Chekhov and the Moscow Art Theater: Crash Course Theater #34

Summary

This Crash Course Theater episode, hosted by Mike Rugnetta, delves into the fascinating world of Russian theater, focusing on Anton Chekhov and the Moscow Art Theater. It traces early Russian drama's evolution, highlighting Chekhov's revolutionary approach to realism that contrasts dramatic incidents with life's mundane moments. His works, like "The Seagull" and "The Cherry Orchard," capture life's essence through subtext and symbolism. The episode also explores Konstantin Stanislavski's influential techniques for realistic acting, which transformed the Moscow Art Theater and continue to impact Western theater today.

Highlights

• Anton Chekhov changed theater with realistic portrayals of life's subtlety, using subtext and mundane moments 🌟.
• Chekhov's major plays, "The Seagull," "Uncle Vanya," and "The Cherry Orchard," transformed dramatic storytelling 🎭.
• Stanislavski's pioneering work at the Moscow Art Theater set a new standard for acting, influencing generations of actors 🌟.
• The Moscow Art Theater's revival of "The Seagull" was pivotal, proving the power of Chekhov’s nuanced storytelling 🌟.
• Chekhov’s untimely death left a rich legacy that continues to inspire theatrical innovation and exploration 💔.

Key Takeaways

• Early Russian theater evolved from mystery plays and neoclassical works to realism, influenced by European styles 🎭.
• Anton Chekhov's plays captured life’s mundane moments with realism and powerful subtext, leaving a lasting legacy 📚.
• The Moscow Art Theater, co-founded by Stanislavski, became a hub for realistic acting and staging, shaping modern theater 🎭.
• Stanislavski's acting system, despite mistranslations and edits, emphasizes training, observation, and psychological realism 🎭.
• Chekhov’s works, notable for their symbolism and realism, suggest his potential shift toward a more expressionist direction 🌿.

Overview

In this episode of Crash Course Theater, we journey into the heart of Russian drama, exploring the evolution from its early comedic and neoclassical roots to the powerful realism associated with Anton Chekhov. His unique ability to capture the ebb and flow of everyday life with poignancy and humor revolutionized storytelling on stage.

Chekhov’s writing, filled with symbolic undertones and rich subtext, is exemplified in plays like "The Cherry Orchard" and "The Seagull." Despite initial flops, these works found new life and acclaim under the Moscow Art Theater, transforming modern drama with their focus on life's small, yet significant moments.

