Overview

A play with one of the longest runs in the history of the famous Greenwich Mews Theatre. Though the last of Chekhov's plays to be produced professionally in America, it was written by the author at the age of 21 and is unquestionably a key to the comic intent of all his plays. Misha has a devil inside him that makes him irresistible to women, including his wife, and a widow, and the widow's daughter-in-law. While the widow is pursued by a propertied gentleman and a huge serf, she has eyes only for Misha. But Misha prefers an affair with her daughter-in-law. There are many comic interludes, as when the widow's son tries to challenge Misha to a duel; and all of them point up the humorous failings of mankind in crises. Misha himself fails, when he tries to commit suicide.