a provincial life programme supplement

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A PROVINCIAL LIFEBY PETER GILLFROM A STORY BY ANTON CHEKHOV1-17 MARCH

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NATIONAL THEATRE WALES

BEHIND THE SCENESNATIONAL THEATRE WALES A PROVINCIAL LIFE01

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SPRING 2012 02A PROVINCIAL LIFE

Photographs

Helen Maybanks / National Theatre Wales

Gill has directed over 100 productions in the UK, Europe and North America, bringing extraordinary life, through his intricately detailed and impressionistically beautiful aesthetic, to both the modern and classical repertoires, including acclaimed productions of plays by Buchner, Congreve, Otway, Shakespeare, Hampton, Orton, Osborne, Pinter, McCafferty and Wright.

He has engaged with Chekhov as a writer and director throughout his life, in productions at the Royal Court, Riverside Studios, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. The only Welsh writer besides Dylan Thomas whose work has been staged by the Royal National Theatre, his plays include The Sleepers’ Den (Royal Court 1965), Over Gardens Out (Royal Court 1968), Small Change (Royal Court 1976), Kick for Touch (Royal National Theatre 1983), Cardiff East (Royal National Theatre 1997), Certain Young Men (Almeida 1999), The York Realist (English Touring Theatre 2001), Original Sin (The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 2002) and Another Door Closed (Theatre Royal Bath, 2009).

His work has repeatedly examined the Cardiff of his past as a ‘lost domain’ that can be imagined but never revisited, and his return to direct A Provincial Life (originally presented at the Royal Court in 1966) marks his first collaboration with National Theatre Wales.

Peter Gill was born in Cardiff in 1939, and began his professional career as an actor. After several years on stage, he began to write and direct while working at the Royal Court, where he was responsible for introducing the plays of D.H.Lawrence to the theatre, and pioneered ideas of postmodernist staging with his production of The Duchess of Malfi. His first play, The Sleepers’ Den, was staged at the theatre in 1965, and he has continued to present work at the Royal Court throughout his career. He was the founding director of Riverside Studios, which was for a period one of Europe’s leading arts centres, mixing a programme of home grown drama with an extraordinary roster of international artists from Samuel Beckett to Tadeusz Kantor, and of the National Theatre Studio, which quickly became one of the most important centres for the development of new work in Britain.

PETER GILL

Words

Barney Norris

Photographs


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NATIONAL THEATRE WALES A PROVINCIAL LIFE03

64Assistant Director at Royal Court Theatre

65A Collier’s Friday Night D.H. Lawrence/Royal Court Theatre

66The Dwarfs Harold Pinter/Traverse Theatre

The Local Stigmatic Heathcote Williams/Royal Court Theatre; Traverse Theatre

O’Flaherty VC George Bernard Shaw/Vancouver Festival; Mermaid Theatre

A Provincial Life* Royal Court Theatre

67The Soldier’s Fortune Thomas Otway/Royal Court Theatre

The Daughter-in-Law D.H. Lawrence/Royal Court Theatre

Crimes of Passion Joe Orton/Royal Court Theatre

68The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd D.H. Lawrence/Royal Court Theatre

69Life Price Jeremy Seabrook and Michael O’Neil/Royal Court Theatre

Much Ado About Nothing William Shakespeare/ The American Shakespeare Festival

Over Gardens Out* Royal Court Theatre

The Sleepers’ Den* Royal Court Theatre

80Scrape Off the Black Tunde Ikoli/Riverside Studios

Julius Caesar William Shakespeare/ Riverside Studios

Associate Director of Royal National Theatre

81A Month in the Country Ivan Turgenev trans Isaiah Berlin/ Royal National Theatre Don Juan Molière trans John Fowles/ Royal National Theatre

Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare/Royal National Theatre

82Danton’s Death Georg Büchner/Royal National Theatre

Major Barbara George Bernard Shaw/ Royal National Theatre

83Kick for Touch* Royal National Theatre

Small Change* Royal National Theatre

Tales from Hollywood Christopher Hampton/ Royal National Theatre

84Founder Director of National Theatre Studio

Antigone Co-directed, Sophocles trans C.A. Trypanis/Royal National Theatre

Venice Preserv’d Thomas Otway/Royal National Theatre

Fool for Love Sam Shepard/Royal National Theatre; Royal Court Theatre

87Mean Tears* Royal National Theatre

Bow Down, Down by the Greenwood Side Harrison Birtwistle/ Queen Elizabeth Hall

The Marriage of Figaro W A Mozart/Leeds Grand Theatre

88Mrs Klein Nicholas Wright/ Royal National Theatre

89Juno and the Paycock Sean O’Casey/Lyric Hammersmith

70Associate Director at Royal Court Theatre

Landscape and Silence Harold Pinter/Lincoln Center, New York

Hedda Gabler Henrik Ibsen/Stratford Festival, Canada

71Macbeth William Shakespeare/Stratford Festival, Canada

The Duchess of Malfi John Webster/Royal Court Theatre

72Crete and Sergeant Pepper John Antrobus/Royal Court Theatre

The Daughter in Law D.H. Lawrence, Schauspielhaus Bochum

73The Merry-Go-Round D.H. Lawrence/Royal Court Theatre

74Twelfth Night William Shakespeare/ Stratford-upon-Avon

75Fishing Michael Weller/New York Shakespeare Festival

As You Like It Shakespeare/Nottingham Playhouse; Edinburgh Festival

The Fool Edward Bond/Royal Court Theatre

76Small Change* Royal Court Theatre

Founder Director of Riverside Studios

78The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov/Riverside Studios

The Changeling Thomas Middleton and William Rowley/Riverside Studios

79Measure for Measure William Shakespeare/ Riverside Studios

92The Way of the World William Congreve/Lyric Hammersmith

94New England Richard Nelson/ Royal Shakespeare Company

95Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov/Field Day Theatre Company

A Patriot for Me John Osborne/Royal Shakespeare Company; Barbican

The Cherry Orchard* Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

97Cardiff East* Royal National Theatre

Tongue of a Bird Ellen McLaughlin/Almeida Theatre

99Certain Young Men* Almeida Theatre

Friendly Fire* BT National Connections Season

01The Seagull* Royal Shakespeare Company; Swan Theatre

Speed-the-Plow Daved Mamet/New Ambassador Theatre

Luther John Osborne/Royal National Theatre

The York Realist* English Touring Company

The Look Across The Eyes/Lovely Evening* BBC Radio 4

02Original Sin* Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

03Scenes from the Big Picture Owen McCafferty/ Royal National Theatre

04Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare/ Royal Shakespeare Company

05Days of Wine and Roses JP Miller/Donmar Warehouse

Epitaph for George Dillon John Osborne and Anthony Creighton/Comedy Theatre

06The Voysey Inheritance Harley Granville-Barker/ Royal National Theatre

Look Back in Anger John Osborne/Theatre Royal Bath

07Gaslight Patrick Hamilton/Old Vic Theatre

08The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde/Theatre Royal Bath; Vaudeville Theatre

Small Change* Donmar Warehouse

09Semper Dowland/The Corridor Harrison Birtwistle/ Britten Studio, Snape

Another Door Closed* Theatre Royal Bath

10Hens Alia Bano/Riverside Studios

The Aliens Annie Barker/The Bush Theatre

11The Breath of Life David Hare/Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield

12A Provincial Life* National Theatre Wales

Making Noise Quietly Robert Holman/Donmar Warehouse

PRODUCTIONS & PLAYS1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

Key

* Written by Peter Gill


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Other Parts Played By

John AtkinsonLuke BridgemanAbigail FitzgeraldHeledd GwynnKristian JenkinsJan JonesRyan NolanClare Parry JonesIan PhillipsJohn RedpathLiane WaltersJohn Williams

THE COMPANYNATIONAL THEATRE WALES A PROVINCIAL LIFE05

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Anyuta Ivanova BlagovoKezia Burrows

Maria Victorovna DolzhikovaAlex Clatworthy

ProkofyRichard Corgan

Madame AzhoginaHelen Griffin

Boris Ivanov BlagovoLee Haven-Jones

Victor Ivanov DolzhikovMark Lewis

Cleopatra Alexandrovna PoloznevSara Lloyd-Gregory

Ivan Mikhailovich CheprakovJohn-Paul Macleod

WorkmanLiam Mansfield

Alexandr Pavlovich PoloznevClive Merrison

Old man/ Governor of the ProvinceKenneth Price

Shopkeeper/BerlichevIeuan Rhys

Misail Alexandrovich Poloznev Nicholas Shaw

Andrey IvanovWilliam Thomas

Karpovna/Madame MufkeMenna Trussler

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Trained at RADA. Theatre credits include: Venice Preserved (Arcola), A Man For All Seasons, Kind Hearts & Coronets, To Kill A Mockingbird (PFT), The Merchant of Venice (Creation), The Misanthrope, The Bald Prima Donna (London Rd), Much Ado About Nothing (YSC), Measure for Measure (Sherman). TV credits include: CRASH, Casualty (BBC), Phoneshop (E4). Film credits include: Capgras Tide (Upstart), The Way of the Monkeys Claw (Nowhere Fast), With These Hands (Room 16). Radio credits include: The Anarchist in the Basement.

