ABSTRACT
For many theatre historians, the plays of Anton Chekhov represent one of the principal strands of European naturalism. David Hare should be so attentive to Chekhov’s naturalism may also be related to his own interest in the plays of Henrik Ibsen, as well as those of Maxim Gorky. The temporal factor is a crucial element in distinguishing between the naturalism of Ibsen and the very different pattern of Chekhov reception in Britain. The notion that Russian literature offered a more measured and wholesome version of broader European artistic developments can be productively carried over to the reception of Chekhov’s stage works from 1909 onwards. As George Bernard Shaw noted, the languid melancholy of Chekhov’s plays meant that their social radicalism was at risk of being either downplayed or overlooked entirely. The interwar legacy has taken a long time to understand and overcome, and in many ways, it remains a dominant strain in British Chekhov production.
