The Parasol

That this stage adaptation of a Chekhov novel should read and play as if written by the master himself is a significant achievement, and the fact that the novel's insightful portrayal of fin-de-siecle bourgeois life so readily lends itself to the stage is a great bonus - three simple representative sets

"Act One, Scene One: The homely middle-aged son of a rich Moscow merchant, infatuated with a frivolous, provincial beauty, sniffs at her parasol and finds the courage to ask her, awkwardly, to marry him... It was not difficult to adapt this marvellously sad and funny story. The technical adjustments were virtually dictated by the narrative structure, the conflicts of the characters, and Chekhov's ever-present sense of drama" ~ From Frank Dunai's Introduction

"The Parasol has an authentic Chekhovian feel - the bourgeois boredom and guilt, the aching, aimless loneliness - without the musty archaism we get in some translations. It's crisp and sharply witty and has the emotional directness of the real thing . . . It's a richly intricate, carefully crafted fusion of sociology and psychology and the private pains of a pre-revolutionary world . . . It's like discovering an old master in the attic" ~ Robin Thornber, Guardian

"There are plenty of attempts to rewrite Chekhov - but it is a remarkable play" ~ Alan Ayckbourn