Platonov

by Anton Chekhov
English version by Dmitri Makaroff
Directed by George Devine and John Blatchley

The English Stage Company
Royal Court Theatre

First performance 13th October 1960 (44 performances)

  • Rex Harrison ........ Platonov
    Rachel Roberts ........ Anna Petrovna
    Ronnie Barker ........ Nikolai Triletski
    Peter Bowles ........ Kiril
    Frank Finlay ........ Ivan Triletski
    James Bolam ......... Yakov
    Graham Crowden ........ Sergei Voinitsev
    Peter Duguild ........ Marko
    Susan Engel ........ Katya
    Jeremy Geidt ........ Sccherbuk
    Murray Gilmore........ A Village Priest
    Elvi Hale ........ Sofya
    Thomas Hammerton ........ Bugrov
    Rosalind Knight ........ Maria Grekova
    George Murcell ........ Osip
    Moris Perry ........ Vasili
    Norman Pitt ........ Glagolyev
    Nicholas Selby ........ Vengerovich
    Mary Watson ........ Sasha
    Susan Westerby ........ Dunyasha


    Chekhov's lost play, or Play Without A Title, was written when he was a young medical student aged 20. He offered the play to the Maly Theatre who rejected it, so he abandoned the piece. In 1923 the six hours of material was discovered in a bank vault nearly 19 years after his death with the title page missing. It was first published in 1933, under the title Fatherlessness.

    The play was transposed to the American Deep South as Firework on the James and went to New York in 1960 as A Country Scandal.

    The Royal Court staging in 1960 was the first in the UK and it took on the title Platonov. In 1984 Michael Frayn rewrote the play for the National Theatre and its title changed once again - to Wild Honey.