1.
Olga Chekhova
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Olga Konstantinovna Chekhova, born Knipper (Russian, Ольга Константиновна Чехова was a Russian-German actress. Her film roles include the lead in Alfred Hitchcocks Mary. Born Olga Knipper, she was the daughter of Konstantin Knipper, a railway engineer and she went to school in Tsarskoye Selo but, after watching Eleonora Duse, joined the Moscow Art Theatres studio. There she met the great actor Mikhail Chekhov in 1914 and married him the same year and their daughter, also named Olga, was born in 1916. During the year of the 1917 October Revolution, Chekhova divorced her husband and she managed to get a travel passport from the Soviet government, possibly in exchange for her cooperation, which led to permission to leave Russia. She was accompanied by a Soviet agent on a train to Vienna and her first cinema role was in Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau silent movie Schloß Vogelöd. She played in Max Reinhardts productions at UFA, the studios where Fritz Lang directed Metropolis. She made the transition from silent film to talkies. In the 1930s, she rose to one of the brightest stars of the Third Reich and was admired by Adolf Hitler. She appeared in films as Der Choral von Leuthen although she preferred comedies. A published photograph of her sitting beside Hitler at a reception gave the leaders of the Soviet intelligence service the impression that she had contacts with Hitler. She had more contact with the Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels and she is also rumored to have been a communist spy in a Russian conspiracy. Also, the controversial Argentine theater book Hotel Berlin 1933 by Pablo Sodor shows a relationship between Chekhova and Karl Heinrich von Stülpnagel, during World War II her acting career was less successful, her one film made in Hollywood was unpopular, largely because her accent was too strong. After the war she lived in the Soviet sector of Berlin, in 1949, she moved to Munich, Bavaria, and launched a cosmetics company. At the same time she continued acting, and played supporting roles and she largely retired from acting in the 70s, after publishing a book of memoirs. Her correspondence with Russian actors Olga Knipper and Alla Tarasova was published posthumously, beevor, Antony The Mystery of Olga Chekhova, was Hitlers favorite actress a Russian spy
2.
People's Artist of the USSR
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Peoples Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union. The term is used to translate two Russian language titles, Народный артист СССР, awarded in performing arts and Народный художник СССР. Each Soviet Republic, as well as the Autonomous Republics, had an award held previously by virtually every receiver of the higher title of Peoples Artist of the USSR. As this title was granted by the government, honorees were afforded certain privileges, accordingly, artists and authors who expressed criticism of the Communist Party were seldom granted such recognition, if not outright censored. The title was bestowed for exceptional achievements in the arts in the Soviet Union. Its recipients included many of the composers, dancers, singers, film. In all, there were 1010 recipients of the award, the title was introduced in 1936, replacing the earlier title of Peoples Artist of the Republic. The first recipients of the title were Konstantin Stanislavski, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Ivan Moskvin, Antonina Nezhdanova, Boris Shchukin, Kulyash Baiseitova, the last persons to be honoured with the title were Sofia Pilyavskaya and Oleg Yankovsky. Originally, the title was bestowed on theatre actors, ballet dancers, gradually, it came to be bestowed upon film actors, composers, violinist, pop singers, comedians, and even circus performers such as Natalya Durova and Oleg Popov. Normally, a person was named the Peoples Artist of the USSR after 40 years of age, the youngest female persons to receive this title were Kazakh opera singers Kulyash Baiseitova and Halima Nasyrova. The youngest men were Uzbek singer Batir Zakirov, followed by the Azerbaijani baritone operatic, among the actors, the youngest recipient was Sergey Bondarchuk. The youngest actress to receive the title was Yuri Andropovs daughter-in-law, Lyudmila Chursina, as of 2009, the earliest living recipient is Turkmen opera singer Maya Kuliyeva. The title of Peoples Painter of the Soviet Union was awarded for achievements in certain visual arts, painting, sculpture, drawing. The lesser title of Meritorious Painter of the Soviet Union was also awarded for achievement in these fields
3.