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Kezia Burrows

Trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she won the 2011 Michael Bryant Award.

Theatre credits include:Sleeping Beauty (Birmingham Rep).

Television credits include: Henry IV Parts One & Two directed by Sir Richard Eyre (BBC), The Bench and Want 2TLK Science? (BBC Wales), Treflan (Alfresco), Pawb At Y Bwrdd and Hotel Eddie (Apollo).

Radio credits include: Evacuees and Meddwl (BBC Wales).

02

Alex Clatworthy

Trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Theatre credits include: Flowers From Tunisia (Torch), Taming Of The Shrew (Globe), Frozen (Sherman), It’s About Me (Hampstead), Money, Science, Me (Everyman), Romeo & Juliet (Lord Chamberlain’s Men), Ballad Of Blood & Darling (Rose Theatre), The Long, The Short & The Tall (Pleasance), La Fanciulla Del West (Royal Opera House), Macbeth, The Changeling (Barbican), Phoenix & The Carpet (Bristol Old Vic).

Television credits include: Baker Boys, Doctors, Casualty, Caught In The Web, The B Word (BBC).

Film credits include: Magpie, Colin, Hindsight. Radio includes: Blue Remembered Hills.

03

Richard Corgan

Theatre credits include: The Devil Inside Him (National Theatre Wales), Small Change, Shadow Of A Boy, acclaimed one-woman show Caitlin (Sherman Cymru), Cymbeline (Ludlow Festival).

TV credits include: Coronation Street; Getting On; Criminal Justice Two; Vivian Vyle Show; Con Passionata; Dr Who ‘The Age Of Steel’, Casualty, The Bill.

Film credits include: Little White Lies (Bafta Cymru Best Actress 2007), Risen, Human Traffic. Her one-woman show, Who’s Afraid Of Rachel Roberts, tours Wales in May, (Torch Theatre).

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Helen Griffin

Clwyd Theatre Cymru Associate.

Theatre credits include: Mary Stuart, Festen and Arcadia (Theatr Clwyd), Memory and Night Must Fall (Theatr Clwyd/59E59 Theatre, NYC), The Pull of Negative Gravity (Traverse Theatre), Romeo a Juliet (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru), and The Bacchai (National Theatre).

Television credits include: Gwaith Cartref (Fiction Factory), Caerdydd (S4C) and Love in a Cold Climate (BBC).

Film credits include: The Prince and Perfect Day.

Television directing credits include: Indian Doctor (BBC) and Alys (S4C).

05

Lee Haven-Jones

Trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and for many years was associated with the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow. He has worked at the National Theatre, The Royal Exchange, The Riverside, The Donmar, The Arcola, among others and worked with writer/directors such as Howard Barker and Steven Berkoff. He has appeared in TV series, Films and Radio.

06

Mark Lewis

Trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Theatre credits include: Up ‘n’ Under (Black Rat), Romeo and Juliet (Wales Theatre Co), The American Pilot and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RWCMD).

Television credits include: Alys, Con Passionate, Y Pris (S4C), Thorne: Sleepyhead (Sky 1), Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Torchwood, Belonging (BBC), Sleep With Me and Affinity (ITV).

Film credits include: Little White Lies (Red & Black Films), A Way of Life (AWOL Films). Radio credits include: Last Tango in Aberystwyth (BBC Radio 4).

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Sara Lloyd-Gregory

Trained at RADA.

Theatre credits include: Spies (Theatre Alibi), King Lear (Headlong/Liverpool Everyman) directed by Rupert Goold, Passion (NTW) directed by Michael Sheen, All Night I dream about being good (The Yard Hackney).

Television credits include: Casualty (BBC), Doctors (BBC), My Boy Jack (ITV)

Film credits include: Small Miracles (Snake River), To Kill a King (Fairfax Films), Calendar Girls (Buena Vista)

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John-Paul Macleod

Trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and graduated in June 2011.

Theatre credits include: Under Milk Wood (Farnham Rep), Fameless (Sotto Voce), 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices (Old Vic Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Maxim Theatre, Stockholm)

Film credits include: Ushers (Jukka Productions).