The episode also highlights the pivotal role of Konstantin Stanislavski, whose methods for realistic acting set the foundation for future theatrical performances. His techniques, which blend physical training with emotional truth, continue to influence actors worldwide, showcasing the timeless power of Chekhov's narratives.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Russian Modernism This chapter, 'Introduction to Russian Modernism', explores key elements of Russian modernism through the works of Anton Chekhov and the significance of the Moscow Art Theater. It dives into the emotional depth of this period, characterized by a blend of laughter and tears, against a backdrop of societal issues, symbolized by vodka and the pressing question, 'Who is gonna pay the mortgage?'
• 00:30 - 01:00: Origins of Russian Drama Early Russian drama shared similarities with the theatrical developments in France, Germany, and Italy, beginning with mystery plays and folk comedies. These eventually evolved into neoclassical scholastic plays, a transition that mirrored European trends. However, a distinctive feature in Russia was the emergence of neoclassical plays with anti-Napoleon themes. In the mid-1700s, Empress Catherine the Great made a significant contribution to Russian drama by permitting the establishment of the first professional theater in St. Petersburg. She also engaged in playwriting, although her comedies were not highly acclaimed.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Influences and Development The chapter titled 'Influences and Development' discusses the adaptation of 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' with Russian character names. It highlights the Russian dramatic literary tradition, which began with romanticism led by figures such as Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov, whose works were initially unproduced due to censorship. Additionally, Aleksey Tolstoy, a relative of the famous Lev (Leo) Tolstoy, is noted for his trilogy of plays about Ivan the Terrible.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Early Realism in Russian Theater The chapter 'Early Realism in Russian Theater' discusses how realism in theater emerged in Russia despite the country's strict state control and censorship. Notable works from this era include Ivan Turgenev's melancholy comedy "A Month in the Country," which is set on a rural estate, as well as the middle-class comedies and dramas by Alexander Ostrovsky. A.F. Pisemsky's play 'A Bitter Fate' is also mentioned as an example of early realism in Russian theater. The brief mention of these works highlights the notable transition from romantic to realist themes in Russian theater during this period.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Controversial Plays and Censorship The chapter "Controversial Plays and Censorship" discusses the influence of Zola's naturalism on Russian plays before his theories were published. It highlights plays by Gogol and Tolstoy, focusing on controversial themes like governmental corruption and infanticide, respectively, which faced censorship delaying their production for decades. The chapter also introduces Anton Chekhov, noted for his mastery in playwriting during this era.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Anton Chekhov's Early Life Anton Chekhov was born in 1860, his paternal grandfather having been a serf. Chekhov trained and qualified as a doctor, although his main passion was literature, particularly writing short stories. Upon completing medical school, Chekhov developed tuberculosis. Despite this, he continued to financially support his family. He later wrote his first play 'Ivanov', which was successful but a personal disappointment to him.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Chekhov's First Plays The chapter titled 'Chekhov's First Plays' discusses Anton Chekhov's initial foray into dramatic works with 'The Seagull,' written in 1895. Despite its poor initial reception due to the actors' poor performance and the audience's negative reaction, it gained a second life thanks to Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. He recognized its potential and presented it at the Moscow Art Theater. This encouragement led Chekhov to continue writing plays, resulting in three more major works.
• 03:30 - 04:00: The Seagull and Moscow Art Theater This chapter delves into the famous plays of Anton Chekhov and their lasting impact. Notably, it highlights his works such as 'Uncle Vanya,' 'The Three Sisters,' and 'The Cherry Orchard.' Chekhov's plays stand out because they mirror real life, despite having dramatic incidents like murders, suicide attempts, and financial crises. Unlike traditional drama, his stories lack grand climaxes or tidy resolutions, instead focusing on the mundane and straightforward aspects of daily life, such as playing cards. This realistic portrayal makes his works feel more like life itself.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Chekhov's Major Works The chapter 'Chekhov's Major Works' explores the realistic approach Chekhov took in his plays, as highlighted in his own words. He emphasized that real life, filled with mundane activities like eating, drinking, and talking nonsense, should be reflected on stage. Chekhov believed that drama should showcase life as it truly is, with authentic characters, rather than being overly dramatic with constant monumental events and dramatic gestures.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Themes in Chekhov's Works In the chapter titled 'Themes in Chekhov's Works,' the focus is on how Anton Chekhov, a Russian playwright, incorporates both eventful and less eventful scenes into his works. The latter scenes provide a more lifelike texture, reflecting everyday life. Chekhov often aimed to infuse these scenes with humor and frequently clashed with serious-minded directors to enhance their comedic elements. A key aspect of his mastery lies in his use of subtext, where characters' true intentions or feelings are not directly stated but become apparent through the underlying and between-the-lines dialogue. The chapter underscores Chekhov's balance of action and subtlety, ensuring that even seemingly mundane scenes hold significance and can convey deeper meanings.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Chekhovian Realism and 'The Cherry Orchard' The chapter discusses Chekhovian realism as illustrated in Chekhov's last play, 'The Cherry Orchard.' It focuses on the character Lyuba Ranevskaya, who returns from Paris with her lover to discover that her home is to be sold at auction. Her neighbor Lopakhin, who used to be a serf, suggests demolishing the orchard to develop the land for summer homes, but Lyuba refuses to consider this plan. Additionally, the chapter introduces Trofimov, Lyuba's son's former tutor, highlighting his transformation into a disheveled student.
