Book Description
Michael Pennington_s work on his solo show about Anton Chekhov has taken London_s "Russian Actor" from the Trans-Siberian Railway to Soviet and post-Soviet Moscow, into the repertoires of the National Theatre and the Old Vic and across Europe. Are You There, Crocodile? also includes accounts of his work on Dostoevsky_s Crime and Punishment, Tolstoy_s Strider and other Russian projects, as well as essays on Chekhov_s four masterpieces.
Are You There, Crocodile?: Inventing Anton Chekhov FROM THE PUBLISHER
In Are You There, Crocodile? Michael Pennington retraces his ten-year search via Moscow, Siberia and London for identification with the elusive Chekhov - a journey that offers vivid insight into the Russia in which the playwright and his contemporaries lived. Tolstoy, Gorky and Dostoyevsky all make their appearances, along with the artist Levitan and members of Chekhov's family; his wife and leading actress Olga Knipper, his sister and brothers, his parents Pavel and Evgenia, and even his dog Quinine.
We follow the opening in Anton Chekhov at the National Theatre in London and its subsequent life on tour, television and radio, as actor and subject fall uncannily into step with each other.
The result is an unusually intimate view of the man who wrote The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard and a compelling account of an actor's relationship with his character. It includes the complete text of Anton Chekhov by Michael Pennington, as performed in its recent revivals at the Old Vic and Chichester Festival Theatre.
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