Glazov
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Glazov is a town in the Udmurt Republic, Russia, located along the Trans-Siberian Railway, on the Cheptsa River. It was first mentioned in the 17th century chronicles as a village, during the Russian Civil War, the town was of considerable military importance. It was taken by Kolchaks general Anatoly Pepelyayev on June 2,1919, within the framework of administrative divisions, Glazov serves as the administrative center of Glazovsky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the town of significance of Glazov—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the town of significance of Glazov is incorporated as Glazov Urban Okrug. The town is known for Chepetsk Mechanical Works, Russian main producer of uranium, zirconium, and calcium metals for nuclear plants, military. Apart from machine-building, there are wood-working, clothing, and food industries, there are five establishments of higher education in the town, notably Glazov State Pedagogical Institute named after Vladimir Korolenko and the Glazov branch of Izhevsk State Technical University. Закон №46-РЗ от19 октября2006 г, «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Удмуртской Республики», в ред. Закона №60-РЗ от12 октября2012 г, «О внесении изменений в отдельные Законы Удмуртской Республики». Вступил в силу через десять дней после официального опубликования, Опубликован, Известия Удмуртской Республики, №185,12 декабря2006 г. Закон №56-РЗ от12 ноября2004 г, «Об установлении границы муниципального образования и наделении соответствующим статусом муниципального образования на территории города Глазова Удмуртской Республики», в ред. Закона №8-РЗ от23 марта2015 г, «О внесении изменений в отдельные Законы Удмуртской Республики в части уточнения описания границ муниципальных образований город Глазов и Глазовский район». Вступил в силу с1 января2005 г, Опубликован, Собрание законодательства Удмуртской Республики, №5,25 июля2005 г. Закон №75-РЗ от30 ноября2004 г, «Об установлении границ муниципальных образований и наделении соответствующим статусом муниципальных образований на территории Глазовского района Удмуртской Республики», в ред. Закона №8-РЗ от23 марта2015 г, «О внесении изменений в отдельные Законы Удмуртской Республики в части уточнения описания границ муниципальных образований город Глазов и Глазовский район». Вступил в силу с1 января2005 г, Опубликован, Собрание законодательства Удмуртской Республики, №5,25 июля2005 г. Official website of Glazov Unofficial website of Glazov
4.
Vyatka Governorate
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Vyatka Governorate was a governorate of the Russian Empire and USSR, with its capital in city Vyatka, from 1796 to 1929. In the governorate’s area were situated most parts of modern Kirov Oblast, Vyatka Governorate was bordered with Vologda Governorate, Perm Governorate, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan governorates, and Kostroma Governorate. Its area was approximately 169,629 km2, Russian people composed 77. 4% of the population, Udmurt people –12. 5%, Mari people –4. 8%, and Tatar people –4. 1%. According to 1958 data, the population was 2,123,904, detailed map of Vyatka Governorate by A. A. Ilin,1876
5.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
6.
Moscow
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Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
7.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
8.
Anton Chekhov
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Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short story writer, who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics and his best short stories are held in esteem by writers. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his career, Medicine is my lawful wife, he once said. These four works present a challenge to the ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a theatre of mood. Chekhov had at first written stories only for financial gain, but as his artistic ambition grew and he made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them. Anton Chekhov was born on the feast day of St. Anthony the Great 29 January 1860, the third of six surviving children, in Taganrog, a port on the Sea of Azov in southern Russia. His father, Pavel Yegorovich Chekhov, the son of a serf and his Ukrainian wife, were from the village Vilkhovatka near Kobeliaky. A director of the choir, devout Orthodox Christian, and physically abusive father. Chekhovs mother, Yevgeniya, was an excellent storyteller who entertained the children with tales of her travels with her cloth-merchant father all over Russia and our talents we got from our father, Chekhov remembered, but our soul from our mother. Despotism and lying so mutilated our childhood that its sickening and frightening to think about it, remember the horror and disgust we felt in those times when Father threw a tantrum at dinner over too much salt in the soup and called Mother a fool. Chekhov attended the Greek School in Taganrog and the Taganrog Gymnasium and he sang at the Greek Orthodox monastery in Taganrog and in his fathers choirs. In 1876, Chekhovs father was declared bankrupt after overextending his finances building a new house, to avoid debtors prison he fled to Moscow, where his two eldest sons, Alexander and Nikolay, were attending university. The family lived in poverty in Moscow, Chekhovs mother physically and emotionally broken by the experience, Chekhov was left behind to sell the familys possessions and finish his education. Chekhov remained in Taganrog for three years, boarding with a man called Selivanov who, like Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard, had bailed out the family for the price of their house. Chekhov had to pay for his own education, which he managed by private tutoring, catching and selling goldfinches and he sent every ruble he could spare to his family in Moscow, along with humorous letters to cheer them up. Chekhov also enjoyed a series of affairs, one with the wife of a teacher. In 1879, Chekhov completed his schooling and joined his family in Moscow, Chekhov now assumed responsibility for the whole family
9.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
10.
Actor
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An actor is a person who portrays a character in a performance. Simplistically speaking, the person denominated actor or actress is someone beautiful who plays important characters, the actor performs in the flesh in the traditional medium of the theatre, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής, literally one who answers, the actors interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is playing themselves, as in forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly, to act, is to create. Formerly, in societies, only men could become actors. When used for the stage, women played the roles of prepubescent boys. The etymology is a derivation from actor with ess added. However, when referring to more than one performer, of both sexes, actor is preferred as a term for male performers. Actor is also used before the name of a performer as a gender-specific term. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the term dates to the 1950–1960s. As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper, Im an actor – I can play anything. The U. K. performers union Equity has no policy on the use of actor or actress, an Equity spokesperson said that the union does not believe that there is a consensus on the matter and stated that the. subject divides the profession. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times stated that Actress remains the term used in major acting awards given to female recipients. However, player remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a group or company, such as the American Players. Also, actors in improvisational theatre may be referred to as players, prior to Thespis act, Grecian stories were only expressed in song, dance, and in third person narrative. In honor of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians, the exclusively male actors in the theatre of ancient Greece performed in three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the Romans, as the Western Roman Empire fell into decay through the 4th and 5th centuries, the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Records show that mime, pantomime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies, dances, from the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder
11.
