Rosamund Bartlett and Elena Michajlowska, co-founders of the Anton Chekhov Foundation and editors of Anton Chekhov. Earliest Stories. Stories, Novellas, Humoresques, 1880–
The young Anton Chekhov went into print during the first year of his medical degree at Moscow University in order to support his impoverished family. Steering a difficult path between mocking rejections, editorial demands, and tightening censorship following the assassination of Alexander II, he began writing light-hearted stories and sketches for comic magazines, with the express aim of entertaining his readers. He also experimented with a huge variety of literary genres, including parodies of Victor Hugo and Jules Verne, and even at this early stage began writing longer and more serious stories in which he planted the seeds of his future literary masterpieces.
The talk will be followed by staged readings from the anthology, arranged and directed by Professor Michael Earley, Course Director of the new Theatre and Performance Studies course at the University of Cambridge and former Principal of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, who worked with Rosamund Bartlett in 2010 to create ‘Cabaret Chekhov’ for the Edinburgh Fringe. Excerpts were performed at the launch of the Anton Chekhov Foundation's "Early Chekhov Translation Project" in 2014 at Grad Gallery.
Rosamund Bartlett is a writer and translator, and a well-known authority on Russian cultural history. She is the author of Chekhov: Scenes from a Life, editor and co-translator of Chekhov: A Life in Letters, and translator of two Chekhov anthologies, About Love and Other Stories and The Exclamation Mark and Other Stories.
Elena Michajlowska is a producer, curator, and filmmaker, whose practice explores collective memory, political trauma, and cultural identity – selected works include Fragile Brutalism (2022–23) and PutschYourself.art (2016). In 2009 she collaborated with Rosamund Bartlett to found the Anton Chekhov Foundation, a UK-registered charity, of which they both remain trustees.
Joshua Diffley has acted both in the UK and abroad in stage productions ranging from Romeo and Juliet to Peter Pan. His screen credits include the feature film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and the ITV series Stonehouse.
Elisabeth Snegir is a bilingual Russian and English London-based actress. Her extensive stage experience includes In And Out of Chekhov's Shorts at the Southwark Playhouse and Churchill in Moscow at the Orange Tree Theatre.
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