ABSTRACT
The curious thing about Chekhov's dramatic technique is that he seems, while one is watching a play of his, to be succeeding in spite of it. Or I can put the difference between his and other plays perhaps more clearly by saying that while one is usually more impressed by a play as one sits watching it than one will be again, with Chekhov the process is entirely contrary - one finds that his plays are better in retrospect than one ever realised at the time of their performance. That means that while the play that we are used to seeing on the English or French stage is infinitely better in detail than it is as a whole, one must stand back from Chekhov's canvases, and let the detail take its subsidiary place. . . .
