Moscow Art Theatre Anton Chekhov By: Linda Bashinskaya Pamela Whitcomb

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a famous play writer born in Taganrog, Russia on January 29, 1860. Chekhov attended a school for Greek boys before his father moved their family to Moscow due to bankruptcy. After grammar school, Chekhov enrolled into Medical school and later became a doctor. His experience in this field explains a lot of the tragic characters in his plays. While attending medical school, Chekhov wrote and publish comic stories which he used to support his family, in little time his gained him wide fame. He regularly contributed to St. Petersburg papers and even wrote 2 full novels. His novel, “The Shooting Party” even got translated into English. In 1888 Chekhov was awarded with the Pushkin Prize. The failure of “The Wood Demon” was a drawback for Chekov in 1889.

Author’s History Continued In 1892 he moved to Melikhove and became a full time writer. In 1897 he became ill with tuberculosis. In 1901 he finally married an actress who had performed in his plays by the name of Olga Knipper. This didn’t last long because in 1904, Chekhov died in Badenweiler, Germany. After death he remained pretty unknown until after World War I when his plays got translated into English. He wrote several hundred plays in his life time. “The Seagull” was the play which really gave Anton Chekhov fame over his playwrights.

Historical Information A Marriage Proposal is a Russian play that was written in the late 1880s. Anton Chekhov moved to an estate in the country in Melikhove in the late 19th century. This life change might have had something to do with the production of this play. Chekhov must've had a fascination for the country side and showed it in through his work. This play write is about a wealthy young lady named Natalia and her life long neighboring friend, Lomov, who comes to her house to propose but mistakenly takes a wrong turn when they begin to argue about who the rightful owner of the meadows bordering their properties is.

Type of Literature This play was performed in the Moscow Art Theatre. This is rated the finest art theatre in the world for realistic production. Many of the world’s most famous plays were shown here. This theatre influenced Americans to create a theatre of their own, The Group Theatre, this was accomplished in the 1930s. The Moscow Art Theatre was founded by Oleg Yefremov in 1898.

Fun Facts In the 1990s Moscow would hold festivals to bring attention to the theatrical life. In 1992 the Chekhov Festival was founded to honor Chekhov’s plays. This is held every two years.