Young Chekhov: Three-Show Day

Following overwhelming acclaim at Chichester Festival Theatre, the Young Chekhov trilogy adapted by David Hare, transfers to the National, offering a unique chance to explore the birth of a revolutionary dramatic voice. Performed by one ensemble of actors, each play can be seen as a single performance (see Platonov, Ivanov and The Seagull) or enjoyed together, either over different days or as a thrilling all-day theatrical experience

Platonov 11:45am
Schoolteacher Mikhail Platonov has a problem – he’s irresistible to women.

Set in the blazing heat of a rural summer, this freewheeling comedy is a cry of youthful defiance against the compromises of middle age.

Ivanov 4:00pm
Nikolai Ivanov is only 35, a radical and a romantic, but already he’s feeling that he’s thrown his life away.

Determined not to become a small-town Hamlet, he hopes one last desperate romance may save him from a society rotten with anti-Semitism and drink. This electric play is powered both by hilarious satire and passionate self-disgust.

The Seagull 8:00pm
On a summer’s day in a makeshift theatre by a lake, Konstantin’s cutting-edge new play is performed, changing the lives of everyone involved forever.