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Liam Mansfield

Theatre credits include: The History Boys (NT and Broadway), Credible Witness (Royal Court), The Cocktail Party (Lyceum), The Madness of George 111 (NT and Broadway).

TV credits include: Peep Show, Monday Monday, Egypt, Foyles War, Julius Caesar. Clive will appear in Bert and Dickie for the BBC in 2012.

Film credits include: History Boys, Saving Grace, The English Patient and Heavenly Creatures.

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Clive Merrison

Trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and his extensive theatre work includes seasons at Scarborough, Manchester Royal Exchange, Bristol Old Vic, Keswick, Salisbury and the West End. His film credits include, John and Yoko, Fierce Creatures and Diana and Me, whilst his numerous television appearances include Emmerdale, The Atomic Inferno, Casualty, The Chief, A Touch of Spice and The Bill.

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Kenneth Price

Trained at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Theatre credits include: The Winter’s Tale, The Merchant of Venice (Ludlow Festival), Amdani (Sgript Cymru), Hamlet, Amazing Grace, Romeo and Juliet, The Thorn Birds, Contender (Wales Theatre Company), Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady (Aberystwyth Arts Centre), The Hired Man (The Torch Theatre), Sawl yn Syrthio (3D Theatre Company), Bred in Heaven (Frapetsus Productions).

Television credits include:Stella, Ar y Tracs (Tidy Productions), Doctor Who, Rocket Man, High Hopes (BBC Television), Tracy Beaker (BBC), Pobol y Cwm (BBC Wales), Y Pris (Fiction Factory)

Film credits include: The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountian (MIRAMAX),Masterpiece (Burn Hand Film Production Ltd)

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Ieuan Rhys

Trained at Drama Centre London.

Theatre credits include:Phaedra’s Love (Arcola, London), Hamlet (Northern Broadsides), Tis Pity She’s A Whore and Anthology (Liverpool Everyman/Slung Low), The Fairy Queen (Glyndebourne/Opera Comique/BAM), Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park), Merchant of Venice and Holding Fire! (Shakespeare’s Globe), and Easter (Oxford Stage Company), for which he received an Ian Charleson Award commendation.

Television credits include:Land Girls, The Rotters’ Club, The Romantics (BBC); Foyle’s War, Afterlife (ITV); Goldplated (Channel 4).

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Nicholas Shaw

Work spans four decades, and he received a nomination for Best Actor at the BAFTA Cymru Awards (2007) for his portrayal of Glyn in the award winning Con Passionate.

Other television credits include:Doctor Who, Midsomer Murders, Alys, Gavin & Stacey, Belonging (10 Series), Grass, Fun at the Funeral Parlour and We Are Seven. William also plays Geraint Cooper in the BBC & US Series, Torchwood. Film credits includes Mr Nice (Kodak Award Winner); Longitude (2001 BAFTA Winner for Best Drama Serial); Solomon & Gaenor; and Twin Town.

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William Thomas

Theatre credits include:Swansea Girls, Cabaret, Side by Side by Sondheim, Midsummer Night’s Dream and Cinderella (Swansea Grand), Bedside Manners, Green Favours, Loose Ends and A Kiss on the Bottom (Sherman Theatre), Tartuffe (Clwyd Theatr Cymru), Family Planning (Grass Roots).

Television credits include:Stella (Sky), Come Fly With Me, Crash, Jam and Jerusalem (3 series), Torchwood II, Casualty, Doctors, Little Britain (3 series), The Bench and Thicker Than Water (BBC), Alys, Y Pris, Os Byw Ac Iach, Bydd Yn Wrol, Pam Fi Duw?, Pobol Y Cwm (S4C), In the Company of Strangers and We Are Seven (HTV), Liquorice Alsorts (Daffodil Productions).

Film credits include: Family Ties (Beryl Productions), Plotz with a View (CFI Films), Human Traffic (Fruit Salad Films), August (Granada Films).

Radio credits include: Writing the Century 14 (BBC Radio 4), Ceri Elen (BBC Radio Cymru).

