The Essay - Chekhov Essays - Andrew Hilton

The director Andrew Hilton reveals what he has learned as a director from Chekhov. After Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov is the most perfomed playwright in the world and amongst the most revered writers of short stories. While the pleasure he has given to theatre audiences and readers is immense, these Essays explore his legacy in terms of the craft and technique that he continues to bequeath to theatre practitioners and writers today. In the third of five programmes celebrating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Chekhov's birth, the director Andrew Hilton reveals the lesson that he learned while recently directing a highly acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya at Bristol Old Vic - that Chekhov's plays contain all the instructions any company needs, if only they will listen.