Anton Pavlov Chekhov Anton
Chekov was a Russian playwright who is considered as one of the greatest playwrights in realistic plays. As a dramatist, he produced four classical. He is considered as the greatest short story writer in the world. His four classical works are Seagul, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and Cherry Orchard. These plays were performed all over the world in many languages and directed by renowned directors.
Chekhov renounced the theatre after the disastrous reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Constantin Stanislavski' Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov' Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a ‘Theatre of Mood’ and a "submerged life in the text." Chekhov was advised and praised by Dmitry Grigorovich, who was a well-known writer in those days with words such as ”A real talent—a talent which places you in the front rank among writers in the new generation."
To understand Chekov, it is important to understand the philosophy of his knowledge. The characters in Chekov’ plays do not have the ultimate truth. The relative, conditional nature of ideas and opinions, and of stereotypical ways of thinking and behaving; the refusal to regard an individual solution as absolute; and the baselessness of various claims to possession of the ’real truth’: these are constants in Chekhov’ world. In Chekhov’* characters are often, experiences with melancholy and nostalgia.
Chekhov wrote about ordinary events and the relationships in small towns and villages. He used a variety of techniques, including choices of words, pacing and construction of a sentence which all lead to creating his characters and revealing their changing moods. In the letters that Chekhov sent to his writing contemporaries, as well as his family, he often discussed his work and ideas about story craft. His principle of writing is still relevant to this time. In May 10, 1886, his letter to his brother, Alexander, also a writer, Chekhov noted six principles of good writing.
- Absence of lengthy verbiage of a political-social-economic nature
- Total objectivity
- Truthful descriptions of persons and objects
- Extreme brevity
- Audacity and originality: flee the stereotype Compassion
Cherry Orchard:
Ranevskaya returns after five years to her estate to find that it has been heavily mortgaged to pay for her extravagances and that it is to be auctioned. Generous and scatterbrained, she seems incapable of recognizing her desperate situation. Gaev, Ranyevskaya’ brother, makes some impractical suggestions, but his chief hope in an uncertain legacy or a rich marriage for Anya, Mme. Ranevskaya’ young daughter. She, in turn, is attracted by the feckless student, Trofimov, and his dreams of social progress. The only apparently feasible proposal comes from Lopakhin, a merchant whose father was once a serf of the Gaev family. He suggests cutting down the famous cherry orchard and dividing the land into plots for summer cottages. The idea of destroying such beauty is rejected as a sacrilege, and with no specific plan in mind for saving the estate, the family drifts aimlessly, but hopefully, towards the day set for the auction. On that very evening, Mme. Ranyevskaya gives a party that she can ill afford. In the midst of the festivities, Lopakhin arrives and happily announces that he has acquired the estate and intends to carry out his suggested plan for cutting down the orchard. The estate and the orchard now gone, the family prepares to leave. Lopakshin fails to propose to Varya, Mme. Ranyevskaya’ adopted daughter, who becomes a housekeeper for others. Forgotten in the confusion is the very old and ailing Firs, the devoted former family serf, and as the sound of an axe rings from the cherry orchard, he * down, a symbol of the past.
Three Sisters:
Three Sisters is a play by the Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Bront sisters. It was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. Three Sisters is a naturalistic play about the decay of the privileged class in Russia and the search for meaning in the modern world. It describes the lives and aspirations of the Prozorov family, the three sisters (Olga, Masha, and Irina) and their brother Andrei. They are a family dissatisfied and frustrated with their present existence. The sisters are refined and cultured young ***** who grew up in urban Moscow; however, for the past eleven years, they have been living in a provincial town.
Moscow is a major symbolic element: the sisters are always dreaming of it and constantly express their ** to return. They identify Moscow with their happiness, and thus to them it represents the perfect life. However, as the play develops, Moscow never materializes and they all see their dreams recede further and further, meaning, it never presents itself and they are forced to seek it out for themselves.
