A working life in theatre
From comic sketches to the great ensemble plays.
Chekhov was born in 1860 in Taganrog, Russia, and studied medicine in Moscow. Alongside his medical work, he published stories and humorous pieces, then turned increasingly to drama. Early one-acts such as The Bear and The Wedding reveal his pleasure in social pressure, comic reversals, and characters whose plans do not quite hold.
The turn toward mature drama
Ivanov and The Wood Demon preceded the work for which he is most widely known. The Moscow Art Theatre's later production of The Seagull established a fruitful association between Chekhov's writing and an ensemble-based performance style. A revised Wood Demon became Uncle Vanya, followed by Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.
Comedy, melancholy, and attention
Chekhov described his mature plays as comedies, even where their characters encounter loss, frustration, or profound change. His theatre resists a single dominant feeling: humour and sadness sit together, while a glance, a pause, or an interrupted conversation can shift the shape of a scene.
He died in 1904. The plays continue to invite new readings, particularly for their ensemble structure and their patient attention to the distance between what characters say, want, and do.