• 05:30 - 06:00: Plot of 'The Cherry Orchard' In this chapter, Lyuba, her family, and friends go for a walk. They encounter a homeless man to whom Lyuba gives money despite financial problems. Anya is captivated by Trofimov's revolutionary ideas. As the family prepares for a potential rescue from a rich aunt, they anxiously face the auction day for their orchard.
• 06:00 - 06:30: Symbolism in Chekhov's Plays The chapter titled 'Symbolism in Chekhov's Plays' discusses a pivotal moment in one of Chekhov's works. The scene involves guests drinking, dancing, and arguing until Lopakhin arrives with the dramatic announcement that he has purchased the orchard where his ancestors were enslaved. This symbolizes a reversal of social status and the complexities of liberation and ownership.
• 06:30 - 07:00: Chekhov's Death and Legacy The family departs for the train station, unintentionally leaving behind the old servant, Firs. Firs lays down, accepting his fate as he is forgotten. In the background, the sound of axes cutting into orchard trees can be heard, signaling the end of an era. This reflects Chekhov's themes of change and the passage of time, capturing his style of depicting life's significant moments as part of ordinary scenes. His concept that simple actions affect the broader scope of life is evident in this chapter.
• 07:00 - 07:30: Foundation of the Moscow Art Theater The chapter discusses the distinctive style of Chekhov's play 'The Cherry Orchard,' highlighting the unique elements found in the ball scene, which eschews a typical auction setting in favor of idle conversation. Additionally, it comments on remarkable scenes featuring Lopakhin and Varya, emphasizing the importance of subtext. The chapter suggests that while 'The Cherry Orchard' is grounded in realism, it also foreshadows a shift towards symbolism, resonant with the late works of playwrights Ibsen and Strindberg. Central to this symbolism is the orchard itself, which transcends its literal meaning to become emblematic of an old societal order, accompanied by a recurring enigmatic sound within the play.
• 07:30 - 08:00: Stanislavski's Influence The chapter discusses the potential future artistic directions of the playwright Anton Chekhov, speculating on possible symbolist or expressionist influences that might have emerged if he had lived longer. The narrative highlights the poignancy of Chekhov's final days following the premiere of 'The Cherry Orchard' in 1904. Despite facing significant health challenges, Chekhov and his new wife, Olga Knipper, visit a spa town seeking recovery. However, his condition worsens, leading to his death soon after, marked by the tragicomic detail of being transported back to Moscow in a refrigerated car meant for oysters.
• 08:00 - 08:30: Stanislavski System Overview The chapter provides an overview of the Stanislavski system, emphasizing its association with the Moscow Art Theater, which played a key role in Chekhov's fame. Following the dissolution of theater monopolies in 1882, numerous new theaters emerged to cater to the urban population, primarily focusing on melodramas. However, Nemirovich-Danchenko and Konstantin Stanislavski aspired to create a theater dedicated to realism and naturalism. Stanislavski's vision was significantly influenced by the Meiningen troupe.
• 08:30 - 09:00: Training Actors in the Stanislavski System The chapter discusses the foundation of the Moscow Art Theater in 1898 by two men who prioritized psychological realism in acting and staging over period-appropriate costumes and props. Their approach aimed to make characters look, sound, and feel real. The theater's first play was Aleksey Tolstoy's 'Tsar Fyodor' and later they successfully revived Chekhov's 'Seagull.' The success of the latter led to adopting a seagull as the theater's emblem. The founders started with amateur actors intending to form a collaborative troupe.
• 09:00 - 09:30: Magic 'If' and Emotion Memory Stanislavski's system revolutionized acting by training amateurs and shifting focus from stars to the overall ensemble. The system persisted through the Russian revolution and Soviet era, influencing Western acting education. Despite this, there's still ambiguity about what the system truly encompasses.
• 09:30 - 10:00: Stanislavski's Revisions Stanislavski continuously revised his teachings. His works available in English, including 'An Actor Prepares,' 'Building a Character,' and 'Creating a Role,' were translated by Elizabeth Hapgood, but contain numerous mistranslations. The Russian originals were altered by Soviet editors. A well-known aspect of his system in America, which involved actors using personal memories, was later dismissed by Stanislavski himself.
• 10:00 - 10:30: Stanislavski's Impact on Western Theater The chapter discusses the impact of Stanislavski on Western theater, focusing on his approach to actor training and character development. It highlights the importance of training an actor's body and voice, as well as understanding stage techniques such as combat and dancing. Actors are encouraged to observe real-life behavior to enhance their performances. Before rehearsals, the cast studies the play to understand its themes and characters' emotional arcs, which helps in making psychologically real characters.
• 10:30 - 11:00: Conclusion In the conclusion, it is discussed how actors use the method of understanding characters by immersing themselves in the 'given circumstances' and apply the 'magic if' to explore how their characters might behave in such contexts. Initially, Stanislavski suggested using personal emotion memory to connect to roles, but he later shifted towards advocating for physical expressiveness and improvisational skills. The aim for actors is to embody their roles and live genuinely in each moment onstage.

