ABSTRACT
The critical reception of Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, directed by Stanislavsky and Sanin, premièred on 19 September 1901, was harsh. Even an enthusiastic supporter like Nikolay Efros thought the Theatre was ‘chasing after chimeras’ in a ‘mist of hidden symbols’ (Novosti dnya 1901:26 September). Petr Yartsev, on the other hand, was critical of its chimerical blank spots.1 The production had been unfaithful to the play; it was ‘coldly deterministic’ and weighed down with a superabundance of external detail and, consequently, ignored the ‘highest notion’ of the work. Its ‘soul’ had been killed off through the clarity of the realism. The audience was bored or, worse still, ‘left without waiting for the last act’ (Teatr i iskusstvo 1901: no. 40:712-13). Chekhov attended a rehearsal on 14 May and was also at the première. He described it as ‘pale, uninteresting and weak’ (Chekhov 1974-83: vol. 19:139). Thus can a poor production by a first-rate company mar the reputation of a great play.
