ABSTRACT

Michael Chekhov's career moves through different phases, and one way of looking at these is in terms of the roles of actor, director and teacher. Chekhov the director had also faded, and Chekhov the teacher was very much to the fore. Of course, from Chekhov's perspective, these can all be seen as aspects of Chekhov the artist and as an expression of his creative individuality; we might also add to these roles Chekhov as author, designer and graphic artist. The Chekhov Theatre Studio production of The Possessed, which was scripted by George Shdanoff and directed by Chekhov, opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on 24 October 1939. Chekhov and Shdanoff started work on The Possessed while the school was still based at Dartington, but the move to Ridgefield interrupted the process. Chekhov's admiration for Dickens is well established and his initial objective was to produce The Possessed and Pickwick simultaneously.