Dramaturgical Dip: Chekhov's Era

Russia in the 19th and early 20th century

The three plays in our season, The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters all take place outside of the major urban centers of Russia. Anton Chekhov was an astute observer of daily life, and he considered much of his work as humorous (Russian humor is notoriously dark). At the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Russia was going through significant upheaval due to shifting ideologies. You can read more about some of the most prevalent societal changes of Chekhov’s era below.

Class, Estates, and Property

In 19th century Russia, the concept of "estate" (soslovie) referred to legally defined social classes, rather than just land ownership. These estates were crucial for determining social status, rights, and obligations within the Russian Empire. The term "soslovie" was used to describe the social structure, encompassing legal and social standing. The system was partially hereditary and partially dependent on occupation; individuals could sometimes move between estates through career advancement, education, or social mobility.

The four main estates were Nobility, Clergy, Peasantry, and Urban Dwellers, with special consideration for "inorodtsy" (non-Russians), each with specific legal and social standing. The nobility enjoyed significant privileges, including land ownership (often with serfs), exemption from certain taxes and military service, and access to specific educational institutions. Noble estates varied in size and grandeur, from lavish palaces in cities and country estates to smaller, more modest holdings. Noble estates often included manor houses, outbuildings (stables, kitchens, etc.), parks, and sometimes churches. These estates were often centers of cultural and social life.

The Clergy comprised the Orthodox Church clergy and their families, with varying degrees of social standing and influence. They were granted certain privileges and exemptions based on their religious role. 

Peasants constituted the majority of the population and were divided into state peasants (personally free but with restrictions) and serfs (bound to the land and their owners). Serfdom, abolished in 1861, was a defining feature of peasant life, tying them to the land and the landowners.

Urban Dwellers (Meschane), included merchants, artisans, and other urban residents who were not part of the nobility or clergy. They were further divided into guilds, artisans, and other occupational groups.

Serfdom

In Tsarist Russia, serfs were unfree peasants legally bound to the land and obligated to work for a landowner. While not considered chattel slaves in the same way as in the Americas, their lives were often characterized by harsh conditions and limited freedom, resembling slavery in many practical aspects. Historically serfs could be sold only together with the land to which they were "attached". However, this stopped being a requirement by the 19th century, and serfs were practically indistinguishable from slaves.

Serfdom most commonly existed in the central and southern areas of the Tsardom of Russia. The emperor and the highest state officials feared that the peasants' emancipation would be accompanied by popular unrest, given the reluctance of the landlords to lose their serf property, but took some actions to alleviate the situation of the peasantry.

Serfdom was abolished by Tsar Alexander II's emancipation reform of 1861. Scholars have proposed multiple overlapping reasons to account for the abolition, including fear of a large-scale revolt by the serfs, the government's financial needs, changing cultural sensibilities, and the military's need for soldiers.

The Troubles

While the term "Time of Troubles" specifically refers to a much earlier period of Russian history (late 16th and early 17th centuries) marked by dynastic crisis, civil war, and foreign intervention, the late 19th century in Russia was undoubtedly a period characterized by widespread discontent, social unrest, and mounting pressure for political reform. This environment of instability laid the groundwork for the Revolution of 1905 (a year after the premiere of The Cherry Orchard).

Russia's agricultural system was inefficient and lacked investment and technological advancement, leading to widespread poverty and even famine among the peasant population. Heavy redemption payments following the emancipation of serfs in 1861 further burdened peasants, who struggled with land, hunger and inadequate land allotments. Russia also experienced a significant population boom in the late 19th century, exacerbating pressure on land and resources in both rural and urban areas.

Industrialization, though late compared to Western Europe, led to the growth of a concentrated urban working class. This new proletariat faced harsh working conditions, long hours, low wages, and overcrowded & unsanitary housing - fostering a breeding ground for discontent and strikes.

The Tsarist regime's insistence on rigid autocracy largely excluded the population from participating in government. This created tension, especially among the educated elements of society (the intelligentsia) who desired greater political freedom and social progress. Growing discontent gave rise to various revolutionary movements like the Narodniks (Populists), Marxists, and anarchists, who advocated for radical change and challenged the existing social and political order.

Dramaturgical Dip: Lost in Translations

The plays of Anton Chekhov are translated and/or adapted into English more than any non-English playwright except perhaps Moliere and maybe Henrik Ibsen. The list of these translations and/or adaptations seems endless…I know because I have searched for months to find the right ones for The Classics Company.

Translation vs. Adaptation

Here is the difference between translation and adaptation. A translation is done by a Russian translator, steeped in both the language and the literature of Russia. To translate well is a distinct literary artform. An adaptation is written by a playwright who uses a translator’s “literal translation” to put Chekhov’s story into their own style. Most Chekhov plays that have been published in America and England are playwright-centered and not translator-centered. The many famous playwrights who have published versions of Chekhov include Tom Stoppard, Michael Frayn, David Mamet, David Hare, Brian Friel, Annie Baker, Heidi Schreck, Sarah Ruhl, Richard Nelson, Emily Mann, Stephen Karam, Madeline George…you get the picture. They go alongside others who are more translator than playwright such as Paul Schmidt, Robert W. Corrigan, Curt Columbus and Libby Appel. 

