Chekhov! 3 Farces: The Bear, The Proposal, and The Ravages of Tabacco at 21ten Theatre

“In all my plays I haven't introduced a single hero or a villain, but I couldn't spare myself the buffoons." - Anton Chekhov

Think you know Chekhov? Think again.

If you want to really understand his major plays in the sense of what he intended them to be, namely comedies, the early one-act farces, which Chekhov actually called "Jokes," are essential.

Their comedic style is fierce, broad and impassioned. The characters are buffoons, yet they are also deeply human. Their idiocy is human, their struggle - as they proverbially slip on a banana peel over and over again - is human, and their eventual triumphs over the laws of human stupidity - however absurd and incomplete those "triumphs" may be - are human too. With that in mind, we’re putting up The Bear, The Proposal, and The Ravages of Tobacco all in one evening of crazy comedy.