Chekhov and the Moscow Art Theater: Crash Course Theater #34 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Hey there! I’m Mike Rugnetta, this is Crash Course Theater, and those of you of legal drinking age should  get your pickles and bites of brown bread ready, because today we’re exploring Anton Chekhov,   the Moscow Art Theater, and the  early years of Russian modernism. That means laughter and tears and vodka. Lots of vodka. Also, who is gonna pay the mortgage!? Lights up! [INTRO MUSIC]
• 00:30 - 01:00 Early Russian drama looked a lot like  the theatrical early years of France,   Germany, or Italy. There were mystery plays and  folk comedies that eventually   gave way to neoclassical scholastic plays. Although in Russia, a bunch  of the neoclassical plays  were specifically anti-Napoleon dramas, so that’s a new twist, I guess. Empress Catherine the Great allowed  the first professional theater to open in St. Petersburg in the mid-1700s. She even wrote a bunch of not-so-great comedies
• 01:00 - 01:30 and her own version of “The  Merry Wives of Windsor,” where all the characters got Russian names. She described her own work as  a “free but feeble adaptation”. Russia’s dramatic literary tradition didn’t  really start until romanticism took over, led by Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov —though their works went unproduced for years.  Because of censorship. And then Aleksey Tolstoy, a distant relative of Lev aka Leo Tolstoy, wrote a trilogy of plays about Ivan the Terrible
• 01:30 - 02:00 that pretty much closed the not-very-thick  book on Russian romantic theater. It’s the only not very thick  Russian book that has ever existed. But fun fact: For a country so  state-controlled and censorship-heavy,   realism came to Russia pretty early. Examples include Ivan Turgenev’s melancholy  1850s comedy “A Month in the Country,” about affairs on a rural estate, and Alexander  Ostrovsky’s middle-class comedies and dramas. A.F. Pisemsky’s “A Bitter Fate” even followed
• 02:00 - 02:30 Zola’s naturalistic precepts a  decade before Zola wrote them. Nikolai Gogol and Leo Tolstoy  wrote more controversial plays:   Gogol’s was a farcical look  at provincial corruption,   “The Government Inspector,” and  Tolstoy’s a baby-murdering classic, “The Power of Darkness,” which we looked  at in our episode on French naturalism. But censorship meant that these plays  sometimes waited decades before being produced. Into this world arrived Anton Chekhov,   Russia’s greatest playwright and a man  who really knew his way around a samovar.
• 02:30 - 03:00 Chekhov was born in 1860. His paternal grandfather had been a serf. Chekov trained as a doctor and, though  he continued to practice medicine,   he devoted himself to literature,  mostly as a short story writer at first. Just as he finished medical  school, he developed tuberculosis,   but he was financially responsible  for his family, so he ... ignored it. A few years later, he wrote his  first produced play, “Ivanov.” But even though it was a hit, Chekhov  considered it a disappointment.
• 03:00 - 03:30 In 1895, he wrote his first major  dramatic work, “The Seagull.” It was produced the next year and it flopped. Hard. The actors didn’t know their lines,  the audience booed like crazy. Chekhov ran out of the theater in the middle of   the second act and said that he  would never write another play. But… a writer and theater director  named Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko   loved the play and remounted it at  the newly founded Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov then wrote three more major works,
• 03:30 - 04:00 “Uncle Vanya,” “The Three  Sisters,” and “The Cherry Orchard.” So what makes these plays so indelible? Well, even though Chekhov’s  plays are full of incidents —like murders and attempted murders and suicides and attempted suicides and who is going to pay the mortgage!?— they’re some of the first plays to feel like life. Because here’s the thing: Chekhov  knew that life doesn’t include a lot   of climaxes or cliffhangers or neat  speeches that explain everything. Most of the time, it’s just about playing cards or
