A comedy by Anton Chekhov
The English translation by RONALD HINGLEY adapted for broadcasting by JOE BURROUGHS
The scenes set by HAROLD KASKET
Produced by JOE BURROUGHS
Second broadcast
The Wood Demon was first produced at a private theatre in Moscow on December 27, 1889. It was not well received and Chekhov opposed all further attempts to stage or publish it during his lifetime. The play is a kind of first version of Uncle Vanua first produced in 1897. While there is no doubt which is the greater. The Wood Demon is a good play in its own right, and contemporary critics were ill-advised to dismiss it as a mechanical reproduction of ordinary everyday life and lacking any sense of stage-craft.