It covers the rehearsals and opening of Uncle Vanya (October 1899) and the writing and premiere of The Three Sisters (January 1901) at the Moscow Art Theatre, during which time they met each other's families, travelled between Moscow and Yalta, and became lovers. It begins in the spring of 1899, after the opening of The Seagull, in which Olga makes her first appearance as Chekhov's leading lady. (The collected letters are published in Russian, and have recently been translated into English by Jean Benedetti.) Born of their enforced separation, the correspondence spans five of those six years (1899-1904) and a remarkable period in theatre history - the birth of the Moscow Art Theatre and its production of Chekhov's four major plays, all starring Olga.Īddressed "dear author/dear actress" and signed by him with a courtly "I take your hand in mine", the correspondence evolves into intimacy as their relationship - both artistic and personal - progresses. Those brief years are chronicled in a unique correspondence, consisting of roughly 400 letters each. And yet they shared more than a full lifetime of love and theatre. Even when they were together during the summers, his ever-declining health marred the quality of their reunions. Most of that time they spent apart by necessity - she in residence at the Moscow Art Theatre, he in exile in Yalta, suffering from consumption.
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