social, political and aesthetic attitudes in specific countries. Particular attention is given to the staging of Chekhov in Russia before and after the Revolution, and under different regimes; in the English-speaking world, in Western and Eastern Europe, as well as in Japan. Senelick also includes interpretations of Chekhov by the century’s most influential directors and designers with valuable and informative illustrations of key productions also a feature of the book.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	xi
Play list	xxxx
Introduction	1	(7)
Compromising with the theatre (Russia 1880--1896)	8	(20)
A brace of gulls (Russia 1896--1898)	28	(24)
Moscow nights (The Moscow Art Theatre 1898--1905)	52	(31)
Competitors and imitators (Russian Empire 1898--1917)	83	(14)
Chekhov goes West (Europe 1888--1938)	97	(13)
Comes the Revolution (Russia 1917--1935)	110	(21)
Chekhov learns English (United Kingdom and Ireland 1900--1940)	131	(19)
At home abroad (Europe and England 1917--1938)	150	(22)
America discovers Checkhov (USA 1900--1944)	172	(16)
Under dures (Russia 1938--1945)	188	(12)
Breaking with tradition (Russia 1950--1970)	200	(19)
Ferment in an age of stagnation (Russia 1970--1990)	219	(16)
Out of the rubble (Central and Eastern Europe 1945--1985)	235	(29)
Ut pictura poesis (Italy and France 1945--1985)	264	(19)
All-American Chekhov (USA 1950--1995)	283	(22)
Chekhov without tears (United Kingdom 1950--1993)	305	(19)
Checkhov sans frontieres (The world 1900--1995)	324	(22)
The perestroika of Chekho (Eastern Europe and Europe and Russian Federation 1989--1995)	346	(15)
Notes	361	(53)
Index of Chekhov productions	414	(8)
Index of titles and characters	422	(6)
Index of proper names	428