This volume includes The Seagull, a about the battle for power between a mother and her son which ends in tragedy; Uncle Vanya tells of two obsessive love affairs that lead nowhere, and a flirtation that brings disaster; Three Sisters in which three siblings wrestle with their futures and The Cherry Orchard where the old must inevitably give way to the new. Haunting and elusive, these four great late masterpieces have found in Michael Frayn a translator who perfectly captures their delicate balance of the tragic and the absurd. The volume also contains four of Chekhov's early short...
This volume includes The Seagull, a about the battle for power between a mother and her son which ends in tragedy; Uncle Vanya tells of two obsessi...
In Chekhov's tragi-comedy, one of his most studied plays, the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces deeply rooted in history and the society in which they live. When their estate is hopelessly in debt they are urged to cut down their beautiful cherry orchard and sell the land for holiday cottages, a proposition which prompts a family struggle to act decisively.
In Chekhov's tragi-comedy, one of his most studied plays, the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces deeply rooted in history and the society in w...
You'd be hard put to find a better script to work with than this translation by Michael Frayn . . . It sticks rigorously to the inner thrust of the play while giving it a fresh, crisp clarity that makes it not just accessible but compelling to watch. The underlying tragedy . . . is intact. It is made more moving, not less, by the way Frayn's ineffably light touch has caught too the comedy of Andrey and his three sisters.' GUARDIAN
'Frayn puts well the central statement of this most moving of dramas: it is about the irony of the hopes by which people live and the way their destiny...
You'd be hard put to find a better script to work with than this translation by Michael Frayn . . . It sticks rigorously to the inner thrust of the...
A masterpiece of Russian drama, now in a student edition
Along with Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya is credited as one of Chekhov's masterpieces and a significant precursor of modern drama. Set on a country estate in late nineteenth century Russia, Uncle Vanya is in part a study of the enervation of Russian middle-class provincial life. The major dynamics between the characters themselves are centred on two obsessive love affairs that lead nowhere and a flirtation that brings disaster. Mixing the tragic and the absurd and dealing with a form that allows for...
A masterpiece of Russian drama, now in a student edition
Along with Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya is credited as one of C...
The funny thing is the harder I work the more clearly I understand things. When I'm worn out after a day's work then it's like my brain relaxes. And sometimes then I get it. The meaning of my life. My purpose on this earth. How many people ever get to say that? And you know what? It doesn't matter. Doesn't change anything. It is not important.
In Chekhov's tragi-comedy - arguably his most popular play - the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces deeply rooted in history and the society in which they live. Their estate is hopelessly in debt. Urged to cut down their beautiful...
The funny thing is the harder I work the more clearly I understand things. When I'm worn out after a day's work then it's like my brain relaxes....
A beautiful autumn day, rural England. A respected professor returns to his farmland after many years...with a new, beautiful, young wife. Their arrival turns the lives of his family and friends upside down, forcing everyone to re-examine their choices. Old wounds are reopened, passions are awakened and thwarted ambitions bubble to the surface, threatening the lives of everyone involved.
A beautiful autumn day, rural England. A respected professor returns to his farmland after many years...with a new, beautiful, young wife. Their ar...
As guests assemble at a country house for the staging of an avant-garde open air play, artistic temperaments ignite a more entertaining drama behind the scenes, with romantic jealousies, self-doubt and the ruthless pursuit of happiness confusing lives, loves and literature.
As guests assemble at a country house for the staging of an avant-garde open air play, artistic temperaments ignite a more entertaining drama behind t...
The Prozorov sisters pine for Moscow. Culture and life brim in the city center, while they live among the mundane of a crumbling army garrison after their father's death. Though living with their brother Andrey, nothing keeps them back but their own misfortune, decisions, and the inertia of negativity that continues to follow this family.
The Prozorov sisters pine for Moscow. Culture and life brim in the city center, while they live among the mundane of a crumbling army garrison afte...
'Do you ever wonder what would happen if we could live our lives all over again but be fully conscious of it the second time? I bet we'd try to do everything differently, or at least would know to create a different world for ourselves.' In a room in a house in a provincial town, three sisters wait for their lives to begin. Olga, the eldest. Masha, the middle child. Irina, the youngest. The clock strikes. A candle is lit. The clock stops. Something catches fire. The clock strikes. They wake up. Following her critically acclaimed production of Summer and Smoke, Almeida Associate...
'Do you ever wonder what would happen if we could live our lives all over again but be fully conscious of it the second time? I bet we'd try to do ...