Here is what our translator, Kristin Johnsen-Neshati, says about the difference: 

“With a playwright’s adaptation of Chekhov, the real draw is that playwright’s take on a classic—not the classic itself. The adapter’s trademark voice and dramaturgical sense become paramount. If the playwright cuts, rearranges, or elaborates on scenes, this is acceptable because the new work is “adapted from,” “inspired by,” or simply “after” Chekhov.

For an audience wanting to hear a Chekhov play, however, the important thing is immediate access to Chekhov’s voice and vision. They need to leave with the feeling of having encountered the work of the playwright himself. To this audience, the artistry of the translator is unimportant—and often undistinguishable from the author’s—as long as it doesn’t impede the artistry of the original. The Chekhov translator doesn’t cut, edit, rearrange or elaborate, but provides a seemingly hollow reed through which the music of the original may be heard.”

It's always seemed to me that when playwrights run dry of original stories, they turn to adapting Chekhov to sharpen their craft. I guess that’s a compliment to Anton, right? They don’t really believe that they are going to write an improved version, do they?

Which leads us to my asking Kristin if we could license her translations for our inaugural season. I found her in a book of Chekhov critical essays by Rickard Gilman. He had used Kristin’s translation of The Seagull for his essay and loved her approach. I reached out to her, she sent all her translations, and I agreed with Gilman that her treatments were clear and unadorned. She told the story in a straight-ahead fashion without a personal style. She allows the actors and director to inhabit the Chekhovian world and make it their own. Now we won’t get “lost” in a translation. 

Below are excerpts from relevant remarks Kristin made when sitting on a panel of translators. I think you’ll agree with her perspective. Enjoy!

“Since language is on the move, translations have a limited shelf life. A good translator acknowledges this and strives to find the most immediate and accessible way to bring the original to today’s audiences. It’s the question of how best to do this that fuels continual debate. The translator should be attuned to today’s zeitgeist as expressed in the target as well as source languages. They must consider the tones and rhythms of contemporary speech and be able to find variations, such as verbal tics, regionalisms, and verbal patterns not identical—but equivalent—to those of the source text. Learning a new language makes you hear your mother tongue with the ears of a stranger. Only when I had to translate the Russian word chudnaya—an adjective that, in this context, means both miraculous and beautiful—did I realize how many English words I had taken for granted that combine exectly these meaning: wonderful and marvelous are just two examples. A translator must be able to think at times as a psychologist, an anthropologist, or sociologist to discover what a character is hiding or revealing by using one word and not another, why a character uses passive and not active voice, or speaks in short, germanic bursts instead of latinate abstractions. […]

Through the exercise of translation itself—the making of a thousand tiny decisions—each translator discovers an emerging “voice” for a new and distinct contribution to the field. I set out to create fresh and playable American translations that would make the rhythms and habits of 19th-century provincial Russia accessible to our audiences. I wanted my translations to mirror Chekhov’s economy, wit, and music.  I strove to make the imagery resonate and the language sing. But I didn’t know all that until I was nearly finished translating four of Chekhov’s plays.”

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Kristin Johnsen-Neshati is Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs & International Programs for George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. She is also Professor of Theater for Mason’s School of Theater, where she has taught translation and adaptation, dramatic criticism, theater history, dramatic literature, and dramaturgy since 1993. 

Kristin founded and co-directs 1,001 Plays, an international 10-minute play exchange for students, with Nicholas Kfoury Horner. She produces and co-moderates Kritikos, a reading group that examines American society, the arts, and anti-Black racism with curator and head moderator, Jessica Kallista from CVPA’s School of Art. 

As a professional dramaturg, she served on the staff of Theater of the First Amendment for 18 years, where she focused on new play development for professional and student playwrights. She has translated four of Chekhov’s plays, which have been produced at George Mason University, SUNY Stony Brook, University of Maryland, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, and Washington College. 

Grants and awards include Virginia Humanities, George Mason’s Anti-Racist and Inclusive Teaching Grant, LMDA’s 2022 Innovation Grant, George Mason’s Fenwick Fellowship, Fairfax County’s Strauss Fellowship, KC/ACTF Criticism Fellowship and a Fulbright research grant for work in Egypt. Research interests include international theater collaboration, and new play development and theater practice in Iran, Egypt and Sudan. Education: Swarthmore College (BA, Russian and Theater); Yale School of Drama (MFA, DFA, Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism). 

Kristin is delighted to be working with Artistic Director Mark Cuddy and his colleagues for the inaugural season of The Classics Company.