Tag Archives: Peter Egan

Young Chekhov (the Birth of a Genius)

Chichester Festival Theatres (**** overall, *** The Seagull)

© Johan Persson

© Johan Persson

How do you like your Chekhov? Do you even like Chekhov? Is he sacrosanct or ripe for parody and rehashing? Lord knows he’s been taken apart over the years, re-constructed (famously the American avant garde Wooster Group with Brace Up!, their deconstructed version of Chekhov’s Three Sisters) and put back together again. Like Shakespeare, debates rage around his texts, none more so than the early play of Platonov (pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable apparently) and Ivanov, the latter his first full length play and typically not a success on its first showing. Continue reading