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Anton Chekhov: 6 Full-Cast BBC Radio Productions
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  • Published: 15 September 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529187052
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Narrator: Judi Dench
  • RRP: $45.00
Categories:

Anton Chekhov: 6 Full-Cast BBC Radio Productions

The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, Wild Honey & More




BBC Radio productions of some of Anton Chekhov's finest plays

BBC radio productions of some of Anton Chekhov's finest plays

A master of Russian realism, Anton Chekhov is renowned for his meticulously observed plays and short stories exploring the human condition, in all its joys and sorrows. Included here are six of his best-known dramas, as well as Michael Frayn's adaptation of Wild Honey, drawn from an early, untitled Chekhov play; and one documentary exploring Chekhov's life and work.

Wild Honey - The acclaimed radio version of Michael Frayn's adaptation and Olivier Award-winning comedy, in which village teacher Platonov's youthful ambitions are rekindled when the seductive Sofya arrives. Ian McKellen stars as Platonov

The Seagull- Recorded on location in Russia, this much-praised version of Chekhov's classic set on a lakeside dacha features a star cast including Diana Quick, Alex Jennings, Robert Glenister and Helena Bonham-Carter.

Ivanov - 19th Century landowner Ivanov is in debt and depressed - can the love of a beautiful young woman rejuvenate him? Alec McCowan, Maurice Denham, Maxine Audley and Judi Dench star in this vintage production, adapted by John Gielgud.

The Cherry Orchard- Returning home from Paris, Madame Ranyevskaya and her daughter Anya discover that the family estate must be sold to cover their debts. Can they save their beloved cherry orchard? Starring Sinéad Cusack, Anna Massey, Patricia Routledge and Andrew Sachs.

Three Sisters - Stuck in provincial Russia, Olga, Masha and Irina dream of one day returning to Moscow. But life keeps getting in the way... Hattie Morahan, Scarlett Alice Johnson and Flora Spencer-Longhurst star in Chekhov's poignant meditation on love and longing.

Uncle Vanya - Life on a rural Russian estate is thrown into turmoil by the visit of the ailing Professor Serebryakov and his beautiful young wife Yelena. Anton Lesser stars as Serebryakov, with Lyndsey Marshal as Yelena and Neil Dudgeon as Vanya.

Great Lives - Matthew Parris, William Boyd and Chekhov biographer Donald Rayfield consider the Russian writer's claim to greatness.

First published 1887 (Ivanov), 1895 (The Seagull), 1898 (Uncle Vanya), 1900 (Three Sisters), 1904 (The Cherry Orchard), 1984 (Wild Honey)
Wild Honey © Michael Frayn 1984, 1985, 2016
Michael Frayn has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work
All rights reserved

Cast and credits
Written by Anton Chekhov
Wild Honey translated and adapted by Michael Frayn
Cherry Orchard - Translated by Richard Cottrell
Uncle Vanya - Adapted by Christopher Hampton

Contents list
Wild Honey
The Seagull
Ivanov
The Cherry Orchard
Three Sisters
Uncle Vanya
Great Lives: Anton Chekhov

©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

  • Published: 15 September 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529187052
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Narrator: Judi Dench
  • RRP: $45.00
Categories:

About the author

Anton Chekhov

Born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia, on the Sea of Azov, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov would eventually become one of Russia's most cherished storytellers. Especially fond of vaudevilles and French farces, he produced some hilarious one-acts, but it is his full-length tragedies that have secured him a place among the greatest dramatists of all time.

Chekhov began writing short stories during his days as a medical student at the University of Moscow. After graduating in 1884 with a degree in medicine, he began to freelance as a journalist and writer of comic sketches. Early in his career, he mastered the form of the one-act and produced several masterpieces of this genre including The Bear (1888) in which a creditor hounds a young widow, but becomes so impressed when she agrees to fight a duel with him, that he proposes marriage, and The Wedding (1889) in which a bridegroom's plans to have a general attend his wedding ceremony backfire when the general turns out to be a retired naval captain 'of the second rank'.

Ivanov (1887), Chekhov's first full-length play, a fairly immature work compared to his later plays, examines the suicide of a young man very similar to Chekhov himself in many ways. His next play, The Wood Demon (1888) was also fairly unsuccessful. In fact, it was not until the Moscow Art Theater production of The Seagull (1897) that Chekhov enjoyed his first overwhelming success. The same play had been performed two years earlier at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and had been so badly received that Chekhov had actually left the auditorium during the second act and vowed never to write for the theatre again. But in the hands of the Moscow Art Theatre, the play was transformed into a critical success, and Chekhov soon realized that the earlier production had failed because the actors had not understood their roles.

In 1899, Chekhov gave the Moscow Art Theatre a revised version of The Wood Demon, now titled Uncle Vanya (1899). Along with The Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904), this play would go on to become one of the masterpieces of the modern theatre. However, although the Moscow Art Theatre productions brought Chekhov great fame, he was never quite happy with the style that director Constantin Stanislavsky imposed on the plays. While Chekhov insisted that his plays were comedies, Stanislavsky's productions tended to emphasize their tragic elements. Still, in spite of their stylistic disagreements, it was not an unhappy marriage, and these productions brought widespread acclaim to both Chekhov's work and the Moscow Art Theatre itself.

During Chekhov's final years, he was forced to live in exile from the intellectuals of Moscow. In March of 1897, he had suffered a lung hemorrhaage, and although he still made occasional trips to Moscow to participate in the productions of his plays, he was forced to spend most of his time in the Crimea where he had gone for his health. He died of tuberculosis on July 14, 1904, at the age of forty-four, in a German health resort and was buried in Moscow. Since his death, Chekhov's plays have become famous worldwide and he has come to be considered the greatest Russian storyteller and dramatist of modern times.

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