• 04:00 - 04:30 going for a walk or having  a late-night vodka sesh. He wrote - “In life, people do not  shoot themselves, or hang themselves,   or fall in love, or deliver themselves  of clever sayings every minute. They spend most of their time eating, drinking, running after women, or men, or talking nonsense. It is, therefore, necessary that  this should be shown on the stage… Life on the stage should be as it really is,  and the people, too, should be as they are.” This doesn’t mean that nothing  happens in Chekhov’s plays,
• 04:30 - 05:00 or that what happens doesn’t matter. Plenty happens. And it does matter! But Chekhov was also comfortable  writing scenes that are less eventful. And it’s those scenes that  have the texture of life. He also meant many of these scenes to be funny and often fought with his serious-minded directors  to make them funnier. He was a master of subtext, a kind of misdirection  in which characters can’t or won’t say what they really mean, but the meaning emerges,  anyway, around and under and between the lines.
• 05:00 - 05:30 Let’s take a closer look at Chekhovian realism through his last play, “The Cherry Orchard.” Help us out, Thought Bubble: Lyuba Ranevskaya has returned home  from some years in Paris with a lover. She learns her home, where her son  drowned, will be sold at auction. Her neighbor Lopakhin, a former serf, encourages her to chop down the orchard and divide the estate into parcels for  middle-class people to build summer homes. Lyuba won’t listen. She sees Trofimov, her son’s former tutor, who is now a scruffy student.
• 05:30 - 06:00 She weeps. Lyuba is out for a walk with her brother, Gayev,  her daughter, Anya, and her  adopted daughter, Varya, as well as Lopakhin and Trofimov. A homeless man stumbles in, and Lyuba gives him all her money even though Varya says there’s  barely enough to feed the servants. Anya is impressed by Trofimov’s revolutionary  talk of a new world and a new life. She sneaks down to the river with him. Lyuba is giving a ball. It is auction day for the orchard, and the  family hopes that a rich aunt will rescue them.
• 06:00 - 06:30 The guests drink, dance and squabble   until Lopakhin comes in and  announces the orchard is his. “I've bought the estate where my grandfather  and my father were slaves,” he says. “Where they weren't even allowed into the kitchen. I'm asleep, it’s only a dream, an illusion.” Finally - it’s time for the family to leave. Lyuba urges Lopakhin to propose to Varya. Lopakhin promises he will, but  he can’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he moos at her,  and she throws some shoes.
• 06:30 - 07:00 The family departs for the train station,   not realizing they’ve left  behind the old servant, Firs. Forgotten Firs lays down to die. And offstage, the axes bite  into the orchard’s trees. Timber, Thought Bubble. We can see Chekhov’s prevalent themes and style, particularly his idea that “People are sitting at a table  having dinner, that's all,  but at the same time, their happiness is being  created, or their lives are being torn apart.” So I guess… that’s not all.
• 07:00 - 07:30 That’s what the ball scene is about. Another playwright would have staged the auction,   but Chekhov fills the act with  idle conversation instead. And the mooing scene with Lopakhin and Varya  is a beautiful example of the power of subtext. If “The Cherry Orchard” is a realistic drama,  it also suggests a move toward symbolism, as do the late plays of Ibsen and Strindberg. The orchard obviously represents more than just  the orchard: it’s a symbol of an old order. And at several points in the  play, a mysterious sound is heard,
• 07:30 - 08:00 “the sound of a breaking string, dying away, sad.” Maybe Chekhov would have moved in a more symbolist  or expressionist direction if he’d lived longer. But he didn’t. In 1904, a few months after the premiere of “The  Cherry Orchard,” he traveled with his new wife,   the actress Olga Knipper,  to recuperate at a spa town. He became very ill and, after drinking a glass   of champagne as ordered by a  doctor, he lay down and died. His body was returned to Moscow in a  refrigerated car used to transport oysters.
• 08:00 - 08:30 Chekhov will always be associated with the theater  that made him famous, the Moscow Art Theater. Theater monopolies had dissolved in 1882,  and a lot of new theaters had sprung up to   serve a growing urban population,  but they staged mostly melodramas. But Nemirovich-Danchenko–who we’ve mentioned–  and his partner, famed theater  director Konstantin Stanislavski,  wanted a theater devoted  to realism and naturalism. Stanislavski had been influenced by  a visit from the Meiningen troupe,
