The Hampstead Players` `Cheerful Chekhov` event is a double bill of his comic plays, as a curtain-raiser to our production of The Cherry Orchard in November. A lively cast will do rehearsed readings of his two best-known vaudevilles: The Bear and The Proposal. Chekhov himself deprecated these little pot-boilers, but they were immediately received with great acclaim. Chekhov wonderingly described their first-night audience as being `in the seventh heaven of delight`. On seeing The Bear, even his critical and severe father admitted `what a wonderful thing you have written`, and there is no doubt that the germ of his mature dramatic technique is present in these early essays in comedic writing. We will present them at 1pm on Wednesday 16th October, in one of our monthly literary hours in the church. Admission is free and there is a retiring collection in aid of the Church fabric fund.
Cheerful Chekhov
Bill Risebero