
Three Plays After
The Yalta Game, the Bear, Afterplay
Brian Friel(Author)
Faber & Faber (Publisher)
Published on 3. December 2003
Book
Paperback/Softback
128 pages
978-0-571-21761-8 (ISBN)
Description
Three exquisite masterpieces from Brian Friel, based on works by Chekhov: The Bear: A Vaudeville; Afterplay (where Sonya from Uncle Vanya and Andrey from Three Sisters meet), and The Yalta Game (from a theme in Chekhov's 1899 story, 'The Lady with the Lapdog'). The Yalta Game: from a theme in Chekhov's 1899 story 'The Lady with the Lapdog' Two strangers meet on holiday and almost manage to convince one another that disappointments are 'merely the postponement of the complete happiness to come...' The Bear: A Vaudeville Elena Popova, a young and attractive widow, has immersed herself in the role of mourning for her philandering but now dead husband. Luka, her frail and ancient man-servant, tries in vain to snap her out of it. Then Smirnov barges in...Afterplay 1920s Moscow, a small run-down cafe. Uncle Vanya's niece, Sonya Serebriakova, now in her forties, is the only customer. Until the arrival of the Three Sisters' put-upon brother Andrey Prozorov. Two Plays After (Afterplay and The Bear) premiered at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in March 2002 and Afterplay transferred to the Gielgud Theatre, London, in September 2002.
Reviews / Votes
'A total delight.' Daily Mail 'The finest production I have seen this year.' Financial TimesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
167 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-571-21761-8 (9780571217618)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2013
Faber & Faber
€11.99
Available for download
Person
Brian Friel was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, in 1929. His plays include Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Translations, Faith Healer, Making History, Dancing at Lughnasa and The Home Place. Anton Chekhov, Russian dramatist and short-story writer, was born in 1860, the son of a grocer and the grandson of a serf. After graduating in medicine from Moscow University in 1884, he began to make his name in the theatre with the one-act comedies The Bear, The Proposal and The Wedding. His earliest full-length plays, Ivanov (1887) and The Wood Demon (1889), were not successful, and The Seagull, produced in 1896, was a failure until a triumphant revival by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. This was followed by Uncle Vanya (1899), Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904), shortly after the production of which Chekhov died. The first English translations of his plays were performed within five years of his death.