Moscow Art Theatre
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The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in 1898 by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and it was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas that were Russias dominant form of theatre at the time. The theatre, the first to put on shows implementing Stanislavskis system, proved hugely influential in the acting world and in the development of modern American theatre. At the end of the 19th-century, Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko both wanted to reform Russian theatre to high-quality art that was available to the general public and they set about creating a private theatre over which they had total control. On 22 June 1897, the two men met for the first time at the Slavyanski Bazar for a lunch that started at 2 PM, while Stanislavski’s approach to theatre revolved around the acting process, Nemirovich was far more concerned with the literary, intellectual angle. Stanislavski interviewed all his actors, making sure they were hard working and he made them live together in common housing for months at a time to foster community and trust, which he believed would raise the quality of their performances. Stanislavskis system, in which he trained actors via the studios he founded as part of the theatre. The system played an influence in the development of method acting. This production was so successful that the theatre adopted the seagull as its emblem and he took with him Savva Morozov, one of the theatre’s main investors at the time. Now in dire straits, the decided to accept invitations to go on an international tour in 1906, which started in Berlin and included Dresden, Frankfurt, Prague. The tour was a success, gaining the theatre international acclaim. The tension between the two led Stanislavski to abandon his duties as a member and to relinquish all his power over policy decisions. Mikhail Bulgakov wrote several plays for the MAT and satirised the organisation mercilessly in his novel Black Snow, isaac Babels Sunset was also performed there during the 1920s. A significant number of Moscow Art Theatres actors were awarded the title of Peoples Artist of the USSR. Many actors became known and admired thanks to their film roles. However, the Civil War saw many of the actors being cut off from Moscow. The subsidies it had come to rely on were withdrawn and the theatre was forced to survive on its own profits, by 1923, the MAT was in $25,000 debt. The theatre experienced further blows through the end of the 1930s, a “red director” was appointed to the management by the government to ensure that the MAT’s activities were not counter-revolutionary and that they served the Communist cause
12.
Konstantin Stanislavski
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Konstantin Sergeievich Stanislavski was a seminal Russian theatre practitioner. He was widely recognised as a character actor and the many productions that he directed garnered a reputation as one of the leading theatre directors of his generation. His principal fame and influence, however, rests on his system of training, preparation. Its influential tours of Europe and the US and its productions of The Seagull and Hamlet established his reputation. At the MATs 30-year anniversary celebrations in 1928, a heart attack on-stage put an end to his acting career. He continued to direct, teach, and write about acting until his death a few weeks before the publication of the first volume of his lifes great work, the acting manual An Actors Work. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Lenin and was one of the first to be granted the title of Peoples Artist of the USSR. Stanislavski wrote that there is nothing more tedious than an actors biography, at the request of a US publisher, however, he reluctantly agreed to write his autobiography, My Life in Art, though its account of his artistic development is not always accurate. Two English-language biographies have been published, David Magarshacks Stanislavsky, A Life and Jean Benedettis Stanislavski, His Life, Stanislavski subjected his acting and direction to a rigorous process of artistic self-analysis and reflection. His system of acting developed out of his persistent efforts to remove the blocks that he encountered in his performances and he also introduced into the production process a period of discussion and detailed analysis of the play by the cast. Despite the success that this brought, particularly with his Naturalistic stagings of the plays of Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky. Both his struggles with Chekhovs drama and his experiments with Symbolism encouraged a greater attention to inner action and he began to develop the more actor-centred techniques of psychological realism and his focus shifted from his productions to rehearsal process and pedagogy. He pioneered the use of theatre studios as a laboratory in which to innovate actor training, the system cultivates what Stanislavski calls the art of experiencing. In rehearsal, the searches for inner motives to justify action. Stanislavskis earliest reference to his system appears in 1909, the year that he first incorporated it into his rehearsal process. The MAT adopted it as its official rehearsal method in 1911, later, Stanislavski further elaborated the system with a more physically grounded rehearsal process that came to be known as the Method of Physical Action. Minimising at-the-table discussions, he now encouraged an active analysis, in which the sequence of dramatic situations are improvised, the best analysis of a play, Stanislavski argued, is to take action in the given circumstances. The Opera-Dramatic Studio embodied the most complete implementation of the training exercises described in his manuals, meanwhile, the transmission of his earlier work via the students of the First Studio was revolutionising acting in the West
13.
