[PDF] 17 Outstanding Chekhov Plays

ByJustin Cash Scripts

Anton Chekhov Plays PDF

Anton Chekhov Biography

Russian novelist and playwright Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) has often been considered the father of the modern short story, such was his skill. But he was equally adept at writing plays. In his canon of seventeen stage works lies four of the best plays in modern theatre: The Sea-Gull, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, and The Three Sisters. After an initial attempt at melodrama (Platonov), Chekhov wrote plays in a naturalistic style that embodied genuine characters revealing inner emotions. In 1898, a production of Chekhov’s The Sea-Gull became a staggering success at the Moscow Art Theatre, where it was co-directed by Constantin Stanislavski, who also played the role of Trigorin. – Justin Cash

anton chekhov
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)

Comprehensive biography from Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Wikipedia entry on the Russian playwright detailing his childhood and various phases throughout his adult career.

A detailed account of Chekhov’s life and the many influences on his writings, plots and characters.

Chekhov’s ultimate purpose is to communicate an attitude of one kind or another; but his immediate purpose is to create in the reader [or audience] a certain kind of illusion — an illusion that he is holding up for inspection a piece of unmediated reality, a segment of life rendered with matter of fact lucidity in
all its circumstantiality, uncolored by the moods or opinions of any observer.
Chekhov’s Fiction and the Ideal of “Objectivity”
Hagan, J.

Anton Chekhov’s Naturalistic Style

Resources from The Drama Teacher on the conventions of realism and naturalism in the theatre.

First produced as part of a popular evening of farces and light comedies at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in 1896, it (The Sea-Gull) was thoroughly misunderstood and seemed likely to sink without trace. But in 1898 the Moscow Art Theatre gained permission to stage it as a piece of serious naturalism for their intellectual and educated audience – and it was now received as a highly original drama. And today The Seagull is acknowledged as a masterpiece.
Theatre Studies: the basics
robert leach
anton chekhov the sea gull
An early reading of The Sea-Gull at the Moscow Art Theatre with Anton Chekhov (seated centre-left).

Resources elsewhere on Theatre Links from around the web on realistic and naturalistic theatre.

Literature is called artistic when it depicts life as it actually is. Its purpose is truth, honest and indisputable.
anton chekhov

Comprehensive article on the development, characteristics, works and practitioners of both the realism and naturalism movements.

Chekhov’s plays involve very little action and there is a strong
emphasis on mood and atmosphere. Although Chekhov was unhappy with the naturalistic detail of Stanislavsky’s productions, it is largely due to the work of the Moscow Art Theatre that these plays have become central to the study of twentieth-century drama.
michael chekhov: routledge performance practitioners
franc chamberlain

Anton Chekhov Plays Analysis

Analysis of the world Chekhov presents in his plays, his style, plus the types of characters who inhabit them.

Analysis of the themes, dialogue and characters of Chekhov’s four major plays.

Ebook analysing the author’s career, life, influences and major works.

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