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Menna Trussler

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John Atkinson

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Luke Bridgeman

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Abigail Fitzgerald

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Heledd Gwynn

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Kristian Jenkins

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Jan Jones

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Ryan Nolan

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Clare Parry Jones

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Ian Phillips

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John Redpath

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Liane Walters

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John Williams

ENSEMBLE

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Stage Sound Services Sound Designer

Mike Beer

Composer

Terry Davies

Designer

Alison ChittyLighting Designer

Paul Pyant

Mike started his career at the Sherman Theatre Cardiff in 1986. Since then he has toured Theatre and Corporate events world wide over the last 20 years with companies including DV8 Physical Theatre, Theatre Royal Bath, Bristol Old Vic, Diversions Dance, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Birmingham Stage, Theatr Clwyd, Act Productions, Fiery Angel, Theatr Gwynedd, Imagination, Sony and Ford Motor Car Company. Mike’s designs include: Coasting and Treasure Island for Bristol Old Vic, The Passion, Love Steals Us From Loneliness and The Persians for National Theatre Wales, Deffro’r Gwanwyn for Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, BFG for Fiery Angel, Great Expectations for Aberystwyth Art Centres, Desire Lines, The Borrowers and Merlin for The Sherman Theatre Company, The Firework Maker’s Daughter and Danny the Champion of the World for Birmingham Stage Company, Single Spies, Legal Fictions and The Importance of Being Earnest for The Theatre Royal Bath, Don Quixote for West Yorkshire Playhouse. Mike now works as full time Sound Designer and Production Consultant for Stage Sound Services.

Terry has written for many theatre productions at the National Theatre, RSC, West End, around the UK and elsewhere. His productions with Peter Gill include The Aliens (Bush), Look Back in Anger (Theatre Royal, Bath), The Voysey Inheritance (Royal National Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Royal Shakespeare Company), Original Sin (Sheffield) and The York Realist (English Touring Theatre/Royal Court). He is an artistic associate of choreographer Matthew Bourne, composing for his Lord of the Flies, Dorian Gray, Edward Scissorhands, The Car Man and Play Without Words for which he received an Olivier Award. He has conducted the music for nearly 50 films including W.E., The King’s Speech, The Illusionist, Another Year and Brideshead Revisited.

See Alison’s profile on pages 09-10 Paul is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and works in opera, ballet, musicals and theatre worldwide. He has a long-established association with Glyndebourne Opera, English National Opera, The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, National Theatre, English National Ballet, The Donmar Warehouse, The Almeida Theatre and Northern Ballet Theatre. Recent productions include: Grief (National Theatre), Richard III (The Old Vic), Aspects of Love (Menier Chocolate Factory), House of Games (Almeida), Betrothal in a Monastery (Theatre du Capitol and Opera Comique), The Heretic (Royal Court), and Hobson‘s Choice (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield).

Props Supervisor

Jane Slattery

Costume Supervisor

Carrie Bayliss

Wigs Supervisor

Joyce Beagarie

Assistant Director (part of National Theatre Wales’ Emerging Director Scheme)

Julia Thomas

Assistant Designer

Louie Whitemore

Production Manager

David Evans

Company Stage Manager

Matthew North

Deputy Stage Manager

Rachel Burgess

Assistant Stage Manager

Ryan Tate Fiona Curtis

Head of Wardrobe

Jo Reynolds

Production Electrician

Ceri James

Production Sound

Rhodri Hunt

Assistant Designer

Louie Whitemore

Observer Assistant Designer

Kitty Callister

Observer Assistant Designer

Holly Pigott

Student Stage Management Placement

Rhodri Hunt

Promoter

Anna Poole @annaloupoole

THE CREATIVE TEAMThank you

Costumes

With thanks to National Theatre Hire, Angels and Cosprop

Wigs

With thanks to National Theatre Hire and Wig Specialities

Cardiff Theatrical Services

Stage Sound Services

Bristol Old Vic

Jacob Gough and Thomas Reilly

Chris Ricketts and all at the Sherman



ALISON CHITTY

Alison has had a distinguished international career in theatre, opera and film. Her theatre credits include eight years as resident designer at the National Theatre where she designed many productions, including Venice Preserv’d, Antony and Cleopatra, Bacchae, The Voysey Inheritance and Mike Leigh’s Two Thousand Years. She has just designed Mike Leigh’s new play, Grief. She has worked in opera houses throughout the world, including Chicago, Seattle, Munich and Paris. Recently she designed the highly acclaimed world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s The Minotaur at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and Rigoletto for La Fenice, Venice.

Film credits include: Aria, Turn of the Screw, and several Mike Leigh films including Life is Sweet, Naked and Secrets and Lies.

In recognition of her particular approach to teaching, and commitment to developing the talent of young theatre designers and practitioners, Alison was awarded The Misha Black Award in 2006, The Young Vic Award in 2008 and a Fellowship of Birkbeck, London University in 2011.

