• The Play and Its Context
  • Introduction to A Seagull in the Hamptons
  • Character Profiles
  • Chekhov Biography
  • Artists in the Hamptons
• About this Production
  • Who’s Who in the Production
  • Interview with Emily Mann
  • Emily Mann Bio
• Theater in the Classroom
  • Educators Introduction
  • Core Curriculum Standards
  • Pre-Show Discussion Questions and Activities
  • Post-Show Discussion Questions and Activities
• Additional Resources

Chekhov Biography

Born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia, on the Sea of Azov, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov would eventually become one of Russia's most cherished storytellers. The son of a grocer and the grandson of a serf, young Chekhov began working at an early age in his father's grocery store. When his father fled Taganrog in 1876 to escape his creditors, 16-year-old Chekhov was left to care for his home and family, which included his mother and three younger siblings. Chekhov's own family home and shop were auctioned off.

In 1879 Chekhov enrolled as a medical student at the University of Moscow. During his years in school he wrote humorous stories and sketches under a pen name to help support his family. After graduating in 1884 with a degree in medicine, he began to freelance as a journalist and writer of comic sketches. Early in his career, he mastered the form of the one-act and produced several masterpieces of this genre including The Bear (1888), in which a creditor hounds a young widow but becomes so impressed when she agrees to fight a duel with him that he proposes marriage, and The Wedding (1889), in which a bridegroom's plans to have a general attend his wedding ceremony backfire when the general turns out to be a retired naval captain "of the second rank."  

His first full-length play, Ivanov, an immature work when compared to his later plays, was produced in 1887 in Moscow, with not much success, although a subsequent production in St. Petersberg in 1889 was popular and praised.  His next play, The Wood Demon (1889), had trouble finding a producer and was critically panned. Through the success of his stories and articles, by 1892 he was able to fulfill his lifelong dream of buying an estate at Melikhovo, near Moscow. There he entertained himself with gardening, planting entire forests and a cherry orchard of his own. It was during his stay in  Melikhovo in 1895 that Chekhov wrote The Seagull. Its first performance at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1896 was so badly received that Chekhov actually left the auditorium during the second act and vowed never to write for the theatre again. But in the hands of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898, The Seagull was transformed into a critical success.

It was also at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898 that Chekhov saw the actress Olga Knipper and soon after wrote to a friend, "Were I to stay in Moscow, I would fall in love with her." By 1901, Chekhov and Knipper were married.

In 1899, Chekhov gave the Moscow Art Theatre a revised version of The Wood Demon, now titled Uncle Vanya (1899). Along with The Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904), it cemented Chekhov’s important place in the history of modern theatre. However, although the Moscow Art Theatre productions brought Chekhov great fame, he was never quite happy with the style that director Konstantin Stanislavsky imposed on the plays. While Chekhov insisted that most of his plays were comedies, Stanislavsky's productions tended to emphasize their tragic elements. In spite of their stylistic disagreements, it was not an unhappy marriage, and these productions brought widespread acclaim to both Chekhov's work and the Moscow Art Theatre itself.

Chekhov considered his mature plays to be a kind of comic satire, pointing out the unhappy nature of existence in turn-of-the-century Russia. Perhaps Chekhov's style was described best by the writer himself: "All I wanted was to say honestly to people: 'Have a look at yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!' The important thing is that people should realize that, for when they do, they will most certainly create another and better life for themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be quite different, quite unlike our present life."

During Chekhov's final years, he was forced to live in exile from the intellectuals of Moscow. In March of 1897, he suffered a lung hemorrhage, and although he still made occasional trips to Moscow to participate in the productions of his plays, he was forced to spend most of his time in the Crimea for the sake of his health. He died of tuberculosis on July 14, 1904, at the age of forty-four, and was buried in Moscow.

Adapted from an article by Laurie Sales in the Uncle Vanya study guide.

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A McCarter Theatre production | Venue: Berlind Theatre | AUDIENCE GUIDE STAFF: Editor for Literary Content: Carrie Hughes | Editor for Education Content: Paula Alekson | Editorial Administrator: Francine Schiffman | Web Design: Dimple Parmar | Contributors: Elizabeth Edwards, Paula Alekson, Adam Immerwahr, Christopher T. Parks, Laurie Sales