Anton Chekhov lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress." Chekhov renounced the theatre after the reception of "The Seagull" in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" and premiered his last two plays, "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard". These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text". Chekhov had at first written stories only for financial gain,
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike to the Oscars. As they prepare for the party, Masha tells them she intends to sell the house, leaving Vanya and Sonia devastated. Things come to a head the day after the party. As Cassandra uses a voodoo doll on Masha, trying to dissuade thoughts of selling the house, Sonia receives a phone call from a man she met at the party, requesting a date. Hesitantly, she accepts. Vanya, who is secretly writing a play inspired by Konstantin's imagined symbolist drama in "The Seagull", is convinced by Nina to let her read it in front of the others. During the