In her illuminating programme note accompanying the recent production of Summerfolk at the National Theatre, the cultural historian, Rosamund Bartlett, describes Maxim Gorky’s third play as a ‘grotesque next chapter’ to Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard (2003). Summerfolk was first staged in Moscow in November 1904, some four months after Chekhov’s death. Chekhov had been corresponding […]
Category: Culture
The soviet dacha
Soviet-era dacha in Resheti, near Ekaterinburg I have just dusted down a talk that I gave some years ago about Russian dachas. I have been asked to give it again in early December. The lecture traces the history of this aspect of Russian life from its start in the 18h Century to the recent past. […]