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Five Plays: Ivanov / The Seagull / Uncle Vanya / Three Sisters / The Cherry Orchard
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Five Plays: Ivanov / The Seagull / Uncle Vanya / Three Sisters / The Cherry Orchard

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4.13 of 5 stars 4.13  ·  rating details  ·  1,012 ratings  ·  70 reviews
Anton Chekhov wrote that "narrative is my legal wife and drama a flamboyant, rowdy, impudent, exhausting mistress." At a time when the Russian stage was dominated by farces, formulaic melodramas, and vaudevilles, Chekhov created plays that focused on characters grappling with moral questions. His works baffled his audiences, but his sensitive explorations of love...more
paper, 416 pages
Published September 3rd 2002 by Penguin Classics (first published 1940)
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Lavinia
Livada de visini ****
* Mi s-a parut cea mai sensibila, poate pentru ca sentimentul pierderii e aici foarte evident si puternic: livada de visini e vinduta in cele din urma si intreaga familie e privata de locul cel mai drag lor, pierderea livezii putind echivala cu pierderea sperantelor, desi in final Trofimov exclama: “Viata noua, te salutam!” Sau poate, intr-un ton mult mai mundan, pierderea livezii echivaleaza cu noua ordine sociala ce se instala in Rusia vremii respective.

...more
Troy


I should preface my comments by stating that I’m not a very theatre literate reader. My approach to these plays is that which I take towards any literary text, and for a long time now I have felt sated by my reading of Chekhov’s short stories. However, having read two Chekhov studies (by Rayfield and Kataev respectively) in recent months, I thought it was high time I delved into what Chekhov is most renowned for: his plays.


As is to be expected, Chekhov’s plays share...more
Jan-Maat
I don't think that this translation is the one that I was familiar with and can't recommened one translation in particular.

Chekhov has a had a strange fate in English were his plays - down to revivals of Ivanov - seem to be more valued than his short storys. Chekhov's plays have tapped into a particular British nostalgia which dosn't help us to understand them in their own context. Chekhov wasn't a solidly middle-class Edwardian Englishman reflecting on a world that had vanished af...more
Corinne

This book consists of five different plays. As I read each one, I just wrote down my thoughts:

Ivanov: a disillusioned landowner is fed up with his life. Really, he just over-thinks everything and has given up on trying to be happy. There is a lot of fussing over Ivanov and his choices - ever since his marriage to a "Jewess" who gave up her family and religion to be with him, he's gone emotionally downhill. There is a lot of men crying in this play and if I had to give it...more
Maureen
This is my second attempt at tackling a Chekhov play in the last few months. If I had to rate it (which, I guess is what I'm doing here, after all,) I'd say it's more entertaining than the last one I read (The Three Sisters) and less entertaining than watching fish swim in an aquarium, especially if you're not an avid aquarium enthusiast.

The plot of The Cherry Orchard was more palatable; a once-wealthy Russian landowner as a problem spending money and confronting her problems. When...more
Thurston Hunger
There's a lot of misery in these comedies? And quite an odd mix of affirmation and nihilism. Not quite a recipe, but include at least one babbling fool, and one case of unwanted affection. Upper crust going stale, a world ending, and yet things not really changing in big arc?

Translation of the plays in this book is by Ann Dunnigan. I have no idea if they are spot on or not. I'll have so see some performances of these to see how they affect me in presentation, I recall having seen "...more
Garrett
Several plays that are screaming indictments for change in my opinion. I picked these back up at an interestingly strange time in American history - wouldn't right now be a wonderful and stark time for someone somewhere to stage a revival of The Cherry Orchard? I mean, it has everything we love about our economy and society - difficulty of expression of feelings, a mess in the mortgage holdings of a family, and all this coming from a family and society where those with money seemingly think th...more
Vanja Antonijevic
There is something special about Chekhov. I would have to admit that Dostoevsky and Tolstoy may be greater writers than he is, but it seems that no writer has been able to produce a certain Russian spirit, tone, and sentiment as well as Chekhov in his writings. To put it simply, his plays and short stories have more "soul" and "heart" to them than anything else I have read. The Russian Shakepeare is my second favorite Russian author (after Dostoevsky), and is an underapprecia...more
Stacie
I read "The Three Sisters" some time ago and remember really liking it.

I just read "The Cherry Orchard" and while I was amazed at the emotion found in so few pages, I was definitely left wanting more...more of the story, more of the characters...just more.

I will probably one day read the other three as well, but I am still marking this as read, so there.
Cassandra Silva
These plays are so carefully measured in tone and rhetoric that I think it would be impossible to determine what they would be like without actually seeing them preformed on stage. I also imagine that a great deal of the nuance of the work would depend heavily on the actors chosen. I chose more eccentric actors for my own mind while reading this work and found that enjoyable. This could also be terribly boring given the wrong cast.
Serena
suprisingly good. I enjoyed reading the preface and having an insight to the author. I think he was ensuring that if he ever failed at medicine then he could have a part in one of his plays. Off to see the Cherry Orchard later this year which I don't think I would have done had I not read the play.
Brenda
Brenda rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Theatre folk - anyone, really
Three young orphaned women and their brother live in the boonies of Russia, desparately hoping to return to their childhood home of Moscow. As the years go by, the women's fortunes fall, their lives become lonelier and they get no closer to their dearest dream.

