Humiliating Premieres and Flops

by Claudia Nolan

Thinking about the launch of The Classics Company in the new year is exciting, and filled with trepidation! Starting a new company is a huge undertaking, and something that theater-makers of the late 19th century in Russia could relate to as well.

Seeing our beautiful designs to launch the season and our company with The Seagull made me think of the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT). Founded in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, they wanted to establish a theatre of new art forms and to make art available to the general public. Much like much of our own company, the original ensemble was made up of mostly non-professional actors which created strong collaboration and community. 

MXAT staged Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull its inaugural year, a play that had failed in its premiere production in St. Petersburg. With its revival of The Seagull, MXAT not only achieved its first major success but also began a long artistic association with Anton Chekhov. Even the symbol of the theater was a seagull flying into the future.

 
 

Prior to MXAT’s production of The Seagull, Chekhov had endured three humiliating premieres in Moscow and St. Petersburg. On the opening night of Ivanov in 1887, only two of the leading actors knew their lines, and other cast members were drunk. The Wood Demon, an early draft of Uncle Vanya, fared no better two years later. Half the cast forgot their lines, the actresses were dreadful, and the audience booed. If the disastrous premieres of Ivanov and The Wood Demon weren’t enough to dissuade Chekhov from writing again for the theater, the calamitous 1896 premiere of The Seagull in St. Petersburg was. The ruthless Petersburg audience howled at Chekhov’s play, taking special delight in a character’s wheelchair that kept losing its grip on the slanted stage.

“The Seagull died. It was killed by the unanimous hissing of the entire audience. As if millions of bees, wasps, bumblebees filled the air of the house: so strong and poisonous was the hissing.”

—The Peterburgsky Listok Newspaper (1896, № 288)

After the St. Petersburg flop, Chekhov was hesitant to grant anyone permission to produce his The Seagull, but he eventually agreed to let MXAT stage the Moscow premiere. 

"The Seagull is the pride of our dramatic art. They don’t understand it? But they’ll understand it soon.”

—Nemirovich-Danchenko

The production was revolutionary. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich, who co-directed the production, held twenty-six rehearsals–a significant improvement from the paltry ten rehearsals in St. Petersburg. MXAT’s detailed mise-en-scène and nuanced acting captivated Russian audiences accustomed to melodramatic clichés. Stanislavsky’s promptbook reveals the elaborate preparation that went into the production. With its careful orchestration of sounds and silences, the book reads more like a score than a script.

This set of directions was written by Stanislavsky to accompany the Act I conversation between Treplev and Sorin.

1) Leans over, picks a flower and tells his fortune with the petals.

2) Sits facing the audience and nervously pulls at the grass. Smokes. Treplev gets more and more worked up, his speech becomes broken and faster.

3) In annoyance he slaps his leg, gets up and leans toward Sorin trying to convince him. Even pounds his chest in excitement.

4) Having waved his hand he climbs over the board of the swing and nervously walks around the terrace. A pause of about 5 seconds. Having walked around, Treplev calms down, comes back to his earlier spot, looks at his watch, and sits down straddling the bench.

“The Seagull has just been played, it was a tremendous success. We’re crazy with happiness. We are giving you a big kiss.”

—Telegram from Stanislavski to Chekhov

Chekhov was the success and main hope of the Moscow Art Theatre. The paradox was that the playwright had not seen a single performance of his plays – his health did not allow him to go to Moscow. He was in Yalta for treatment of his tuberculosis. But in April of 1900, the MXAT toured Sevastopol and Yalta. All 12 performances were completely sold out.

"If Mohammed doesn’t go to the mountain, the mountain goes to Mohammed! We’re bringing the Moscow Art Theater to Yalta in April, to show you the plays and make you happy.”  

—Stanislavski to Chekhov

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