Double take

A play by Chekhov and one about him form a fascinating pairing that brings the greatness of the elusive Russian literary giant a bit closer to Chinese sensibility, writes Raymond Zhou.

Anton Chekhov enjoys a very unique place among China's theatergoers. There are frequent stagings of his plays, including his shorter, not-so-famous ones. But it would be an exaggeration to say his popularity in the Middle Kingdom is on par with, say, Shakespeare, let alone China's own inimitable playwrights, such as Lao She and Cao Yu. But Stan Lai seems to be on a mission to change that. The Taiwan impresario, a renowned playwright and stage director in his own right, has just produced a double bill-Carol Rocamora's I Take Your Hand in Mine and Chekhov's The Seagull in Beijing. The former starts at 4 pm and, after a dinner break, the second play is performed. The three-day Beijing run has just ended, and now the show will embark upon a nationwide tour.

The two-hander, starring Jiang Wenli and Sun Qiang, recounts the last six years of the Russian playwright's life, with frequent references to his various plays, often featuring Olga Knipper, Chekhov's wife, in the leading role. It was a mesmerizing study on the mix of family and career, at once intimate and reflective of the larger theater scene in Russia at the time.