In 1997, David Hare adapted the little-known play, Ivanov, and revealed the young Anton Chekhov as a markedly different writer from the one English-speaking audiences recognize from the more familiar plays.
Now Hare has turned his attention to another, equally surprising key work of Chekhov's youth - an abandoned seven-hour teenage manuscript in which a Russian schoolmaster faces up to the implications of being irresistibly attractive to four different women. Once again, we are introduced to a great Russian playwright who is funnier, more exuberant and more wildly romantic than anyone expects.
Platonov, in this adaptation, was premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in September 2001.