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Jonathan Miller Directs Chekhov

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

David Allen
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Abstract

David Allen's sequence of features for NTQ on modern British approaches to directing Chekhov began in No. 8 (1986) with a documentary study of Mike Alfreds's productions, and continued with a reconstruction of David Jones's production of Ivanov for the RSC in No. 15 (1988). Here, he explores the approach to Chekhov of Jonathan Miller (currently artistic director at the Old Vic), mainly through an analysis of Miller's production of Three Sisters, first seen at Guildford in April 1976, and subsequently transferred to the Cambridge Theatre, London, on 22 June of that year. This is complemented by original interview material with the director, and David Allen also draws on Miller's Chichester production of The Seagull in 1973, which was revived for Greenwich Theatre in January 1974. The analysis focuses especially on Miller's sense of the ways in which Chekhov perceived and dramatized human passions, his presentation of the nuances of personality, and of the changes wrought by passing time.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 5 , Issue 17 , February 1989 , pp. 52 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

Notes and References

1. There had been two performances by the Stage Society in 1920.

2. Ackland, Rodney, ‘From Komisarjevsky to Jonathan Miller’, The Spectator, 18 09 1976Google Scholar.

3. Ibid. [my italics].

4. Spurling, Hilary, The Observer, 27 06 1976Google Scholar.

5. Stanislavsky, Constantin, My Life in Art, translated by Robbins, J. J. (Geoffrey Bles, 1924)Google Scholar.

6. Nemirovich-Danchenko, Vladimir, My Life in the Russian Theatre, quoted in File on Chekhov, compiled by Worrall, Nick (Methuen, 1986)Google Scholar. [My italics.]

7. Stanislavsky, op. cit.

8. Grey, Malcolm, Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 1 06 1976Google Scholar.

9. Morley, Sheridan, Punch 7 07 1976Google Scholar.

10. ‘When another style is introduced…mundane about life’: these remarks are taken from Subsequent Performances by Miller, Jonathan (Faber and Faber, 1986)Google Scholar. In transcribing my interview with Miller, I have taken the liberty, as here, of interposing certain phrases from the chapter on Chekhov in Miller's book, where I have felt that this would help to clarify his point.

11. ‘A play should be written in which people arrive, go away, have dinner, talk about the weather, and play cards. Life must be exactly as it is; and the people as they are – not on stilts’. Quoted by Fen, Elisaveta in her introduction to Chekhov: Plays (Penguin, 1959)Google Scholar.

12. ‘Chekhov says somewhere…like real life’, from Subsequent Performances.

13. Cushman, Robert, First Night Impressions (a series of six weekly talks, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 23 04–28 05 1986)Google Scholar.

14. Wardle, Irving, The Times, 24 06 1976Google Scholar.

15. ‘Three Sisters is a comedy…as time passes by’, from Subsequent Performances.

16. Magarshack, David, Chekhov the Dramatist (Lehmann, 1952)Google Scholar.

17. Chekhov, said that Masha ‘is more intelligent than her sisters – or rather, she thinks herself more intelligent’ (letter to Olga Knipper, 21 01 1901)Google Scholar.

18. ‘Subsequently, the characters…with the humour’, from Subsequent Performances.

19. Robert Cushman, op. cit.

20. Billington, Michael, The Guardian, 24 06 1976Google Scholar.

21. Rodney Ackland, op. cit.

22. All quotations from the play are from Fen's, Elisavetatranslation (Penguin, 1959)Google Scholar, which was used for the production.

23. ‘I discovered this interpretation…shouting an expletive’, and ‘this totally transformed…reconstruct her’, from Subsequent Performances.

24. Irving Wardle, op. cit.

25. Coveney, Michael, Plays and Players, 08 1976Google Scholar.

26. Michael Billington, op. cit.

27. Hilary Spurling, op. cit.

28. ‘It was only by discovering…involve a scene’, from Subsequent Performances.

29. Hilary Spurling, op. cit.

30. Irving Wardle, op. cit.

31. Hilary Spurling, op. cit.

32. David Magarshack, op. cit.

33. Irving Wardle, op. cit.

34. Subsequent Performances.

35. Michael Coveney, op. cit.

36. Chekhov, Anton, ‘Three Years’, translated by Hingley, Ronald, in The Oxford Chekhov: Volume VII, Stories, 1893–1895 (Oxford University Press, 1978)Google Scholar.

37. Subsequent Performances.

38. Michael Billington, op. cit.

39. Irving Wardle, op. cit.

40. Elsom, John, The Listener, 1 07 1976Google Scholar.

41. Everitt, Anthony, The Birmingham Post, 26 05 1976Google Scholar.

42. Hilary Spurling, op. cit.

43. Interviewed by Robert Cushman in First Night Impressions.

44. Subsequent Performances.

45. Wardle, Irving, The Times, 24 05 1973Google Scholar.

46. John Elsom, op. cit.

47. ‘The plays float … brought out’ from Subsequent Performances.

48. ‘All these little characteristics … social reality’, from Subsequent Performances.

49. A film of the visit of the actors from the Moscow Art Theatre to Britain was recorded by the BBC. Called A Visit from Vanya, it was produced by Denton, Richard and transmitted on BBC 2, 21 10 1987Google Scholar.

50. John Elsom, op. cit.

51. Wright, Allen, The Scotsman, 19 05 1976Google Scholar.

52. John Elsom, op. cit.

53. ‘In a similar way’, Miller suggests, ‘there was a canonical viewpoint from which to look at scenes in European painting, up to the Impressionists’ encounter with Japanese art. As a result of that encounter, coupled with their experience of photography, artists started to recompose scenes. The experience of seeing Degas's painting for the first time, in which a horse is cut off at the edge of the frame in a scene of longshot, must have been quite startling. People thought of it as a distancing effect, but in fact it was a way of refocusing their attention on aspects of the scene to which they had not previously attended.'

54. ‘The plays are designed … almost every page’, from Subsequent Performances.

55. Subsequent Performances.

56. Hilary Spurling, op. cit.

57. ‘It spins, slows … to a standstill’, from Subsequent Performances.

58. Michael Billington, op. cit.

59. ‘Things are soon forgotten … that's all there is to life’, from Subsequent Performances.