The Seagull
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The Seagull is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. The Seagull is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays, though the character of Trigorin is considered Chekhovs greatest male role like Chekhovs other full-length plays, The Seagull relies upon an ensemble cast of diverse, fully developed characters. In contrast to the melodrama of mainstream 19th-century theatre, lurid actions are not shown onstage, characters tend to speak in ways that skirt around issues rather than addressing them directly, in other words, their lines are full of what is known in dramatic practice as subtext. The opening night of the first production was a famous failure, Vera Komissarzhevskaya, playing Nina, was so intimidated by the hostility of the audience that she lost her voice. Chekhov left the audience and spent the last two acts behind the scenes, when supporters wrote to him that the production later became a success, he assumed that they were merely trying to be kind. When Konstantin Stanislavsky, the seminal Russian theatre practitioner of the time, directed it in 1898 for his Moscow Art Theatre, the play was a triumph. Stanislavskis production of The Seagull became one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theatre and one of the greatest new developments in the history of world drama. After purchasing the Melikhovo farm in 1892, Chekhov had built in the middle of a cherry orchard a lodge consisting of three rooms, one containing a bed and another a writing table. In spring, when the cherries were in blossom, it was pleasant to live in this lodge, Chekhov eventually moved in and in a letter written in October 1895 wrote, I am writing a play which I shall probably not finish before the end of November. I am writing it not without pleasure, though I swear fearfully at the conventions of the stage and its a comedy, there are three womens parts, six mens, four acts, landscapes, a great deal of conversation about literature, little action, tons of love. Thus he acknowledged a departure from traditional dramatic action and this departure would become a critical hallmark of the Chekhovian theater. Chekhovs statement also reflects his view of the play as comedy, after the plays disastrous opening night his friend Aleksey Suvorin chided him as being womanish and accused him of being in a funk. Chekhov vigorously denied this, stating, Why this libel, after the performance I had supper at Romanovs. Then I went to bed, slept soundly, and next day went home without uttering a sound of complaint, I acted as coldly and reasonably as a man who has made an offer, received a refusal, and has nothing left but to go. Yes, my vanity was stung, but you know it was not a bolt from the blue, I was expecting a failure, and was prepared for it, as I warned you with perfect sincerity beforehand. He is the brother of the famous actress Arkadina, who has just arrived at the estate for a vacation with her lover. Sorin and his guests gather at a stage to see an unconventional play that Arkadinas son, Konstantin Treplyov, has written. The play-within-a-play features Nina, a woman who lives on a neighboring estate
14.
Uncle Vanya
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Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, the play portrays the visit of an elderly professor and his glamorous, much younger second wife, Yelena, to the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle. Sonya, the daughter by his first wife, who has worked with Vanya to keep the estate going. Uncle Vanya is unique among Chekhovs major plays because it is essentially a reworking of his own play published a decade earlier. Rayfield cites recent scholarship suggesting Chekhov revised The Wood Demon during his trip to the island of Sakhalin, a prison colony in Eastern Russia, in 1891. Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov, a university professor, who has lived for years in the city on the earnings of his late first wifes rural estate. Helena Andreyevna Serebryakov, Professor Serebryakovs young and beautiful second wife, sofia Alexandrovna Serebryakov, Professor Serebryakovs daughter from his first marriage. She is of an age, but is considered plain. Maria Vasilyevna Voynitsky, the widow of a councilor and mother of Vanya. Ivan Petrovich Voynitsky, Marias son and Sonyas uncle, the character of the play. Mikhail Lvovich Astrov, a middle aged country doctor, ilya Ilych Telegin, an impoverished landowner, who now lives on the estate as a dependent of the family. A Workman A garden in Serebryakovs country estate, Astrov and Marina discuss how old Astrov has grown, and how he feels bored with his life as a country doctor. Vanya enters, and complains about how all order has been disrupted since the professor and his wife, Yelena, as they’re talking, Serebryakov, Yelena, Sonya, and Telegin return from a walk. Out of the professors earshot, Vanya calls him an old dried mackerel, criticizing him for his pomposity. Vanya’s mother, Maria Vasilyevna, who idolizes Serebryakov, objects to her son’s derogatory comments, Vanya also praises the professor’s wife, Yelena, for her beauty, arguing that faithfulness to an old man like Serebryakov is an immoral waste of vitality. Astrov is forced to depart to attend a patient, but not before delivering a speech on the preservation of the forests, act I closes with Vanya declaring his love for an exasperated Yelena. The dining room, several days later, before going to bed, Serebryakov complains of being in pain and of old age. Astrov arrives, having sent for by Sonya, but the professor refuses to see him
15.
