Platonov (Russian: Платонов, also known as Fatherlessness and A Play Without a Title) is the name in English given to an early, untitled play in four acts written by Anton Chekhov in 1878. It was the first large-scale drama by Chekhov, written specifically for Maria Yermolova, rising star of Maly Theatre. Yermolova rejected the play and it was not published until 1923.
The lead character is Mikhail Platonov, a disillusioned provincial schoolmaster. The play is set in a dilapidated country house in the Russian provinces. Landowner Anna Petrovna, Sofia Yegorovna, wife of Anna Petrovna's stepson, and one of his colleagues fall in love with the married Platonov. He thinks society is without ideas and principles, but is aware that he himself is very much part of that society. He is compared to Hamlet and Don Juan, and likes to think of himself as a witty and intellectually stimulating entertainer. In the end, he recognises his hopeless position between the four women and retreats into alcohol. Finally, Sofia understands that she cannot hope for a new life with Platonov and shoots him.
Contents
Publication and performance history
Full translations into English
Platonov: A Play in Four Acts and Five Scenes. Translated by David Magarshack (Faber and Faber, 1964).
Platonov. Translated by Ronald Hingley, The Oxford Chekhov. Volume II: Platonov, Ivanov, The Seagull, edited by Ronald Hingley (Oxford UP, 1967).
Untitled Play. Translated by Laurence Senelick, The Complete Plays by Anton Chekhov, translated by Laurence Senelick (W. W. Norton & Company, 2007).
Abridged translations into English
That Worthless Fellow Platonov. Translated by John Cournos (J.M. Dent, 1930).
Don Juan (in the Russian Manner). Translated by Basil Ashmore (Peter Nevill, 1952).
A Country Scandal. Translated and adapted by Alex Szögyi (Coward-McCann, 1960).
Platonov: An Abridged Version of an Untitled Play in Four Acts. Translated by Dmitri Makaroff (Methuen, 1961).
Wild Honey. Translated and adapted by Michael Frayn (Methuen, 1986).
Platonov. Translated and adapted by Carol Rocamora, Chekhov: The Early Plays, translated and adapted by Carol Rocamora (Smith and Kraus, 1999).
Platonov. Translated and adapted by David Hare (Faber and Faber, 2001).
Platonov. Translated by Ani Szamosi, adapted by Susan Coyna and Laszlo Marton (Scirocco Drama, 2001).
Sons without Fathers: The Untitled Play, Known as Platonov. Translated and adapted by Helena Kaut-Howson (Oberon Books, 2013).
Platonov. Translated and adapted by John Christopher Jones (Dramatist's Play Service, 2016).
The first unabridged version in English was published in 1964 by Faber and Faber in a translation by David Magarshack.
A widely performed adaptation by playwright Michael Frayn, given the title Wild Honey, debuted at London's National Theatre in 1984, starring Ian McKellen as Platonov. The production won Olivier Awards in three categories, including Actor of the Year in a Revival for McKellen.
Film and television
BBC Television produced a version for their Play of the Month series in 1971 which features Rex Harrison in the title role. In 1977 writer Aleksandr Adabashyan and director Nikita Mikhalkov transformed the work into another film, Неоконченная пьеса для механического пианино (Neokonchennaya pyesa dlya mekhanicheskogo pianino), made in Russian by Mosfilm and released in the west as An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano. This in turn was reworked by Trevor Griffiths into a new stage version called Piano, produced at the Cottesloe Theatre, London, in August 1990. Stephen Rea was Platonov.