Platonov (play)
Platonov (Russian: Платонов, also known as Fatherlessness and A Play Without a Title)[1] is the name in English given to an early, untitled play in four acts written by Anton Chekhov in 1878. It was the first large-scale drama by Chekhov,[1] written specifically for Maria Yermolova, rising star of Maly Theatre.[2] Yermolova rejected the play and it was not published until 1923.[1]
The lead character is Mikhail Platonov, a disillusioned provincial schoolmaster. The play is set in a dilapidated country house in the Russian provinces. Landowner Anna Petrovna, Sofia Yegorovna, wife of Anna Petrovna's stepson, and one of his colleagues fall in love with the married Platonov. He thinks society is without ideas and principles, but is aware that he himself is very much part of that society. He is compared to Hamlet and Don Juan, and likes to think of himself as a witty and intellectually stimulating entertainer. In the end, he recognises his hopeless position between the four women and retreats into alcohol. Finally, Sofia understands that she cannot hope for a new life with Platonov and shoots him.
Film and television[edit]
BBC Television produced a version for their Play of the Month series in 1971 which features Rex Harrison in the title role.[17] In 1977 writer Aleksandr Adabashyan and director Nikita Mikhalkov transformed the work into another film, Неоконченная пьеса для механического пианино (Neokonchennaya pyesa dlya mekhanicheskogo pianino), made in Russian by Mosfilm and released in the west as An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano.[7][18] This in turn was reworked by Trevor Griffiths into a new stage version called Piano, produced at the Cottesloe Theatre, London, in August 1990.[7] Stephen Rea was Platonov.