Three Sisters (play)
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Three Sisters is a play by the Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre, the play is sometimes included on the short list of Chekhovs outstanding plays, along with The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull and Uncle Vanya. Olga Sergeyevna Prozorova – The eldest of the three sisters, she is the figure of the Prozorov family though at the beginning of the play she is only 28 years old. Olga is a teacher at the school, where she frequently fills in for the headmistress whenever the latter is absent. Olga is a spinster and at one point tells Irina that she would have married any man, Olga is very motherly even to the elderly servants, keeping on the elderly nurse/retainer Anfisa, long after she has ceased to be useful. When Olga reluctantly takes the role of headmistress permanently, she takes Anfisa with her to escape the clutches of the heartless Natasha, Maria Sergeyevna Kulygina – The middle sister, she is 23 at the beginning of the play. She married her husband, Kulygin, when she was 18, when the play opens she has been disappointed in the marriage and falls completely in love with the idealistic Lieutenant-Colonel Vershinin. When he is transferred away, she is crushed, but returns to life with her husband and she has a short temper, which is seen frequently throughout the play, and is the sister who disapproves the most of Natasha. Onstage, her directness often serves as a tonic to the melodrama and her vitality provides most of the plays surprisingly plentiful humour. She was trained as a concert pianist, Irina Sergeyevna Prozorova – The youngest sister, she is 20 at the beginning of the play. It is her day at the beginning of the play. Her only desire is to go back to Moscow, which they left eleven years before the play begins. She believes she will find her love in Moscow, but when it becomes clear that they are not going to Moscow, she agrees to marry the Baron Tuzenbach. She gets her degree and plans to leave with the Baron. She decides to leave anyway and dedicate her life to work, Andrei Sergeyevich Prozorov – The brother of the three sisters. In Act I, he is a man on the fast track to being a Professor in Moscow. In Act III, his debts have grown to 35,000 rubles and he is forced to mortgage the house, Act IV finds Andrei a pathetic shell of his former self, now the father of two. He acknowledges he is a failure and laughed at in town for being a member of the council whose president
16.
The Cherry Orchard
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The Cherry Orchard is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It opened at the Moscow Art Theatre on 17 January 1904 in a directed by Konstantin Stanislavski. Chekhov described the play as a comedy, with elements of farce. Since its first production, directors have contended with its dual nature and it is often identified as one of the three or four outstanding plays by Chekhov, along with The Seagull, Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya. The play concerns an aristocratic Russian landowner who returns to her family estate just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. Unresponsive to offers to save the estate, she allows its sale to the son of a former serf, the story presents themes of cultural futility – both the futile attempts of the aristocracy to maintain its status and of the bourgeoisie to find meaning in its newfound materialism. Widely regarded as a classic of 20th-century theatre, the play has been translated and adapted into many languages, major theatre directors have staged it, including Charles Laughton, Peter Brook, Andrei Șerban, Jean-Louis Barrault, Tyrone Guthrie, Katie Mitchell, Mehmet Ergen and Giorgio Strehler. It has influenced other playwrights, including Eugene ONeill, George Bernard Shaw, David Mamet. The spelling of character names depends on the transliteration used, Madame Lyubov Andreievna Ranevskaya – a landowner. Ranyevskaya is the linchpin around which the other characters revolve, a commanding and popular figure, she represents the pride of the old aristocracy, now fallen on hard times. Her confused feelings of love for her old home and sorrow at the scene of her sons death, most of her humor comes from her inability to understand financial or business matters. Peter Trofimov – a student and Anyas love interest, Trofimov is depicted as an eternal student. An impassioned left-wing political commentator, he represents the rising tide of reformist political opinion in Russia, Boris Borisovich Simeonov-Pishchik – a landowner and another old aristocrat whose estate has hit hard times. He is constantly discussing new business ventures that may save him and his character embodies the irony of the aristocracys position, despite his financial peril, he spends the play relaxing and socializing with the Gayevs. Anya – Lyubovs daughter, aged 17 and she journeys to Paris to rescue her mother from her desperate situation. She is a virtuous and strong young woman and she is in love with Trofimov and listens to his revolutionary ideas, although she may or may not be taking them in. Varya – Lyubovs adopted daughter, aged 24, Varya is the one who manages the estate and keeps everything in order. She is the rock holds the family together
17.
