Theatre - The Bear and Swansong

Towards the end of his life Chekhov reportedly told the writer Ivan Bunin that he thought people might go on reading him for seven years. “Why seven?" asked Bunin. “Well, seven and a half,” Chekhov replied. “That’s not bad. I’ve got six years to live.” His modesty may have been borne out of the coolness of his early critical reception. Fellow Russian author Leo Tolstoy once told Chekhov early on his career, “You know I cannot abide Shakespeare, but your plays are even worse”. Nevertheless Chekhov (and Tolstoy) were wrong on both counts. On the 15th July, 1904, just a few months after making this remark to Bunin, Chekhov died. And, more than a hundred years after his death, his plays are still being read and performed.
Tonight, after successful first performances at the Market Lane Garage, Lewes Repertory Theatre are reprising two of his short plays as part of their new run at the Old Forge. ‘The Bear' and ‘Swansong’ are short one-act ‘farces’, although, as director Rikki Tarascas tells me, they are not straightforwardly comic. “Though it has potential to be funny, it also has a serious edge”, he says. “There is a fine line between comedy and tragedy and it could go either way. I was surprised by the depth of tragedy but then there is something desperate about farce that makes you think should we be laughing at it.” The plays run together on a double bill on various dates throughout July. ER