Complete Works of Anton Chekhov

TO V. I. NEMIROVITCH DANTCHENKO.

YALTA,

November 2, 1903.

… About the play.

1. Anya can be played by anyone you like, even by a quite unknown actress, so long as she is young and looks like a girl, and speaks in a youthful singing voice. It is not an important part.

(2) Varya is a more serious part…. She is a character in a black dress, something of a nun, foolish, tearful, etc.

… Gorky is younger than you or I, he has his life before him…. As for the Nizhni theatre, that’s a mere episode; Gorky will try it, “sniff it and reject it.” And while we are on this subject, the whole idea of a “people’s” theatre and “people’s” literature is foolishness and lollipops for the people. We mustn’t bring Gogol down to the people but raise the people up to Gogol….