«Chekhov LAB» by Anton Chekhov

Comedy.

«This is not possible, because it is not possible!»
At the dawn of his creative activity Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a very cheerful person. He drew caricatures, wrote poems, comic sketches, jokes and vaudevilles… But the truth is that he started to create all these after the grand actress Ermolova has rejected a play (which became the most mysterious one of the century) sent by a grammar-school boy, Antosha. The Grand did not even reply, and he began joking. Besides, it was time to make money…

His gift showed up immediately. The borders of his creation were expanding with each and every new work capturing new sides of reality and phenomenon. Starting to perfect his skill on writing in short, form and  scrupulous sketches about different characters, during, «nothing but two decades», of creative life, a young writer changed from Antosha Chekhonte, Man without a Spleen, into Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

Short comedies, which form «Chekhov LAB» performance, were written by a young man, but not by Antosha Chekhonte. A young doctor has «prepared» the personages described by him with a sincere wish to find out their inner devices! There was lambent humor and caustic sarcasm, light mockery and sincere sympathy for heroes, who live, rejoice and grieve as they can.

Directors of «The laboratory…» decided not to return to the century before last – the nineteenth – because it turned out that themes and personages of Chekhov’s comedies as if were transported through the centuries,  felt very comfortable in the beginning of the twenty first century.

The performance will please not only with a glitter of humor, but also with the stainless style of the classical drama. The artists like to play precisely in such performances: each and every part as if it was created for a benefit, full of possibilities for impromptu and bright dramatic finds.

Mark Weil: a word from the director…
A simple word-play lies in the name of our performance. It is generally known that Chekhov was a physician by his first occupation. He treated ill people. Then, having become a writer, Chekhov treated their souls. It is unlikely that Anton Pavlovich was thinking about the treatment of souls, but it was already not the first generation of Chekhov’s readers and researchers of his works, who had doubts that he really wasn’t.

On the one hand, our laboratory work with the most fundamental dramatist (from whom a time reckoning of the modern theater has started) of the 20-th century has been started as a long-awaited meeting of Ilkhom’s actors with Chekhov. It promised a renovation of our creative experience, revelation of new potential for actor… etcetera, etcetera.

On the other hand, the laboratory work has become our experiment. Chekhov’s early comedies and short plays («Swan Song», «About the Harm of Tobacco», «The Celebration», «The Proposal» and «The Bear») were gathered at the heart of the performance. We unwittingly found the other works of the author and staged our performance from the point of view of a mature Chekhov, who had written ages later «Three Sisters», «Uncle Vanya» and «The Cherry Orchard». We even afforded ourselves to quote single texts from these considerable plays, supposing who from the characters of our performance could speak those passages. Thus, it is natural that we found parallels and the presence of common topics sounding in all plays by Chekhov.

The action of our performance starts and finishes in the empty theater at night, later, moves to a rotunda situated in the middle of a cherry orchard, where our characters fall in love, quarrel and threaten each other with murder and suicide. No matter how eager we were for new intonations and revelations, whether we wanted to or not, the author did not let us avoid either amusement, or sadness. Therefore, both tears and «two pounds of love» (a quote from one of Chekhov’s letters) became one more part of our laboratory. You, dear audience, will be able to get everything that provokes your personal reflections and sympathy.

The duration of the performance is 3 hours with intermission.
The premiere took place on 30 October 2004.

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