Russian Academy of Theatre Arts
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Known as the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts from 1934 to 1991, it is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia and is located in Moscow. GITIS trains students in various professions in the arts and simultaneously provides a traditional university education in liberal arts. Approximately 1500 students, qualification-advancement students, and post-graduate students from various countries study at GITIS, the University was founded as the Shestakovskiy Music School for Coming People in Moscow at the end of the 19th century, patronized by the Society of Musical and Dramatic Arts Lovers. In 1883 the Society was renamed the Moscow Philharmonic Society and the school obtained the status of Musical-Drama Specialized School subordinated by the Society and they were under the patronage of Grand Duke Nikolai. Drama classes of the school were headed by well known actors, teachers and theatrical figures such as Alexander Yuzhin, Osyp Pravdin. The 1898 class graduates included Olga Knipper, Margarita Savitskaya, in 1902, the school moved into the antique Soldatenkov Family building at Maly Kislovsky, where it has been located since. On 24 October 1903 The Charter of Musical-Drama School of the Moscow Philharmonic Society under the protection of Her Imperial Highness Princess Elisaveta Fedorovna was approved, according to the Charter, the School was a department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The acclaimed masters of Russian Musical culture as Rodolph Erlikh, Serge Koussevitsky, the graduates of the school at that time were composer Vasily Kalinnikov and a great Russian opera singer Leonid Sobinov. The tradition of drama classes to finish training by performance was acquired by musical classes where opera performances were staged. Skill of young musicians has allowed to act accompanied by orchestra of Pablo de Sarasate, to Sergei Rachmaninoff, Leonid Sobinov, Feodor Chaliapin, Anton Arensky. Since the Revolution in Russia of 1917, the Musical-Drama School has undergone a number of reorganization, in August 1922, the school was renamed the State Institute of Musical Drama and was joined with Vsevolod Meyerholds State Theatrical Workshops. This association received the name of State Institute of Theatrical Art – GITIS, the official date of its formation was 17 September 1922. According to the original plan GITIS was meant to unite three major branches of theatrical arts, drama, opera and choreography, in June 1923, the State Practical Institute of Choreography joined GITIS as a separate department and the plan was achieved. Three departments were organized, drama, opera and choreography, in 1924, the existing theatrical institutes of Moscow and St. Petersburg were closed by Sovnarkom Edict because. Of failures in the quality of education, but in spite of this. Clubs by interests and the movement actively developed those years, were the main stimulus for the subsequent creation of theatrically instructor classes on the basis of already disbanded GITIS. In 1925 the Central technical school of a theatrical art an educational institution with the training was created. In 1926, on the basis of graduates of GITIS and CETETIS theatre, as a logic end of this process was an opening of directing-pedagogical faculty on September, 15th,1930
18.
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
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Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko was born into a mixed Ukrainian-Armenian family in the village of Shemokmedi near Ozurgeti. His father was an officer of the Russian army, and his mother and he was educated at High school in Tbilisi and then at Moscow State University. In 1879 he left the University for the theatre, starting as a critic, and in 1881, his first play Dog-rose. He was a teacher of Moskvin, Knipper and Meyerhold, in 1919 he established the Musical Theatre of the Moscow Art Theatre, which was reformed into the Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre in 1926. In 1943 Nemirovich-Danchenko established the Moscow Art Theatre School, which is still extant, Nemirovich-Danchenko opened for theatre a true sense of Chekhov and Gorky plays, a prose of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. It has been said that If Stanislavsky was the soul of Art Theatre, Nemirovich-Danchenko created an acting and directing style of the Moscow Art Theatre, actors ensemble and atmosphere. Because of this the Moscow Art Theatre was considered the best theatre of the world at that time, but Nemirovich didnt write down his system of acting and we know only the system of Stanislavski. He was one of the first recipients of the title of Peoples Artist of the USSR in 1936, later, he was awarded the USSR State Prize, the Order of Lenin, and Order of the Red Banner of Labour. The Brothers Karamazov Resurrection Anna Karenina Three Sisters Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Biography from Answers. com
19.
Vsevolod Meyerhold
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Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in a theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre. During the Great Purge, Meyerhold was arrested, tortured and executed in February 1940 and he was the youngest of eight children. After completing school in 1895, Meiergold studied law at Moscow University and he was torn between studying theatre or a career as a violinist. However, he failed his audition to become the second violinist in the University orchestra, on his 21st birthday, he converted from Lutheranism to Orthodox Christianity and accepted Vsevolod as an Orthodox Christian name. Meyerhold began acting in 1896 as a student of the Moscow Philharmonic Dramatic School under the guidance of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre. At the MAT, Meyerhold played 18 roles, such as Vasiliy Shuiskiy in Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich and Ivan the Terrible in The Death of Ivan the Terrible, after leaving the MAT in 1902, Meyerhold participated in a number of theatrical projects, as both a director and actor. Each project was an arena for experiment and creation of new staging methods, Meyerhold was one of the most fervent advocates of Symbolism in theatre, especially when he worked as the chief producer of the Vera Komissarzhevskaya theatre in 1906–1907. He was invited back to the MAT around this time to pursue his experimental ideas, Meyerhold continued theatrical innovation during the decade 1907–1917, while working with the imperial theatres in St. Petersburg. He introduced classical plays in a manner, and staged works of controversial contemporary authors like Fyodor Sologub, Zinaida Gippius. In these plays, Meyerhold tried to return acting to the traditions of Commedia dellarte and his theoretical concepts of the conditional theatre were elaborated in his book On Theatre in 1913. The Russian Revolution of 1917 made Meyerhold one of the most enthusiastic activists of the new Soviet Theatre and he joined the Bolshevik Party in 1918 and became an official of the Theatre Division of the Commissariat of Education and Enlightenment. In 1918–1919, Meyerhold formed an alliance with Olga Kameneva, the head of the Division, together, they tried to radicalize Russian theatres, effectively nationalizing them under Bolshevik control. Meyerhold came down with tuberculosis in May 1919 and had to leave for the south, after returning to Moscow, Meyerhold founded his own theatre in 1920, which was known from 1923 as the Meyerhold Theatre until 1938. Meyerhold confronted the principles of theatrical academism, claiming that they are incapable of finding a common language with the new reality, Meyerhold’s methods of scenic constructivism and circus-style effects were used in his most successful works of the time. Some of these works included Nikolai Erdmans The Mandate, Vladimir Mayakovsky’s Mystery-Bouffe, Fernand Crommelyncks Le Cocu magnifique, mayakovsky collaborated with Meyerhold several times, and was said to have written The Bedbug especially for him, Meyerhold continued to stage Mayakovskys productions even after the latters suicide. The actors participating in Meyerhold’s productions acted according to the principle of biomechanics, Meyerhold gave initial boosts to the stage careers of some of the most distinguished comic actors of the USSR, including Sergey Martinson, Igor Ilyinsky and Erast Garin. Energy was replaced by trance, the dynamic with the static, happy jesting humour with bitter, Meyerhold also gave a start to his one time assistant of The Queen of Spades Matvey Dubrovin, who later created his own theater in Leningrad
20.
