For example, we are amused when, at one point, the two leading ladies are sobbing convulsively, one at one side of the stage crying noisily ‘I’m so unhappy’ and the other at the other side crying hysterically ‘I’m so happy’. He forces laughter from the audience, even while telling a sad story. When the audiences laugh, the mirth is hardly differentiated from a painful sorrow.ĭramatically, it’s a great achievement by Chekhov. They are failures who live daily with their wounds raw. But all the main characters are revealed as thwarted and diminished by life deep in the Russian provinces. The story was so much more one of tragedy than comedy. By the end, its bleak tragi-comedy left the audience appreciative but stunned. We had all shared the experience of seeing a beautifully staged and thrillingly enacted production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (first published 1897 and premiered 1899). ‘Basically, life in Russia sucks’, summarised the young man in the row behind us, for the benefit of his somewhat bemused companions, who had obviously expected something jollier. Corfield and Tony Belton 14 December 2012 IN NEW TRANSLATION BY CHRISTOPHER HAMPTONĪT LONDON’S VAUDEVILLE THEATRE, THE STRAND WC1 ‘Racial’ Classifications as Pseudo-Science.London University’s Long C18 History Seminar.
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