The Seagull – Anton Chekhov

Reception (1886 and 1898)

Stanislavsky's DirectionAnd rehearsal process

Anton Chekhov

Stanislavski *

Olga Knipper *

Reception (1886 and 1898)

1886The play premieres at the Imperial Alexandrinksy Theatre, St. Petersburg, on the 17th October, directed by E.P. Karpov. It is an unmitigated disaster, but is followed up by successful performances in other provincial cities.

1898The famous Moscow Art Theatre directed by Stanislavsky and Nemirovich. The production had 80 hours of rehearsal in total, spread over 24 sessions: 9 with Stanislavski and 15 with Nemirovich

(Nemirovich described the applause, which came after a prolonged silence, as bursting from the audience like a dam breaking. )

"I didn't do the casting. No new sets were made. There had been only two rehearsals and the actors kept forgetting their lines. The result was general panic and total depression".

Stanislavsky's DirectionAnd rehearsal process

The production was a great success, although Chekhov himself was critical of some of Stanislavski’s methods:• Set design over-detailed so little left to the imagination• Danger of smothering the real – the Realistic essence of the work – with Naturalistic detail.• Chekov: “Why sound of dogs barking offstage?” Student: “Because it’s realistic” Checkov:

‘Realistic! There’s a painting by

Kramskoy. What would happen if you

cut the nose out of one of those

paintings and substituted a real one?

The nose would be ‘realistic’ but the

picture would be ruined’.

Stanislavsky's DirectionAnd rehearsal process

MAT continued to explore and place emphasis upon subtext,

Stanislavski had made a reputation about presenting productions that were built around:

• Careful attention to detail • Historical research• Authenticity• Rigorous planning • Execution of the mise-en-scene• Designs that responded to the thematic structures of a given play

1) Leans over, picks a flower and tells his fortune with the petals.

2) Sits facing the audience and nervously pulls at the grass. Smokes. Treplev gets more and more worked up, his speech becomes broken and faster. 3) In annoyance he slaps his leg, gets up and leans toward Sorin trying to convince him. Even pounds his chest in excitement.

4) Having waved his hand he climbs over the board of the swing and nervously walks around the terrace. A pause of about 5 seconds. Having walked around, Treplev calms down, comes back to his earlier spot, looks at his watch, and sits down straddling the bench.