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La verità, vi prego, sul Giardino
The Truth, Please, About the Orchard
Malcovati, Fausto
2024
Abstract
The Cherry Orchаrd, Chekhov’s last play, was not, as usually assumed, a great success. Famously contrary to Chekhov’s wishes, Stanislavski’s version was, by and large, a tragedy, although Chekhov had defined his play as a comedy with some elements of farce. Chekhov intensely disliked Stanislavski’s version, concluding that he “had ruined” the play. In one of many letters on the subject, Chekhov complained: “Anya, I fear, should not have any sort of tearful tone. Why did you speak about so many tears in my play? Where are they?”. Many were the reasons of discussion between Stanislavski and Chekhov: the rhythm of the play was not respected, Acts Three and Four were too long, the structure of Act Two was widely rewritten during the rehearsals, the role of Lopakhin was written for Stanislavski – who ultimately preferred to play Gayev, and Anya, an eighteen-year-old girl, was played by Lilina – Stanislavski’s wife – who at the time was almost 40 years old. After the first performance, Chekhov concluded: this is not my play.
Il giardino dei ciliegi, l’ultima opera di Čechov, non fu, in realtà, un grande successo. Contro la volontà di Čechov, la versione di Stanislavskij era in tutto e per tutto una tragedia, nonostante Čechov avesse definito la propria opera come una commedia con alcuni elementi di farsa. L’autore disapprovava intensamente la messinscena di Stanislavskij, fino ad affermare che questi aveva “rovinato” la pièce. In una delle numerose lettere sull’argomento Čechov scriveva: “Anja non dovrebbe avere un tono lacrimoso. Perché parlate di tutte queste lacrime nella mia opera? Dove sono?”. Molti furono i motivi di discussione tra Stanislavskij e Čechov: il ritmo della pièce non fu rispettato, il terzo e il quarto atto erano troppo lunghi, la struttura del secondo atto fu ampiamente rimaneggiata durante le prove, la parte di Lopachin era stata scritta per Stanislavskij che alla fine preferì interpretare Gaev, e Anja, una ragazza di diciott’anni, fu interpretata da Lilina – la moglie di Stanislavskij – che al tempo aveva quasi 40 anni. Dopo la prima dello spettacolo Čechov affermò: questa non è la mia pièce.
The Cherry Orchаrd, Chekhov’s last play, was not, as usually assumed, a great success. Famously contrary to Chekhov’s wishes, Stanislavski’s version was, by and large, a tragedy, although Chekhov had defined his play as a comedy with some elements of farce. Chekhov intensely disliked Stanislavski’s version, concluding that he “had ruined” the play. In one of many letters on the subject, Chekhov complained: “Anya, I fear, should not have any sort of tearful tone. Why did you speak about so many tears in my play? Where are they?”. Many were the reasons of discussion between Stanislavski and Chekhov: the rhythm of the play was not respected, Acts Three and Four were too long, the structure of Act Two was widely rewritten during the rehearsals, the role of Lopakhin was written for Stanislavski – who ultimately preferred to play Gayev, and Anya, an eighteen-year-old girl, was played by Lilina – Stanislavski’s wife – who at the time was almost 40 years old. After the first performance, Chekhov concluded: this is not my play.
Journal
Source
Fausto Malcovati, "La verità, vi prego, sul Giardino" in: "Slavica Tergestina 32 (2024/I)", EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, Trieste, 2024, pp. 298-309
Languages
it
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International