Platonov (play)
Platonov is the title under which an early, initially nameless drama by Anton Chekhov was published in the German-speaking countries. Also, the alternative title The Fatherless was used. It is a comedy in four acts whose performance would have taken in the unreduced state is about seven and a half hours. The piece was created in 1880.
Action
Platonov plays in a run-down country house in the Russian provinces. The central figure is the married teacher Platonov, in which both the landowner Anna Petrovna and Sofia, the wife of her stepson, and one of his colleagues fall in love. Platonov itself is a cynical character who is happy to be a witty conversationalist in society. In the course of the play he is compared to both Hamlet and Don Juan. As the only he is aware of the ideas and of principles of society, but also the fact that he himself is a part of this society. He finds no way out of this situation and is overwhelmed by the love of the four women. Finally, he draws increasingly back into itself and into the alcohol. At the end of the play he is shot by Sofya, which recognizes that they can expect no new life from him.
History
Chekhov wrote this piece 1878-1881 when he attended the Gymnasium in Taganrog and dedicated it to the actress Marija Yermolova, which was at this time at the Maly Theater. He was the ( his brother neatly written off ) manuscript in person at the Maly Theatre from where it was rejected. Disappointed he destroyed then the manuscript. Not until 1920 that the first version was discovered and published in Chekhov's estate. Platonov is today partly perceived as not yet mature Chekhov's early work, which attempts to bridge the gap between literary practice and satisfy the commercial taste of his time. Nevertheless, this piece is already showing many features of his more significant later works, notably the strong intertextual references and the proper character selection and drawing.
Today, this piece is rare and rarely performed in full length. In 1976 it was made into a film by Nikita Mikhalkov, under the title Unfinished Piece for the Player Piano.
The persons acting
- Anna Petrovna, Generalin
- Sergei Pavlovich Woinizew, her stepson
- Sofya Yegorovna, whose wife
- Porphyrius Semjonowitsch Glagoljew, a rich man
- Kirill Porfirjewitsch Glagoljew, his son
- Pavel Petrovich Stscherbuk
- Marja Yefimovna Grekowa
- Ivan Ivanovich Trilezki, Colonel, father of Alexandra ( Sascha )
- Nikolai Ivanovich Trilezki, country doctor, son of Colonel
- Abram Abramovich Wengerowitsch
- Mikhail Vasilyevich Platonov
- Alexandra Ivanovna ( Sascha ), his wife
- Timothy Gordeyevich Bugrow, landowner
- Ossip, a horse thief
- Katja