Plays by Anton Chekhov - The Wood Demon & The Seagull & Three Sisters

"In the play I portray a disgusting, selfish, provincial fellow who for twenty years has been reading works on art but understanding nothing about the subject - a man who brings despondency and gloom to all those near him, who is not accessible to laughter and music - and who, despite all this, is undoubtedly happy"

Chekhov on The Seagull ...

"It's a comedy with three female and six male roles, four acts, a landscape (view of a lake), lots of talk of literature, little action and 180 lbs of love"

Chekhov on Three Sisters ...

"But what I have written is a farce"

Stanislavsky on Three Sisters

"[Chekhov] was afraid of provincial life being exaggerated and caricatured, of his officers being turned into the usual heel-clickers with jingling spurs. He wanted us to play the parts of simple, charming, decent people in 'untheatrical' uniforms which looked as if they'd actually been worn"