Excerpts from Chekhov's Letters about Three Sisters
Olga Knipper and Anton Chekhov
To Vladimir Namirovich-Dachenko, 24 November 1899, Yalta
"I am not writing any plays. I've got a subject, 'Three Sisters', but I'm not going to settle down to it until I have finished the stories which have long been weighing on my conscience. It is now certain that you will have to go ahead next season without a play from me."
To Olga Knipper, 14 August 1900, Yalta
"My dearest one, I don't know when I am coming to Moscow; the reason I don't know is because, can you imagine, I am writing a play at the moment. Actually it's more of a dog's dinner than a play. It has so many characters - I may completely loose the plot and have to abandon it."
To Olga Knipper, 8 September 1900, Yalta
"I shall sit in the hotel every day and write my play. Shall I write, or just make a fair copy? I don't know my dear old girl. Something's a bit wrong with one of my heroines; I can't seem to do anything with her and it's really annoying me...Wherever did News of the Day dredge up the news that Three Sisters is no good as a title? What nonsense! Maybe it isn't good, but I certainly don't plan to change it."
To Vera Komissarzhevskaya, 13 November 1900, Moscow
"The Three Sisters are ready, but their future, at least their immediate future, is lost in a mist of uncertainty. The play has turned out to be boring, sluggish and awkward; I say awkward, because for instance it has four female leads and an atmosphere of unparalleled gloom...The play is as complicated as a novel, and the mood, so I'm told, quite deadly."
To Konstantin Alexeyev (Stanislavsky), 15 January 1901, Nice
"You are, of course, a thousand times right, Tuzenbabakh's corpse should not be seen on stage at all. I had the same thought when I was writing it, and mentioned it to you, if you recall. The fact that the end of the play is reminiscent of Uncle Vanya is not a big problem; after all Uncle Vanya is my play, not anyone else's, and people will accept echoes of yourself in your own work."
To Olga Knipper, 20 January 1901, Nice
"Anyhow, how is Three Sisters? To judge from letters I've been getting, you are all talking utter nonsense. The noise in Act III - what noise, pray? The only noise should be in the distance, far offstage, a muffled, vague sort of sound, while everyone onstage is tired out, nearly asleep... If you don't get Act III right the whole play will be ruined and I'll be booed off the stage in the declining years of my old age. Alexeyev's letters are full of praise for you and for Vishnevsky. Even though I can't see what you're doing, I praise you as well. Vershinin's 'tram-tram-tram' should be like a question, and yours should be, as it were, in reply, and it should strike you as such an original thing to say that you utter it with a slight smile...You should say 'tram-tram' and give a little laugh, not a loud one, just a hint. Your expression, meanwhile, should not be like the one you have in Uncle Vanya, but livelier and more youthful. Remember, your character is quick-tempered, with a sense of humor. Anyhow, I'm counting on you, sweetheart, you are a good actress."
Source: Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, Rosamund Bartlett, and Anthony Phillips. A Life in Letters. London: Penguin, 2004. Print.
"I am not writing any plays. I've got a subject, 'Three Sisters', but I'm not going to settle down to it until I have finished the stories which have long been weighing on my conscience. It is now certain that you will have to go ahead next season without a play from me."
To Olga Knipper, 14 August 1900, Yalta
"My dearest one, I don't know when I am coming to Moscow; the reason I don't know is because, can you imagine, I am writing a play at the moment. Actually it's more of a dog's dinner than a play. It has so many characters - I may completely loose the plot and have to abandon it."
To Olga Knipper, 8 September 1900, Yalta
"I shall sit in the hotel every day and write my play. Shall I write, or just make a fair copy? I don't know my dear old girl. Something's a bit wrong with one of my heroines; I can't seem to do anything with her and it's really annoying me...Wherever did News of the Day dredge up the news that Three Sisters is no good as a title? What nonsense! Maybe it isn't good, but I certainly don't plan to change it."
To Vera Komissarzhevskaya, 13 November 1900, Moscow
"The Three Sisters are ready, but their future, at least their immediate future, is lost in a mist of uncertainty. The play has turned out to be boring, sluggish and awkward; I say awkward, because for instance it has four female leads and an atmosphere of unparalleled gloom...The play is as complicated as a novel, and the mood, so I'm told, quite deadly."
To Konstantin Alexeyev (Stanislavsky), 15 January 1901, Nice
"You are, of course, a thousand times right, Tuzenbabakh's corpse should not be seen on stage at all. I had the same thought when I was writing it, and mentioned it to you, if you recall. The fact that the end of the play is reminiscent of Uncle Vanya is not a big problem; after all Uncle Vanya is my play, not anyone else's, and people will accept echoes of yourself in your own work."
To Olga Knipper, 20 January 1901, Nice
"Anyhow, how is Three Sisters? To judge from letters I've been getting, you are all talking utter nonsense. The noise in Act III - what noise, pray? The only noise should be in the distance, far offstage, a muffled, vague sort of sound, while everyone onstage is tired out, nearly asleep... If you don't get Act III right the whole play will be ruined and I'll be booed off the stage in the declining years of my old age. Alexeyev's letters are full of praise for you and for Vishnevsky. Even though I can't see what you're doing, I praise you as well. Vershinin's 'tram-tram-tram' should be like a question, and yours should be, as it were, in reply, and it should strike you as such an original thing to say that you utter it with a slight smile...You should say 'tram-tram' and give a little laugh, not a loud one, just a hint. Your expression, meanwhile, should not be like the one you have in Uncle Vanya, but livelier and more youthful. Remember, your character is quick-tempered, with a sense of humor. Anyhow, I'm counting on you, sweetheart, you are a good actress."
Source: Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, Rosamund Bartlett, and Anthony Phillips. A Life in Letters. London: Penguin, 2004. Print.