I've read this 3 or 4 times and I keep seeing more and more of the humour of this piece. It's a sad, dark, somewhat depressing humour to be sure, but it's there. The women slowly become more deeply trapped in their habits an...more
Jesse
Awesome...My love for Chekhov is quickly growing. All of these plays were really very good (as far as my limited knowledge of the art goes)...at least I found them entertaining. I can't pick a favorite because each one had its own merrit.

They all had something dark within them, and they all had some aspect of love as well. A great display of the human condition.
Nicole
Nicole rated it 2 of 5 stars
I can certainly understand why Chekhov is considered one of the great authors of his era. However, I find it difficult to read plays as I find it hard to keep up with who is talking and I get tired of reading stage directions. Much prefer performances of plays rather than reading them.
Charles
what I learned? i learned to enjoy reading that's what. not everything needs a car chase.


you should know: a lot of chekhov stuff is available free on stanza & kindle. online for that matter

i also recommend his short plays & short stories
Kristie
I've only read "The Sea Gull" from this collection. Good stuff. Not many plays address the world of acting and play-writing, but Chekhov does it beautifully. Deep, good, read it.
Steve
I'm ok with these, but I muc prefer Chekhov as a short story writer. His plays are so delicate, that you just know you're losing something due to the translations.
Idiolalia
Plays: Ivanov; The Seagull; Uncle Vanya; Three Sisters; The Cherry Orchard (Penguin Classics) by Anton Chekhov (2002)
Doug
Play after play ending with one or more of the characters going downstage and shooting themselves. Enough, already!
Pats
tolstoy may have hated chekhov's plays, but tolstoy's a jerk. as somebody who prefers real footwear to sandals, i'll give "tony" a break. the man has a keen sense of irony. like any good russian writer. nothing says "funny" like spousal abuse (how contemporary) and mommy complexes.
but i am a little weary of all the blind praise for anton pavlovich.
Christian Dabnor
OK, I'll be honest, I've only read The Cherry Orchard, but love the many subtleties of the play.
Ayne Ray
Although "Ivanov" does not live up to the other works in this collection, the remaining four are classics of 19th century theatre, firmly cementing the reputation of this brilliant and powerful writer as one of the best of his time.
George Dimitrov
I was just not able to finish reading the last 40pages. All 5 plays are very simular. After a wile I lost interest in keeping up with the names and the story line.
Steven Salaita
Chekhov is one of the most talented playwrights ever to have produced the craft.
Wonderkell
I particularly love 'The Sea Gull', 'Uncle Vanya' & 'The Cherry Orchard'.
Silvergift
Excellent to read, and I hope to see them acted out one day.
Benjamin Wallsten
Amazing! Stupendous! Russian literature at its finest!

I am always left wanting more from Chekhov (too bad his life was cut short by a disease we, ironically, can prevent today - it's oddly reminiscent of what one of the characters in Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" - Vershinin - is constantly saying about the future being better than the present). This volume simply enlarges that desire.

If you love Chekhov, you must read this book. It gives you the 5 major plays that ...more
Amanda
I'm familiar with Russian literature's tendency to be humorously tragic. I didn't expect any more (or less) from Chekhov and wasn't disappointed. However, compared to his short stories, the plays in this book were somewhat lacking. They didn't have the blunt edge of wit that I loved about stories like Sleepy or Death of a Government Clerk. While critics can find humor in the Cherry Orchard, for me it's just not the same. It's still well-written (though the English doesn't come off as smoothly), ...more
Ayat Mahmoud
Ayat Mahmoud marked it as owned-2-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: owned
From Azbakeya market for only 5 LE :D
Cecelia
Wonderful collection
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Five Plays: Ivanov / The Seagull / Uncle Vanya / The Three Sisters / The Cherry Orchard (paper)
The Major Plays: Ivanov, the Sea Gull, Uncle Vanya, the Three Sisters, the Cherry Orchard (Mass Market Paperback)
Chekhov: The Major Plays (Paperback)
The Major Plays (Mass Market Paperbound)
Chekhov: The Major Plays:  Ivanov/The Seagull/Uncle Vanya/The Three Sisters/The Cherry Orchard (Signet Classics)

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Антон Павлович Чехов

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the small seaport of Taganrog, southern Russia, the son of a grocer. Chekhov's grandfather was a serf, who had bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught himself to read and write.Yevgenia Morozov, Chekhov's mother, was the daughter of a cloth merchant.

"When I think back on my childh...more
More about Anton Chekhov...
Stories of Anton Chekhov The Cherry Orchard The Seagull The Three Sisters Uncle Vanya (Dodo Press)

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“NINA: ...what's important is...the ability to endure. To be able to bear one's cross and have faith. I have faith, and it's not so painful now, and when I think of my vocation, I'm not afraid of life.” 2 people liked it
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