Pushkino, Pushkinsky District, Moscow Oblast
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Pushkino is a city and the administrative center of Pushkinsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Ucha and Serebryanka Rivers,30 kilometers northeast of Moscow. Population,102, 874 ,72, 425 ,75, a statue of Pushka graces one of the towns main squares. During the following centuries, the neighborhood evolved into a summer retreat of Russian nobility. Pushkino was granted town status in August 1925, within the framework of administrative divisions, Pushkino serves as the administrative center of Pushkinsky District. As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Pushkinsky District as the City of Pushkino, as a municipal division, the City of Pushkino is incorporated within Pushkinsky Municipal District as Pushkino Urban Settlement. The city hosts the Institute of Forest Science, one of the few in Russia, in 1678, a five-domed church of St. Sergius was built at the manor of Komyagino. Another notable estate is Muranovo, where the Russian poets Yevgeny Baratynsky, a dacha of Vladimir Mayakovsky, who lived in Pushkino during summer seasons of 1920-1928 is also a museum. Pushkino is twinned with, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic Orivesi, Постановление №123-ПГ от28 сентября2010 г. «Об учётных данных административно-территориальных и территориальных единиц Московской области», в ред, Постановления №252-ПГ от26 июня2015 г. «О внесении изменения в учётные данные административно-территориальных и территориальных единиц Московской области», Опубликован, Информационный вестник Правительства МО, №10,30 октября2010 г. Закон №37/2005-ОЗ от8 февраля2005 г, «О статусе и границах Пушкинского муниципального района и вновь образованных в его составе муниципальных образований», в ред. Закона №73/2015-ОЗ от5 мая2015 г, Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Подмосковье, №29,17 февраля2005 г
21.
Yalta
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Yalta is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony and it is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black Sea, surrounded by the mountain range Ai-Petri. It has a humid subtropical climate and surrounded by numerous vineyards and orchards. The existence of Yalta was first recorded in the 12th century by an Arab geographer and it became part of a network of Genoese trading colonies on the Crimean coast in the 14th century, when it was known as Etalita or Galita. Yalta was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783, along with the rest of Crimea, sparking the Russo-Turkish War, prior to the annexation of the Crimea, the Crimean Greeks were moved to Mariupol in 1778, one of the villages they established nearby is also called Yalta. In the 19th century, the became a fashionable resort for the Russian aristocracy. The town was closely associated with royalty. In 1889 Tsar Alexander III finished construction of Massandra Palace a short distance to the north of Yalta, during the 20th century Yalta was the principal holiday resort of the Soviet Union. Numerous workers sanatoria were constructed in and around Yalta and the surrounding district, there were, in fact, few other places that Soviet citizens could come for a seaside holiday, as foreign travel was forbidden to all but a handful. The Soviet elite also came to Yalta, the Soviet premier Joseph Stalin used the Massandra Palace as his summer residence, Yalta was occupied by the German Army from 9 November 1941 to 16 April 1944. The town came to attention in 1945 when the Yalta Conference between the Big Three powers – the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom – was held at the Livadia Palace. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Yalta has struggled economically, the towns transport links have been significantly reduced with the end of almost all passenger traffic by sea. The longest trolleybus line in Europe goes from the station in Simferopol to Yalta. Yalta is crowded in the season and prices for accommodation are very high. Most of the tourists are from countries of the former Soviet Union, in 2013, Yalta has a beautiful embankment along the Black Sea. People can be seen strolling there all seasons of the year, there are several beaches to the east and west of the embankment. The town has several theaters, a drama theater, plenty of restaurants
22.
