Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov
|
A psychologically driven stage production exploring depression, emotional exhaustion and the collapse of identity.
2014 by Independent Theatre Productions. Genre: Psychological Drama
Language: English Written by: Anton Chekhov Directed by: Tarek Mounib Cast: Adrian Keller, Marc Widmer, Tobias Hartmann, Elena Weiss, Sophie Baumann, Clara Berger Production: Independent Theatre Productions Status: Event completed Short Synopsis
Once full of ambition and idealism, Ivanov now finds himself emotionally broken, drowning in debt, guilt and emotional detachment. Chekhov’s masterpiece becomes an intimate portrait of inner collapse, loneliness and social pressure. Director’s Vision
This interpretation approaches Ivanov through cinematic realism and psychological intimacy. Rather than presenting a distant period drama, the production focuses on emotional silence, fractured relationships and existential isolation. |
|
Plot:
Nikolai Ivanov is a young estate-owner, heavily in debt, especially to Zinaida Lebedev, the wife of the head of the County Council. Ivanov used to be energetic, creative, and unconventional, the "star" of the local gentry. He married for love--a Jewish woman (Sarah, now called Anna) whose parents disowned her when she married a gentile--and Anna is totally devoted to him. Yet Ivanov is suffering from profound depression.
It seems to him that all his good ideas (like building a school for the poor) were for naught and he has become a "superfluous man." He spends every evening socializing at the Lebedev estate, even though he knows how this hurts his wife. Doctor Lvov, Anna's physician, is a humorless and terminally sincere young man who has no insight into Ivanov's depression.
One night Anna gets fed up and follows her husband to the Lebedev house, where she discovers Ivanov kissing the Lebedevs' daughter, Sasha, who is hopelessly in love with Ivanov, although he doesn't reciprocate her affection. Some weeks later Anna's illness (tuberculosis) has gotten worse. Lvov condemns Ivanov, various hangers-on while away their time in Ivanov's study, and, to complicate matters further, Sasha shows up unannounced. After Anna dies, Ivanov and Sasha are set to be married, but at the last minute he can't go through with it. At the end of the play he runs offstage and shoots himself dead.
Commentary:
This is the first of Chekhov's full-length dramas (1889) and, as such, is considerably more melodramatic and "talky" than his great later plays, beginning with The Seagull (1895) (annotated in this database). In one sense Ivanov's plight can be viewed as symptomatic of the Russian gentry in the 1880's--liberal ideas for reform, a high degree of early enthusiasm, but then nothing ever happens. Young Turks become "superfluous men" as they lose their idealism and sink into somnolence.
Nikolai Ivanov is a young estate-owner, heavily in debt, especially to Zinaida Lebedev, the wife of the head of the County Council. Ivanov used to be energetic, creative, and unconventional, the "star" of the local gentry. He married for love--a Jewish woman (Sarah, now called Anna) whose parents disowned her when she married a gentile--and Anna is totally devoted to him. Yet Ivanov is suffering from profound depression.
It seems to him that all his good ideas (like building a school for the poor) were for naught and he has become a "superfluous man." He spends every evening socializing at the Lebedev estate, even though he knows how this hurts his wife. Doctor Lvov, Anna's physician, is a humorless and terminally sincere young man who has no insight into Ivanov's depression.
One night Anna gets fed up and follows her husband to the Lebedev house, where she discovers Ivanov kissing the Lebedevs' daughter, Sasha, who is hopelessly in love with Ivanov, although he doesn't reciprocate her affection. Some weeks later Anna's illness (tuberculosis) has gotten worse. Lvov condemns Ivanov, various hangers-on while away their time in Ivanov's study, and, to complicate matters further, Sasha shows up unannounced. After Anna dies, Ivanov and Sasha are set to be married, but at the last minute he can't go through with it. At the end of the play he runs offstage and shoots himself dead.
Commentary:
This is the first of Chekhov's full-length dramas (1889) and, as such, is considerably more melodramatic and "talky" than his great later plays, beginning with The Seagull (1895) (annotated in this database). In one sense Ivanov's plight can be viewed as symptomatic of the Russian gentry in the 1880's--liberal ideas for reform, a high degree of early enthusiasm, but then nothing ever happens. Young Turks become "superfluous men" as they lose their idealism and sink into somnolence.
|
|
