Friday 12 January 2018

Term 2 unit 5&6 KONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKY & ANTON CHEKHOV (research work)

Anton Chekhov's Background



ANTON PAVLOVICH CHEKHOV was born on January 1860 in Taganrog, Russia. His father, Pavel was a grocer with frequent money troubles. His mother shared her love of storytelling with Chekhov and and his five siblings. When Pavel's business failed in 1875, he took the family to Moscow to make a fresh start while Chekhov remained in Taganrog until he finished his studies.

In the autumn of 1879, Chekhov joined his family in Moscow. He enrolled in the university's medical faculty, graduating in 1884 as a doctor. With his father still struggling financially, Chekhov supported the family with freelance writing, producing hundreds of short comic pieces under a pen name for local magazines.

Few years later, Chekhov had become widely popular with a "lowbrow" public. He practiced as a physician and began to publish serious works of fiction under his own name. His pieces appeared in the newspaper New Times and then as part of collection such as Motley Stories.

In 1888, Chekhov published his first work "Steppe", an autobiographical work describing a journey in the Ukraine as seen through the eyes of a child. It was an important success earning its author the Pushkin Prize. Chekhov also wrote works for the theatre during this period. His earliest plays were short farces, however, he soon developed his signature style, which was a unique mix of comedy and tragedy. Plays such as Ivanov (1887) and The Wood Demon (1889) told stories about educated men of the upper classes coping with debt, disease and inevitable disappointment in life.

Informations from link below:

Stanislavsky's Background



KONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKI was born Konstantin Sergeyevich Alekseyev on January 1863 in Moscow, Russia. His father was a wealthy Russian merchant. His maternal grandmother was a notable French actress in Paris. Young Stanislavski grew up in a bilingual environment. He was fond of theatre and arts, studied piano and singing and performed amateur plays at home with his elder brother and two sisters.

Stanislavski studied business and languages at Lazarevski Institude, the most prestigious private school in Moscow. He did not graduate, instead he continued self-education while travelling in several European countries and studying at libraries and museums. Eventually Stanislavski joined his father's company, became a successsful businessman, and the head of his father's business.

In the year 1888, Stanislavski founded the Society for Arts and Literature in which he performed and directed for productions for almost a decade. In June 1897, he and his partner, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko decided to open the Moscow art Theatre, which would be an alternative to standard theatrical aesthetics of the day. They opened with staging of "Tsar Fyodor", a play by Aleksei Tolstoy, then stages "The Seagull" written by Anton Chekhov specially for the Moscow Art Theatre.

Stanislavski invited Anton Chekhov to see several plays while he brought the Moscow Art Theatre on tour in Sebastopol and Yalta in Crimea. Chekhov admired the company's stage production of his plays and respected the theatrical achievements of Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. He then collaborate with the Moscow Arts Theatre legendarily. It resulted in creation of such classics as 'The Seagull' 'Uncle Vanya' 'The Cherry Orchard' and also the play that we're working on 'The Three Sisters'. These four big plays which remained in the repertoire ever since.

Informations from link below:
https://www.biography.com/people/constantin-stanislavski-9492018


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