Anton Chekhov bibliography
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Letters on the Short Story, the Drama, and Other Literary Topics, by Anton Chekhov. Selected and Edited by Louis S. Friedland, the Letters of Anton Pavolvitch Tchekhov to Olga Leonardovna Knipper. Translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett, the Life and Letters of Anton Tchekov. Translated and Edited by S. S. Koteliansky and Philip Tomlinson, the Personal Papers of Anton Chekhov. The Selected Letters of Anton Chekhov, Edited by Lillian Hellman and translated by Sidonie Lederer. DEAR WRITER, DEAR ACTRESS, The Love Letters of Anton Chekhov, Anton Chekhovs Life and Thought, Selected Letters and Commentary. Translated by Simon Karlinsky, Michael Henry Heim, Northwestern University Press,1997, translated by Rosamund Bartlett, Anthony Phillips. Translated by S. S. Koteliansky, Leonard Woolf, New York, study resource for The Lady with the Dog Retrieved 17 February 2007. 55 + Stories Internet Archive Creative Commons and Public Domain The Little Trilogy Internet Archive Creative Commons and Public Domain Additional Stories from LibriVox See More Chekhov Stories
23.
On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco
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On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco is a one-act play written by Russian author Anton Chekhov, it has one character, Ivan Ivanovich Nyukhin. First published in 1886, the play was revised by Chekhov and is best known from his 1902 version and this was first published in English in The Unknown Chekhov, a collection of writings. The action takes place in a town hall, Nyukhin has been told by his wife to give a lecture about the harmful effects of tobacco, although he is a smoker. He emphasizes that this will be a dry and boring lecture, I must tell you, by the way, that my wife runs a boarding school. Well, not exactly a boarding school, but something in the nature of one, just between us, my wife likes to complain about hard times, but she has put away a little nest egg. Some forty or fifty thousand rubles, as for me, I havent a kopek to my name, not a penny. He wants to stand up against his wife, he wants to run away, to forget and he throws off his old, shabby waistcoat, but suddenly picks it back up, because She is here. My wife is there in the waiting for me. The play was published in 1886, but Chekhov revised it later. The first English publication was by Ecco Press in The Unknown Chekhov, Paul Newman directed a short film adaptation of On The Harmful Effects of Tobacco that received limited screening in New York City in 1962. Nyukhin was played by Michael Strong, who had performed the monologue to high praise in The Actors Studio, despite a favorable mention in The New York Times, Newman removed his name from the credits for reasons that remain unclear. He gave the print to Strong, who kept it until his death in 1980. As of November 2016, Turner Classic Movies plans to air the film in early 2017, the play was also adapted and set to music composed by American Dominick Argento, in his A Water Bird Talk, he also used passages from Audubons Birds of America. Schmidt Paul, The Plays of Anton Chekhov, A New Translation, Harper Perennial ISBN 978-0-06-092875-9 On the Harmful Effects of Smoking, Full Text
24.
The Bear (play)
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The Bear, A Joke in One Act, or The Boor, is a one-act comedic play written by Russian author Anton Chekhov. The play was dedicated to Nikolai Nikolaevich Solovtsov, Chekhovs boyhood friend. Since her husband died, Popova has locked herself in the house in mourning and her footman, Luka, begins the play by begging Popova to stop mourning and step outside the estate. She ignores him, saying that she made a promise to her husband to remain faithful to his memory. Their conversation is interrupted when Grigory Stepanovitch Smirnov arrives and wishes to see Elena Popova, although Luka tells Grigory Smirnov to leave, he ignores Lukas requests and enters the dining room. Popova agrees to meet him and Smirnov explains to her that her late husband owes him a sum of 1,200 roubles. Because he is a landowner, Smirnov explains that he needs the sum paid to him on that day to pay for the mortgage of a house due the next day. Popova explains that she has no money with her and that she will settle her husbands debts when her steward arrives the day after tomorrow, Smirnov gets angered by her refusal to pay him back and mocks the supposed mourning of her husband, saying, Well, there. Must I pay the interest, or mustnt I, I ask you, Must I pay, or must I not. Suppose your husband is dead, and youve got a state of mind, and your stewards gone away somewhere, devil take him, what do you want me to do. Do you think I can fly away from my creditors in a balloon, or do you expect me to go and run my head into a brick wall. Smirnov decides that he not leave the estate until his debts are paid off. He and Popova get into another argument when he starts yelling at the footman to bring him kvass or any alcoholic beverage, the argument turns into a debate about true love according to the different genders. Smirnov argues that women are incapable of loving anybody except a lapdog, to which Popova argues that she loved her husband although he cheated on her. The argument deteriorates into another shouting match about paying back the debt, during this argument Popova insults Smirnov by calling him a bear, amongst other names, saying, Youre a boor. Smirnov, insulted, calls for a duel, not caring that Popova is a woman, Popova, in turn, enthusiastically agrees and goes off to get a pair of guns her husband owned. Luka overhears their conversation, gets frightened for his mistress, meanwhile, Smirnov says to himself how impressed he is by Popovas audacity and slowly realizes that he has actually fallen in love with her and her dimpled cheeks. When Popova returns with the pistols, Smirnov makes his love confession, Popova oscillates between refusing him and ordering him to leave and telling him to stay
