This collection is worth the money just for The Cherry Orchard with Judi Dench. Astonishing performance! All of Chekhov’s major plays are here: Platonov, The Wood Demon, The Proposal, The Wedding, The Seagull, An Artist’s Story, Uncle Vanya [1970 and 1991 versions], Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard [1962 and 1981 versions]). If you want to understand the Russian soul, these plays reveal it. And, yes, this is another prelude assignment to my reading Stella Adler’s book on classic playwrights. A review on Adler’s insighful book is in the works…I’m working as fast as I can. Teaching eight courses this semester is slowing me down! GRADE: A
Eight courses! Yikes! You need to bring in Patrick as a “guest lecturer” to take a little pressure off.
I haven’t seen most of these but you can’t go far wrong with Chekhov, especially – as you point out – with Judi Dench. We first saw her as the unlikely star of the musical version of J. B. Priestley’s THE GOOD COMPANIONS (John Mills was also in the cast) in London in 1974 and she was terrific even then.
Jeff, you’re right: you can’t go wrong with Chekhov…or Judi Dench.
Eight! I have never heard of that many! Yikes!
Fantastic set George, cheers. The Dench in particular is terrific and (I and I say that as someone fortunate enough to see the original London stage production too).
Sergio, I envy you seeing Judi Dench in the original London stage production! She’s at the height of her powers in THE CHERRY ORCHARD in this box set.
Not a Dench fan. She’s one of those people who, to me, always looks like she’s acting. I like Chekhov, though. Walter Koenig played him perfectly.
Thank you, Bob for a dose of sanity. Lately it’s like we’ve fallen down the rabbit hole; the genre trash fan George we all know and love is suddenly deep in Ibsen, Strindberg & Chekhov. Who is this guy? I think that bout with Henry James did permanent damage.
Art, I feel like dropping everything and read a Carter Brown (with a McGinnis cover, of course!). But once I finish Stella Adler’s book, I’ll return to my genre trash ways…I promise!
Yeesh. Between my usual lust for Interesting Stuff and you tossing these boxed sets and Figgis films at us, I’m spending too drunkenly of late…particularly as a fan of the actual Chekhov (hey, Robert Bloch wrote the script that introduced Koenig’s Pavel C…Koenig’s kids, his comedian/writer daughter and late actor/tech son, also have done good work I enjoyed).
Just look at your increased spending as patriotic, Todd. You’re stimulating the economy!
All I can say, Art, is that as some people age they strive harder for respectability.
Come on guys! I’m just trying to understand what Stella Adler has to say about classic playwrights. I’ll be back in the genre stuff before you know it!
At ECC, we read Chekhov’s short story “The Lady with the Dog” for EN111. I recall most of the class complaining about the story because they found the main characters unlikable. I, however, enjoyed the story and appreciated the growth of the characters.
Lauren, most of Chekhov’s short stories reveal truths about the characters (who may or may not be likable). But many readers find Chekhov (and many other Russian writers) trying because there are few “happy endings.”
I do like happy endings, but the ending in “Lady with the Dog” is uncertain about the future. It is amazing how different literature form other cultures can be. I had to read a novel for a Japanese culture class and spent hours trying to find any novel that wasn’t disturbing and/or depressing (most involve tragedy, death, and/or suicide). I finally settled on a famous Japanese comedy called I am a Cat (吾輩は猫である)by Natsume Sōseki. This novel began with the attempted killing of the cat as well as the successful killing of the rest of the litter. Again, this is a comedy and the least depressing comedy I could find.
Yes, foreign fiction can be grim, Laureen. One aspect of Chekhov’s short stories that I really admire is his ability to suggest two possible endings.