A Methuen Student Edition of Chekhov's classic play in Michael Frayn's acclaimed translation.
When it first opened in St Petersburg in 1896, The Seagull survived only five performances after a disastrous first opening night. Two years later it was revived by Nemirovich-Danchenko at the newly-founded Moscow Art Theatre with Stanslasky as Trigorin and was an immediate success. Checkhov's description of the play was characteristically self-mocking: "A comedy - 3F, 6M, four acts, rural scenery (a view over a lake); much talk of literature, little action, five bushels of love".
Michael Frayn's translation was commissioned by the Oxford Playhouse Company.

“THE SHADOW is a play about society, a political play. It is not so much a political parody as a poetic and philosophical work of art. It is a play about Man in Society, but also about Good and Evil, Love and Death. Like all of Shvarts’ plays it is funny, but it is also eerie. THE SHADOW is a play about any country under the yoke of a powerful dictatorship which works its will through a dehumanized bureaucracy.” —Avril Pyman
“The twofold nature of the satire in THE SHADOW is clear. Corruption in the social order parallels and reflects corruption in the governmental order and both fear anything or anyone that threatens reform, for implicit in reform is the end of privilege. Where such societal and governmental corruption is prevalent, suggests Shvarts, the mere hint of reform is enough to galvanize the perpetrators of corruption into a massive campaign not just to block reform but to eliminate it at its source.” —Harold B Segel
“THE SHADOW does not offer a version of easy, magical, utopian transformation of social reality. Shvarts leaves the satiric paradigms unsubverted, untransformed at the end of the play. The story of the hero’s attainment of magical power contradicts, but does not undermine, various opposed stories about evil forces that continue to reign in society and in the hearts of individual people.” —Duffield White

“Senelick’s accomplishment is astounding.”—Library Journal
Anton Chekhov is a unique force in modern drama, his works cherished for their brilliant wit and insight into the human condition. In this stunning new translation of one of Chekhov’s most popular and beloved plays, Laurence Senelick presents a fresh perspective on the master playwright and his groundbreaking dramas. He brings this timeless trial of art and love to life as memorable characters have clashing desires and lose balance in the shifting eruptions of society and a modernizing Russia. Supplementing the play is an account of Chekhov’s life; a note on the translation; an introduction to the work; and variant lines, often removed due to government censorship, which illuminate the context in which they were written. This edition is the perfect guide to enriching our understanding of this great dramatist or to staging a production.