Alexander Artyom member of the Art and Litearture Society where he had met Konstantin Stanislavski a year earlier. In 1898 Artemyev became a member of the original Moscow Art Theatre troupe and in its first season made himself quite a name, having appeared in "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich" (Bogdan Kryukov), "Men Above the Law" (Devochkin), "The Seagull" (Shamrayev, all 1898), as well as "Uncle Vanya" (Telegin, 1899). Anton Chekhov referred to Artyom as his favourite MAT actor and wrote the part of Firs in "The Cherry Orchard" especially for him. The master of episode, he was, according to Stanislavsky, "the epitome of modesty
Uncle Vanya Dostoevsky. In despair, he cries out to his mother, but instead of comforting her son, Maria insists that Vanya listen to the professor. Serebryakov insults Vanya, who storms out of the room. Yelena begs to be taken away from the country and Sonya pleads with her father on Vanya's behalf. Serebryakov exits to confront Vanya further. A shot is heard from offstage and Serebryakov returns, being chased by Vanya, who is wielding a loaded pistol. He fires the pistol again at the professor, but misses. He throws the gun down in disgust and sinks into a chair. As the final