‘I detest the life I lead now, but when I think about the future, well, that’s something else! Everything seems so airy and bright, I can see a glimmer of light in the distance, I can see freedom…’

A physician by trade, Anton Chekhov was the author of many plays and short stories, and is widely regarded as the most notable dramatist writing at the turn of the twentieth century.

His four greatest tragicomedies – The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard – enshrine his status as one of the founding fathers of psychological realism and early modernism in European theatre.

This volume collects these four plays in sensitive and playable translations made direct from the original Russian, along with a full introduction to Chekhov, his times and his work.

The Nick Hern Books Drama Classic Collections bring together the most popular plays from a single author or a particular period. They offer students, actors and theatregoers a series of uncluttered, accessible editions, accompanied by comprehensive introductions.

"Chekhov, speaking simply and never otherwise than as an artist and a humane man, shows us in fullness and plenitude the mystery of our lives."--Eudora Welty

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), a physician by training, is now considered the most notable 20th-century Russian dramatist. His major plays, all staged by Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre, helped establish psychological realism in European theatre. Stephen Mulrine (1937–2020) was a Glasgow-born poet and playwright who wrote extensively for radio and television, and published many translations, including English translations of plays in Russian by Chekhov, Gogol and Gorky, as well as translations of plays by Ibsen, Molière, Pirandello, Strindberg and others.