Anton Chekhov, Russian dramatist and short-story writer, was born in 1860, the son of a grocer and the grandson of a serf. After graduating in medicine from Moscow University in 1884, he began to make his name in the theatre with the one-act comedies The Bear, The Proposal and The Wedding. His earliest full-length plays, Ivanov (1887) and The Wood Demon (1889), were not successful, and The Seagull, produced in 1896, was a failure until a triumphant revival by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. This was followed by Uncle Vanya (1899), Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904), shortly after the production of which Chekhov died. The first English translations of his plays were performed within five years of his death. Samuel Adamson's plays include: The Ballad of Hattie and James, Wife (both Kiln Theatre), Some Kind of Bliss (Trafalgar Studios), All About My Mother (from Almodóvar; Old Vic), Gabriel (Shakespeare's Globe), Fish and Company (Soho Theatre/National Youth Theatre), Southwark Fair (National Theatre), Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie (Bush Theatre/Channel 4), Grace Note (Peter Hall Company/Old Vic), Clocks and Whistles (Bush Theatre), Frank & Ferdinand (National Theatre Connections); as well as contributions to the 24 Hour Plays (Old Vic), Hoard (New Vic, Stoke), A Chain Play (Almeida Theatre), Decade (Headlong Theatre) and Urban Scrawl (TheatreVoice/Theatre 503). Adaptations include: Jack Maggs, from Peter Carey's novel (State Theatre Company of South Australia); Ibsen's Pillars of the Community and Mrs Affleck, from Ibsen's Little Eyolf, (both at the National Theatre) A Doll's House (Southwark Playhouse); Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (Leeds Playhouse), The Cherry Orchard (Oxford Stage Company/Riverside Studios) and Three Sisters (OSC/Whitehall Theatre); Running Wild, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo (Chichester Festival Theatre/Regent's Park Open Air Theatre); Schnitzler's Professor Bernhardi (Dumbfounded Theatre/Arcola Theatre/Radio 3); Bernhard Studlar's Vienna Dreaming (National Theatre Studio); a musical based on George MacDonald's The Light Princess, with Tori Amos (National Theatre); Ostrovsky's Larisa and the Merchants (Arcola Theatre). Radio includes: Tomorrow Week (Radio 3). Film includes Running for River (Directional Studios/Krug). He was Pearson Writer in Residence at the Bush in 1997-8.
