Production History
The Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre today
It is said that Chekhov developed the idea for his play “Three Sisters” in the year 1883 while he spent a holiday in Vosmressensk. There, Chekhov’s brother Ivan tutored the three children of Colonal B.I. Maevsky, and Chekhov observed the sister’s behavior. Love affairs like Masha’s and Vershinin’s developed from Chekhov’s witnessing true life ones between village girls. Then in 1883, he rented the Lintvarev estate—similar to the location to the play—on the Pysol River near Sumy. “He was fascinated by the three Lintvarev sisters, who were intellectual, charming, and high-minded. Two of the women were doctors and the eldest was blind from a brain tumor” (Meister 245-246).
Chekhov’s idea turned into a piece of writing that he took time with. During the winter of 1897 to 1898, he sought out a warmer climate after suffering two hemorrhages in his lung. He settled in Nice, France, and it was then that Stankislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko contracted him to have his piece produced at the Moscow Art Theatre. Established by K.S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko in 1898, Moscow Art Theatre (MAT) “was intended to stimulate public taste for the ‘new drama’” (Anton Chekhov Biography Website). Students from the drama branch of the Musical-Drama School from the Moscow Philharmonoic society—where Vladimir taught acting—and students from Stanislafsky’s Art and Literature Amateurs Society formed the original core company of MAT. These include O. Knipper, I. Moskvin, V. Meierhold, M. Savitskaya, M. Germanova, M. Roksanova, N. Litovtseva (Moscow Art Theatre Website).
MAT first produced “Three Sisters” in 1901. “At their first reading the MAT actors said, ‘This is not a play, but only a scheme; there are no roles but only hints.’ At the first performance on January 31 1901, there were 12 curtain-calls after Act I but only a half-hearted one after Act IV” (Meister 246). After its first opening, “Three Sisters” received lackluster response and lukewarm criticism. “The public did not know how to receive the play” (Anton Chekhov Biography Website). The idea behind the show confused some critics:
At first, Russian critics were puzzled at why the sisters did not go to Moscow—they were wealthy, and nothing kept them from the move. Later, however, they explained the characters’ seeming lack of motivation as the feature of a new dramatic method. I.N. Ignatov in 1901 said that to the sisters Moscow was not a city but ‘a symbol of a distant resplendent ideal to which suffering souls yearningly direct their thoughts.’ A critic in Niva in 1901 said that ‘Moscow is an illusion, a mirage—to the traveler in a hopeless wilderness it is a vision of a better life’ (Meister 246).
News of such criticism got back to Chekhov, and he decided to immerse himself in the process of the show more. He went to Moscow and sat in on rehearsals, personally producing Act III. When he saw it performed in the new season at MAT, he felt “for the first time in his life…perfectly satisfied with the production of one of his plays. He was applauded in two curtain calls after Act III” (Anton Chekhov Biography Website).
Sources:
Meister, Charles W. "The Three Sisters (1901)." Chekhov Criticism, 1880 through 1986. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1988. 245-64. Print.
"МХТ им. А. П. Чехова: History." МХТ им. А. П. Чехова: History. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2013. http://art.theatre.ru/english/history/
Teuber, Andreas. "Anton Chekhov Biography." Anton Chekhov Biography. N.p., June 2009. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/chekhovbio.html
Chekhov’s idea turned into a piece of writing that he took time with. During the winter of 1897 to 1898, he sought out a warmer climate after suffering two hemorrhages in his lung. He settled in Nice, France, and it was then that Stankislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko contracted him to have his piece produced at the Moscow Art Theatre. Established by K.S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko in 1898, Moscow Art Theatre (MAT) “was intended to stimulate public taste for the ‘new drama’” (Anton Chekhov Biography Website). Students from the drama branch of the Musical-Drama School from the Moscow Philharmonoic society—where Vladimir taught acting—and students from Stanislafsky’s Art and Literature Amateurs Society formed the original core company of MAT. These include O. Knipper, I. Moskvin, V. Meierhold, M. Savitskaya, M. Germanova, M. Roksanova, N. Litovtseva (Moscow Art Theatre Website).
MAT first produced “Three Sisters” in 1901. “At their first reading the MAT actors said, ‘This is not a play, but only a scheme; there are no roles but only hints.’ At the first performance on January 31 1901, there were 12 curtain-calls after Act I but only a half-hearted one after Act IV” (Meister 246). After its first opening, “Three Sisters” received lackluster response and lukewarm criticism. “The public did not know how to receive the play” (Anton Chekhov Biography Website). The idea behind the show confused some critics:
At first, Russian critics were puzzled at why the sisters did not go to Moscow—they were wealthy, and nothing kept them from the move. Later, however, they explained the characters’ seeming lack of motivation as the feature of a new dramatic method. I.N. Ignatov in 1901 said that to the sisters Moscow was not a city but ‘a symbol of a distant resplendent ideal to which suffering souls yearningly direct their thoughts.’ A critic in Niva in 1901 said that ‘Moscow is an illusion, a mirage—to the traveler in a hopeless wilderness it is a vision of a better life’ (Meister 246).
News of such criticism got back to Chekhov, and he decided to immerse himself in the process of the show more. He went to Moscow and sat in on rehearsals, personally producing Act III. When he saw it performed in the new season at MAT, he felt “for the first time in his life…perfectly satisfied with the production of one of his plays. He was applauded in two curtain calls after Act III” (Anton Chekhov Biography Website).
Sources:
Meister, Charles W. "The Three Sisters (1901)." Chekhov Criticism, 1880 through 1986. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1988. 245-64. Print.
"МХТ им. А. П. Чехова: History." МХТ им. А. П. Чехова: History. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2013. http://art.theatre.ru/english/history/
Teuber, Andreas. "Anton Chekhov Biography." Anton Chekhov Biography. N.p., June 2009. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/chekhovbio.html