What Is The Significance of Chekhov's Contribution To Theatre?

What is the significance of Chekhov's contribution to theatre?
- Extended Response
When Anton Chekhov died in 1904, he left a literary legacy. His many different forms of writing,
including plays, short stories, novellas and non fiction, have been celebrated over the decades. His
fame came from his revolutionary changes and new ideas he brought to his writing; in particular,
theatre. He challenged the conventions of theatre at the time through his naturalization of drama and his
use of subtext to create magnificently realistic characters. His life, although quite short, had a lasting
impact on the world and helped shape theatre today.
Chekhovs extraordinary powers of perception and honesty allowed him to bring to the stage a new era
of theatre. Chekhov decided to move away from the traditional, ordinary types of plays seen in the
1890s and create a new experience from visiting the theatre. He decided to heavily focus on the
characters of the play and their sometimes emotionally static lives rather than a play that is highly
reliant on events to engage the audience.
In naturalism, the aim is to mirror the everyday through specific theatre techniques used in the writing
and staging of a play. When the audience is watching a naturalistic play, it should be as if they are
making the forth wall of a room and looking in. Chekhov believed that A play ought to be written in
which people should come and go, dine, talk of the weather, or play cards ... because that is what
happens in real life. Life on the stage should be as it really is and the people, too, should be as they are
and not stilted. Common methods that can help provide the perfect illusion of reality are as follows;
everyday speech, three dimensional setting, only including real creatures (for example, no mythical
creatures) and a realistic acting style. All of these paired with many more are elements are ways in
which Chekhov conveyed the naturalistic elements to his plays.
Another way in which he gave his works, and plays especially, the feeling of reality was the zero
endings. He deliberately chose to make endings the least climactic as possible to mirror reality. In
reality, things can happen that may seem like the climax of a play or novel however they are incredibly
rare. These moments are the opposite to what Chekov tried to capture in his later works, he tried to
capture the ordinary which is usually very anti climactic.
Chekov created drama in his plays among the people through the words they spoke rather than through
the actions they performed on stage. Chekhov often expressed his thought not in speeches, but in
pauses or between the lines or in replies consisting of a single word ... the characters often feel and
think things not expressed in the lines they speak(Stanislavski). When humans are talking to one
another about deep and sometimes difficult issues that may be uncomfortable to discuss, people convey
the meaning of what they are trying to say through careful selection of words and the delivery; they can
explain things through what they dont say rather than being explicit and obvious, which isn't common
in reality. This, in my opinion, is the least obvious and most effective method Chekov used to create
the sense of reality in his plays.

The final key method he uses to create his naturalistic approach to his plays is the lack of the heroic and
villainous characters. Instead he chose to use an ensemble cast of characters, each with their individual
personality and, therefore, strengths and flaws. This immaculately mirrors every human. We all have
our shortcomings and they are different from person to person. In Chekovs theatrical works we can see
each characters different personality as the play is driven by character interaction. From the way each
character interacts with each other each audience member can identify themselves and empathize with
specific characters, making it relatable and, therefore engaging and enjoyable for the audience.
Through his many theatrical works, Anton Chekhov defied the conventions of theatre of his time to
create a new set of rules. His works inspired following generations and the effects of his innovative
ideas can still be recognized today.

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