Naturalism in Russia and the Creation of the Moscow Art Theatre

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the small seaport of Taganrog, Ukraine on January 17th in the year 1860. Today he is remembered as a playwright and one of the masters of the modern short story. He was the son of a grocer and the grandson of a serf who had bought his freedom, that and that his

Anton Chekhov hardly restrained from writing the dreary aspects of life during his writing career. Noted as one of Russia’s most prominent realist writers of the late 19th century, Chekhov’s work ranged from critical issues concerning the mental health system in “Ward No.6” to illustrating the tiresome cycle occurring for ordinary people sensing they are incomplete with their dull, normal life in “The Lady with the Dog.” “The Lady with the Dog,” in particular portrays characters of Chekhov’s facing an unreachable desire; Gurov and Anna. This desire emulates two contrasting forces represented by the double-lives the couple lives, one being that of realism and boredom, and the other of strict passion and romanticism. Gurov and “the lady with

Discuss the above quote with reference to your experiences of preparing to direct/design a Chekhov play.

Anton Chekhov's The Sea Gull is a Russian comedy, despite some tragedy, written in the end of the nineteenth century regarding the drama revolving around a group of people living in the countryside. The characters face the lack of satisfaction in their lives as they fail to achieve their desires. The characters desires are most about success; they desire success in love and art. Since these characters are lacking at least one of these desires, they are thus left to be loathing their lack of success in life throughout the play. Overall, The Sea Gull does exemplify the human disappointment through the characters which face disappointment or dissatisfaction with their lives and effectively portray disappointment through the characters’

Anton Chekhov, born in Taganrog, Russia on January 17, 1860, was considered the father of the modern short story and modern play. In 1875, his father lost his business and was forced to leave to find work in Moscow in order to pay off his debt. Anton and his three younger siblings were left with their mother, Yevgeniya, after a while they lost their home and decided to move to Moscow to be with Chekhov’s father. Chekhov, who was left behind in Taganrog to finish his schooling, helped his family financially by tutoring children in Taganrog. He found work in a clothing warehouse until he finished his final exams. After school, he joined his family in Moscow, where he continued his studies in the medical field at the University of Moscow. Chekhov used his own experiences of living in Moscow in his short story “The Lady With the Dog”.

Sophocles most famous playwright is Antigone which was written around 441 b.c. (Reinhold 1959). The odes for the chorus is why this playwright is famous. In order to perform Antigone, a director would need to understand numerous things relating to the chorus: where the chorus adds structure of the play, traditional Greek staging, mask and type of costumes in the play.

During the mid-century of American theatre, the curtain rose to reveal a new and different type of performance. Audience goers were used to the stylized works of Anton Chekov and George Bernard-Shaw, whose European classics were constantly being produced in the United States. Actors, scenery, and costumes were limited to the refined themes of classical acting. Theatre was growing bland with each revival. Nothing was being done to push the envelope, until American writers claimed the stage. Authors including Arthur Miller, Lillian Hellman and Lorraine Hansberry brought an element of reality to the theatre. Their works have gone down in history and their influences on

William Shakespeare is a Renaissance poet, actor, and playwright famous for his play “Romeo and Juliet”. Other plays include “Hamlet”, “McBeth”. He has influenced many of today's movies, plays, and books. Such as “Gnomeo and Juliet” or “ Twice old Tales” by Charles Dickens. He owned and created blueprints The Globe Theatre which is still standing and open to the public, says Absolute Shakespeare. The Globe Theatre is located in Stratford-Upon-Avon where Shakespeare spent most his time.

It wasn't until age twenty-one when the young Konstantin adopted the name ‘Stanislavsky’ in order to keep his theatrical career a secret from his bourgeois family (Merlin). At the time, professional actors in Russia had the social status equivalent to that of a poor farmer. They had only recently escaped serfdom and were freshly no longer the property of nobility (Benedetti). For a man of such high birth, the idea of pursuing a career in theatre was inconceivable; however, the cultural interest and love of theatrical entertainment of the Alekseyev family only fueled Stanislavsky’s pursuits. Sergei Vladimirovich Alekseyev, Stanislavsky's father, converted multiple buildings on his family’s estate into theatres, making the Alekseyev home Moscow’s hub for cultural and artistic life (Benedetti). Named The Alekseyev Circle, this family owned theatre is where Stanislavsky would make his acting debut. In the September of 1877, a time which Stanislavsky himself refers to as “the beginning of [his] Childhood and Adolescence” (Stanislavsky: MLIA), fourteen year old Konstantin Alekseyev made his first journey to the stage. Stanislavsky thanks God in his autobiography for not making him a natural talent for it was his initial struggle towards the craft that spurred his search for the ‘laws’ of

One his plays, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and many more were hits became the start of his career. Also another accomplishment was the Globe Theater and making the plays amazing and entertaining. He also was a very successful actor ever since he moved to london before he wrote his plays. He was successful in making comedies fall into a drama seen. He was a very wealthy man and supported his family. He became a very be loved person, actor, playwright, and social list and even the queen of England enjoyed his plays.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was born a year before the emancipation of serfism in Russia took place. Although he was the grandson of a serf, Chekhov was able to attend the medical school at the University of Moscow and become a physician. Chekhov started writing in order to support his family economically, becoming a master in drama and short stories. His literature is characterized by the use of colloquial language which could be understood even by the less educated and recently liberated serfs. Social change is the main theme in ‘The Cherry Orchard’, a four-act play written in 1904. In this play the different characters portray how changes in Russia after the emancipation of 1861 were taking place and although the play is set several

A. The plays that Shakespeare wrote were “Hamlet”, “Macbeth”, “Romeo & Juliet”, “Twelfth night”, “King Lear” and more.

Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and Konstantin Stanislavsky founded the Moscow Art Theatre on June 22, 1897, during an 18-hour luncheon at the Slavyanski Bazar (The Stanislavsky Century). The two had set out to reform Russian theatre and had the common goal in mind to create great art. Before they set their rules and regulations into place, none officially existed. Actors would show up either drunk or late and not have their lines learned. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich wanted a place where there would be discipline and respect and great art, thus the Moscow Art Theatre was born (The Stanislavsky Century).

     "The arts of the western world have been largely dominated by the artistic standards established by the Greeks of the classical period" (Spreloosel 86). It is from the Greek word theatron, meaning a place for sitting, that we get our word theater. According to James Butler, "The Greeks were the first people to erect special structures to bring audiences and theatrical performers together" (27). "The theaters were normally located near a populated area at the bottom of or cut out of a carefully selected, sloping hillside overlooking a seascape, a plain, or a city" (Butler 30). "They eventually with few exceptions consisted of three distinct parts: theatron

The history of theatre in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries is one of the increasing commercialization of the art, accompanied by technological innovations, the introduction of serious critical review, expansion of the subject matters portrayed to include ordinary people, and an emphasis on more natural forms of acting. Theatre, which had been dominated by the church for centuries, and then by the tastes of monarchs for more than 200 years, became accessible to merchants, industrialists, and the less privileged and then the masses.