Among nearly 50 literary works composed by Chekhov during the MElikhovo period, there was a play called ‘The Seagull’.
21 October 1895, as if being surprised at himself, Chekhov wrote to his friend AlexEy SuvOrin: ‘Can you imagine, I’m writing a play that probably won’t be finished before end November. It’s not without relish that I’m writing it, though I’m patently breaking the rules of drama’.
Chekhov finished his work at the play in December 1895. The first performance took place 17 October 1896, in AlexandrInsky theatre of St-Peterburg. Vera KonissarzhEvskaya, appeared as Nina ZarEchnaya. Chekhov attended the rehearsal of “The Seagull” on 14 October and wrote home afterwards: “Kommisarzhevskaya is playing marvellously”. But it failed to save the performance. The play was a fiasco on its opening night. Chekhov who attended the performance escaped unobserved, and the next morning he left St-Petersburg for Melikhovo without telling anybody. The magazine “PerterbUrgsky ListOk»(Peterburg newsletter) wrote: ““The Seagull” perished. It was killed by unanimous hissing of all public. As if millions of bees, wasps, bumblebees filled the air of the auditorium. So loud and poisonous was their hissing’.
It was a heavy blow for Chekhov, however two years later ‘The Seagull’ was rehabilitated. A pioneering play required innovative acting solutions. And such solutions were found by KonstantIn StanislAvsky and VladImir NemirOvich-DAnchenko. The premiere of ‘The Seagull’ upon its revision took place in the Moscow Art Theatre 17 December 1898. Initially, the public was puzzled but by the end of the first act the theatre company captured the attention of the audience. Stanislavsky wrote: ‘Finally, we felt success and, excited beyond belief, we started hugging each other as people hug one another on Easter night… The success kept growing with each act and ended in a triumph. Chekhov was sent a detailed telegram. The writer was not present in the theatre, and he received the following telegram:
21 October 1895, as if being surprised at himself, Chekhov wrote to his friend AlexEy SuvOrin: ‘Can you imagine, I’m writing a play that probably won’t be finished before end November. It’s not without relish that I’m writing it, though I’m patently breaking the rules of drama’.
Chekhov finished his work at the play in December 1895. The first performance took place 17 October 1896, in AlexandrInsky theatre of St-Peterburg. Vera KonissarzhEvskaya, appeared as Nina ZarEchnaya. Chekhov attended the rehearsal of “The Seagull” on 14 October and wrote home afterwards: “Kommisarzhevskaya is playing marvellously”. But it failed to save the performance. The play was a fiasco on its opening night. Chekhov who attended the performance escaped unobserved, and the next morning he left St-Petersburg for Melikhovo without telling anybody. The magazine “PerterbUrgsky ListOk»(Peterburg newsletter) wrote: ““The Seagull” perished. It was killed by unanimous hissing of all public. As if millions of bees, wasps, bumblebees filled the air of the auditorium. So loud and poisonous was their hissing’.
It was a heavy blow for Chekhov, however two years later ‘The Seagull’ was rehabilitated. A pioneering play required innovative acting solutions. And such solutions were found by KonstantIn StanislAvsky and VladImir NemirOvich-DAnchenko. The premiere of ‘The Seagull’ upon its revision took place in the Moscow Art Theatre 17 December 1898. Initially, the public was puzzled but by the end of the first act the theatre company captured the attention of the audience. Stanislavsky wrote: ‘Finally, we felt success and, excited beyond belief, we started hugging each other as people hug one another on Easter night… The success kept growing with each act and ended in a triumph. Chekhov was sent a detailed telegram. The writer was not present in the theatre, and he received the following telegram:
