> Skip to content
  • Published: 5 December 2006
  • ISBN: 9780451530370
  • Imprint: Signet
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $16.99

The Major Plays



The five major plays by the master Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, from The Cherry Orchard to Three Sisters, in one handsome volume.

Anton Chekhov
The Major Plays

Ivanov * The Sea Gull * Uncle Vanya * The Three Sisters * The Cherry Orchard

“Let the things that happen onstage be just as complex and yet just as simple as they are in life,” Chekhov once declared. “For instance, people are having a meal, just having a meal, but at the same time, their happiness is being created, or their lives are being smashed up.” So it is that his plays express life through subtle construction, everyday dialogue, and an electrically charged atmosphere in which even the most casual words and actions assume great importance in his characters’ lives. This principle sets his plays apart from the rest, steering them clear of melodrama, and draws the audience into the lives of Chekhov’s colorful characters. Because of his adherence to realism, the playwright has been called an “incomparable artist of life.”*

“What makes his work great is that it can be felt and understood not only by any Russian but by anybody in the world.”—*Leo Tolstoy

With a Foreword by Robert Brustein and an Afterword by Rosamund Bartlett

  • Published: 5 December 2006
  • ISBN: 9780451530370
  • Imprint: Signet
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $16.99

About the author

Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov was a Russian author and playwright who has been hailed as the master of the modern short story. Born in 1860 in Taganov, he studied at medical school before becoming a writer. Among his best known short tales are 'The Steppe' (which won him the Pushkin Prize in 1888), 'Ward No. 6' (1892) and 'The Lady with the Dog' (1889), while his plays include The Seagull (1895), Uncle Vanya (1897), The Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904), all of which are widely acclaimed as masterpieces. He died in July 1904 in Badenweiler, Germany.

Also by Anton Chekhov

See all
penguin pop image
penguin pop image