L'ours, le Jubilé et autres plaisanteries

Anton Chekhov, the Russian-Ukrainian playwright of the late 19th century, best known for his often melancholy plays, also wrote short works with a very different tone, burlesque and immediately accessible. It is in this spirit that we have chosen to present four of them - Le Chant du cygne, in which an old actor wakes up alone in a deserted theater; L'Ours, when a grain farmer comes to claim a debt from the widow of one of his debtors; Les Méfaits du tabac, a lecture as unexpected as it is lyrical; and Un Jubilé, which recounts the eventful anniversary of a banker?s fifteen years in management. Whether they are a discovery for you, or resonate with very current concerns, these plays are all the more precious.