• 08:30 - 09:00 but was less interested in  period-appropriate costumes,  props and occasional mumbling realism... and more interested in psychological realism  —acting and staging that would make characters  look real, sound real, and feel real. The two men founded the  Moscow Art Theater in 1898. Their first play was Aleksey Tolstoy’s  “Tsar Fyodor.” and later that year,   they revived Chekhov’s “Seagull.” The play was such a hit, that the  theater adopted a seagull as its emblem. They began with a group of amateur actors, aiming to create a troupe of colleagues,
• 09:00 - 09:30 rather than stars and supporting players, and Stanislavski developed a hugely  influential system to train those amateurs. The theater survived the Russian revolution and,  though it underwent several  transformations and a split, it outlasted the Soviet era, too. If you’ve studied acting in the West,   then you’ve probably experienced some  version of Stanislavski’s system. But here’s the thing: We don’t  really know what that “system” is!
• 09:30 - 10:00 Stanislavski was always changing it! In addition to Stanislavski’s  autobiography, we have three books— “An Actor Prepares,” “Building a  Character,” and “Creating a Role” —all translated into English by Elizabeth Hapgood. But it turns out that Hapgood  mistranslated a lot of stuff. As for the Russian originals,  the Soviets made their own edits. And the aspect of the system  that’s most famous in America— the part where actors are supposed  to rely on their personal memories —Stanislavski later discounted.
• 10:00 - 10:30 But there are a few parts that  we can pretty much agree on: An actor’s body and voice  should be thoroughly trained. And an actor should have a  thorough knowledge of other   stage techniques—combat, dancing, all that stuff. Actors should observe how  people behave in real life. Before rehearsals begin, the cast will study the play, investigating its themes and the motivations  and the emotional arc of each character, and deciding on each character’s primary  objective and emotional throughline. In order to make characters  feel psychologically real,
• 10:30 - 11:00 actors will familiarize themselves with  a character’s “given circumstances” and ask how a person would behave  within those circumstances. This is called “the magic ‘if’.” At one point, Stanislavski did  suggest that actors should work   with their own “emotion memory” to inhabit a role, but he later moved away from this and encouraged more expressive physical  explorations and improvisations. Onstage, actors should try to live in the moment,
• 11:00 - 11:30 reacting with some emotional spontaneity  and giving the “illusion of the first time.” And, finally, actors must always keep  working toward greater proficiency and skill. The Stanislavski System—or the less than 100%   faithful version of it that we have  today—dominates Western theater. Film and television, too. Every single one of my friends who studied  acting in college took a Stanislavski class. Of course, there are types of plays that  don’t support a realistic acting approach. We’re gonna look at those, starting  with one of the weirdest, bloodiest,
• 11:30 - 12:00 and most niche forms of theater ever produced. That’s right,, it’s the Grand Guignol. Thanks. Thanks for watching. Or is that what I really mean? [Mike to Yorick] Subtext, Yorick. Subtext? Also, curtain. Crash Course Theater is produced in  association with PBS Digital Studios. Head over to their channel to check out some  of their shows like Origin of Everything. Origin of Everything, hosted  by Danielle Bainbridge, Ph.D.,
• 12:00 - 12:30 explores the history behind  stuff in our everyday life,  from the words we use, the pop culture we love, the technology that gets us through the day, or the identities we give ourselves. Crash Course Theater is filmed  in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is produced with the help of  all of these very nice people. Our animation team is Thought Cafe. Crash Course exists thanks to the generous  support of our patrons at Patreon.