Ivanov

First staged at Korsh’s Russian Dramatic Theatre, Moscow, in 1887. Nikolai Ivanov, a regional councillor and landowner, has tried to live his life in a bold new way, taking risks in everything from business to romance. Now his estate is failing, his wife is dangerously ill and he’s up to his neck in debt. To cap it all, he’s surrounded by malicious gossip. Against his better judgment he sees an irresistible opportunity, in the adoring form of Sasha Lebedev, daughter of the Chairman of the local council. She offers her devotion, youth and beauty, but also the considerable riches of her name. But can Ivanov survive the guilt and shame scandal would bring? Set in a remote backwater, this angry and outspoken play, streaked with satire, drink and anti-Semitism, is full of an outright passion Chekhov would soon forego in his later plays.