We've established that the Americans and the Brits misunderstood Chekhov intitially; that the original productions at the Moscow Art Theatre were more truthful to the heart of the plays than we usually get today. I wanted to explore those productions-what, apart from excellent performances by EVERYONE, made them so successful? I found some interesting images in, go figure, "Anton Cehkhov at the Moscow Art Theatre: Illustrations of the Original Productions."
The book features models of the scenery used, and they were very, very basic...almost cartoonish in their simplicity. I've seen productions of Chekhov where it seems the scenery is trying to be historically authentic, and look realistic. However, the original productions were quote the opposite. Maybe to draw the focus entirely on the actors? Chekhov isn't Realism, so I think we're lucky to be working on this in a classroom studio, with only the basics and ourselves to tell the story.
A few photos can be found here: http://books.google.com/books?id=epGzqzlNJCAC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=chekhov+scenery&source=bl&ots=McWz_IbIH7&sig=5lSzOMTjj_nHpPNrQtAuq-kmnas&hl=en&ei=iay7TNOvD4SBlAfOxZ2GDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=chekhov%20scenery&f=false
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