Anton Chekhov Learning Resources
On Chekhov: Katie Mitchell & Robert Icke
Directors Robert Icke, director of Uncle Vanya, speaks in conversation with renowned director Katie Mitchell, who has staged ground-breaking productions of all of Chekhov’s major plays, about the challenges and pleasures of working on Chekhov.
My Chekhovian Journey
Ebenezer Bamgboye, Resident Director on Three Sisters, writes about what makes Chekhov’s writing unique.
“Chekhov is a seriously distinctive playwright. In my view, as distinctive as figures such as Beckett and Brecht. Although he can be paired with Ibsen and Strindberg in having launched naturalism, dramaturgically, his works differ significantly from theirs in his boldness not to have the plot (which is not non-existent) constantly rattling forward, but sometimes moving nowhere at all.”
Chekhov and the Human Experience
Rosamund Bartlett discusses the context in which Chekhov wrote Uncle Vanya and in which it premieried.
“When the play was first staged in translation in London in 1914, this was not theatre as British actors or audiences knew it.”
Uncle Vanya: An Actor Prepares
Jocelyn Cox, Assistant Director on Uncle Vanya, writes about her trip outside of the rehearsal room with actor Tobias Menzies.
“We left with a renewed appreciation for the contemporary resonance of Chekhov’s play, and Tobias’ newly-strengthened belief in the passion of his character’s speeches gave his performance an even firmer footing in reality when we returned to the rehearsal room.”