Alison’s Studio

Research Material

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Photographs



PRODUCTIONS

Trained at St Martins and Central Schools of Art

80Julius Caesar* William Shakespeare/ Riverside Studios

81Much Ado About Nothing* William Shakespeare/ Royal National Theatre

84Fool for Love* Sam Shepard/Royal National Theatre

British Drama Award: Best Designer for Venice Preserv’d*

87Mean Tears* Peter Gill/Royal National Theatre

94Khovanshchina Olivier Award: Best Production Modest Mussorgsky/ English National Opera

Billy Budd Benjamin Britten/Grand Theatre Geneva

96The Mask of OrpheusHarrison Birtwistle/Royal Festival Hall

97Cardiff East* Peter Gill/Royal National Theatre

98Tristan and Isolde Richard Wagner/Seattle Opera

The Bartered Bride Bedrich Smetana/Covent Garden

01Olivier Award: Best Costume Design for Remembrance of Things Past Royal National Theatre

02Bacchae Euripides/Royal National Theatre

04Received OBE

05Two Thousand Years Mike Leigh/Royal National Theatre

06Misha Black Award for Innovation in Design Education

07Olivier Award: Best Costume Design for The Voysey Inheritance* Royal National Theatre

08The Young Vic Award

09Royal Designer for Industry

11Grief Mike Leigh/Royal National Theatre

Awarded Fellowship of Birbeck, London University

70Assistant Designer at Victoria Theatre, Stoke on Trent

74Head of Design at Victoria Theatre, Stoke on Trent

79Measure for Measure* William Shakespeare/Riverside Studios

1960s 1980s1970s 1990s 2000s

Costume Palette

Key

* Directed by Peter Gill

Ever felt that a more exciting, more fulfilling life was going on somewhere else? That if only you got the breaks, had the education, met the right people you could make everything better? Or that if you moved to London, Paris or New York the unique flame of your talent would be recognised at last? If so, Chekhov writes for you, and about you. He writes about what it feels like to be provincial with the intimate understanding of someone who was born 700 miles from the capital in a small port on Russia’s southern coast.

In 1875, when he was 15, his father fled from town hidden under a mat at the bottom of a cart after his grocery business failed. A year later the rest of the family’s humiliation was complete when a former lodger bought their house and turned them out.

Staying on in Taganrog until he was 19, Chekhov was also displaced in another sense. His grandfather had been a serf, part of Russia’s vast underclass literally owned by the country’s landowners until Tsar Alexander II freed them in 1861 and created a workforce for the huge network of railways he planned. They were routinely characterised as lazy, sly, drunk, ignorant and suspicious. But Chekhov was educated, sober and industrious. He enrolled as a medical student in Moscow and began writing humorous pieces for small magazines. Working his way up the market and the ladder of literary ambition, he turned out hundreds of stories before writing his four great plays: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. The long story My Life out of which Peter Gill made his play A Provincial Life came just as Chekhov was blossoming as a dramatist towards the end of his life. In all of them you’ll find many a reference to medicine (which he regarded as his ‘wife’, with literature his ‘mistress’), to education (he built three schools) and even to railways. You’ll also find pre-echoes of the Russian Revolution and astonishingly topical references to the environment or to the impossibility of justice and Mammon living together.

But his subject is the human comedy of people (like his protagonist) who dream of changing their own lives and the world but generally find the best they can manage is to get on with the drudgery they were born to; and people (like his protagonist’s father) who can’t see why anything should change in their comfortable universe. Narrowness of horizons is what defines provincialism. ‘Scenes from Provincial Life’ was the subtitle for his funny, heart-breaking Uncle Vanya, and the title was later used by the great South African writer J M Coetzee for his thinly veiled autobiography. Chekhov (with Ibsen) was setting the agenda for modern western drama; Beckett, Pinter and Ayckbourn are all in his debt. Chekhov doesn’t sneer at us, as perhaps a metropolitan writer might for easy laughs. But he doesn’t indulge or sentimentalise us either. He is the outsider who can show us the funny, heart-breaking truth.

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DR CHEKHOV AND THE NEEDY HUMAN HEART

Words

Paul Allen


NOW

AVAILABLE

A Provincial Life By Peter Gill

Featuring the full text of the play alongside details of this new production, this is a great souvenir to take home and keep forever.

Purchase your copy in the foyer now, or online at

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a provincial life programme supplement

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small change royal court

scenesnational theatre

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