Overview

This book paints a vivid portrait of Anton Chekhov-a Russian writer whose elusive personality and richly detailed plays have left an indelible imprint upon the world's theatre. Every page reveals the joys and difficulties of his short life, his comic sensibility, deep compassion, and often puzzling use of dramatic style and genre. Carnicke demystifies Chekhov's plays-forged from his literary innovations, avid theatergoing, love of vaudeville, and loathing of melodrama. She interweaves biographical and cultural information with insightful case studies and close analysis to leave her reader with a full and fresh perspective on an artist who is as foundational to theatrical traditions as are Shakespeare and Stanislavsky.

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9781618113207

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Reviews

Writing with sharp insight, Carnicke reveals the often-overlooked clues essential to appreciating and producing successfully the elusive plays of Chekhov. This book is indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to uncover the mysteries of how his plays really work. --R. Andrew White, Actor, Director, and Associate Professor, Valparaiso University

Writing with sharp insight, Carnicke reveals the often-overlooked clues essential to appreciating and producing successfully the elusive plays of Chekhov. This book is indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to uncover the mysteries of how his plays really work. R. Andrew White, Actor, Director, and Associate Professor, Valparaiso University

“A strong background in Russian language and culture, combined with professional theater experience as an actress and director, prepared Sharon Carnicke not only to translate Chekhov’s plays for performance but also to illuminate the mysteries of his works for theater artists preparing to stage the plays. Certainly it is actors and directors who have the most to gain from this ‘guide to the plays,’ which also serves as an intelligent introductory study for general readers. Carnicke covers the basics—transliteration, how Russian names are used, capsule biography, late nineteenth-century theatrical genres—while offering enough fresh insight into Chekhov’s world and his work to hold the interest of those already familiar with the plays.” —Felicia Hardison Londré , University of Missouri–Kansas City. Review published in The Russian Review, January 2014 (Vol. 73, No. 1)

A strong background in Russian language and culture, combined with professional theater experience as an actress and director, prepared Sharon Carnicke not only to translate Chekhov's plays for performance but also to illuminate the mysteries of his works for theater artists preparing to stage the plays. Certainly it is actors and directors who have the most to gain from this 'guide to the plays, ' which also serves as an intelligent introductory study for general readers. Carnicke covers the basics--transliteration, how Russian names are used, capsule biography, late nineteenth-century theatrical genres--while offering enough fresh insight into Chekhov's world and his work to hold the interest of those already familiar with the plays. --Felicia Hardison Londre, University of Missouri-Kansas City, in The Russian Review, January 2014 (Vol. 73, No. 1)

Sharon Marie Carnicke, a professor of Theatre and Slavic Studies at the University of Southern California, who has worked professionally as an actor, director, and dancer, who has written on Stanislavsky's system and Evreinov's productions, and who has published a translation of Chekov's major plays, has now produced a provocative guide to these plays for actors, directors, and readers. Her thesis is simply that to acquire a taste for Chekov, 'one needs to read him closely, thoughtfully, even creatively'. This she manages to do in her new book. --Michael R. Katz (Middlebury College) Slavic and East European Journal, 58.3 (Fall 2014)

Author Information

(PhD Columbia University) is Professor of Theatre and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California. Her translations of Chekhov's plays have been produced by theatres nationwide to public acclaim, and were published as Chekhov: 4 Plays and 3 Jokes, which was a finalist for the 2010 National Translation Award (the American Literary Translators Association). Her groundbreaking book, Stanislavsky in Focus, is now in its second edition. Her other publications include The Theatrical Instinct, a study of the avant-garde director Nikolai Evreinov, and Reframing Screen Performance, coauthored with Cynthia Baron.

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