This is the first cross-cultural study of Chekhov's plays in production. Many now consider Chekhov a playwright equal to Shakespeare, and this book studies how the reputation evolved, and how the presentation of his plays varied and altered from their initial productions in Russia to the most recent postmodern deconstructions of them. In the process, Laurence Senelick analyses the ways in which the reception of Chekhov's plays reflects social, political and aesthetic attitudes in specific countries. Particular attention is given to the staging of Chekhov in Russia before and after the Revolution, and under different regimes; in the English-speaking world, in Western and Eastern Europe, as well as in Japan. Senelick also includes interpretations of Chekhov by the century's most influential directors and designers with valuable and informative illustrations of key productions also a feature of the book.

"Senelick has painstakingly pieced together the amazing story of how [the Moscow Art Theatre's production of Hamlet] came about, and combines it with a detailed, scene-by-scene reconstruction of the unfinished product.' ... He makes use of what would seem to be every possible primary source, Russian and English.... In the end, Senelick does more than reconstruct' Craig's Moscow Hamlet. He shows how, despite its central flaw, it became the standard from which to deviate. Until now the material necessary to unshroud the legend has been scattered all over Europe. Senelick has gathered it into an exemplary, illuminating study."-Theatre Journal