Interesting especially because people love to quote the idea of "Chekhov's gun" and this is most likely the play he was talking about In both versions, there's a gun that goes off - but in the better version, the gun doesn't hit anyone, it misses https://t.co/yDj3PNjFpE
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I.e. a "Chekhov's gun" does have to go off, the thing you're hinting might happen does have to happen onstage But the outcome doesn't have to be the obvious one
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(In The Wood Demon, the Vanya character takes the gun and successfully kills himself This is played as a tragedy that is the climax of the play and turns everything around)
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(Uncle Vanya turns the story from a sentimental melodrama into a bleak dark comedy Vanya loses his shit and tries to shoot the professor, his nemesis, only to miss, the way he's fucked up every other attempt to change his life)
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(The ending has the doctor straight up ask Vanya, if he's so miserable, why he doesn't just peacefully kill himself instead of taking these destructive actions that wreck other people's lives but don't change anything He gets no answer, because the question is self-answering)
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Tbh the thing I never expected when I started reading Chekhov is how fucking funny he is Uncle Vanya is HILARIOUS It's the prototype from which all your fav bleak sitcoms like The Office and Arrested Development originally sprang
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The "existentialism" of the play is the same sitcom hell as Seinfeld No hugs, no learning The characters are trapped in this stasis where nothing can substantially make their lives better or worse, they're in this unbreakable orbit around this shitty status quo
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Jfc the ending of the play The doctor all "What happened to the morphine that was in my bag" and Vanya all sullenly "Iunno" and the doctor's like "Oh come on"
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"If you wanna kill yourself Vanya can you throw yourself in front of a freight train or something I know you think the morphine is the easy way to go but it's gonna get back to me and I'll have to do all this paperwork"
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And Vanya silently hands it over like a huffy toddler
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