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Chekhov’s First Play

A white woman with loose, short hair sits at a table on which the camera is positioned. In the foreground on the table is a pair of brown leather boots and a small black backpack. The woman is wearing a red jacket over a shirt and a large pair of headphones. She is holding a gun, pointing towards the ceiling, which she is looking at. There is a window behind her.

I’M HAVING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE THEATRE OR THE HUMAN RACE.  THEY CAN ALL GO TO HELL. - Anton Chekhov

During the turmoil of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Maria Chekhov, Anton’s sister, placed many of her late brother’s papers in a safety deposit box in Moscow. In 1921 Soviet scholars opened the box, and discovered a play. The title page was missing. It had too many characters, too many themes, too much action. All in all, it is generally dismissed as unstageable. Like life.
 In 2015, Dead Centre premiered Chekhov’s First Play. After huge critical and popular acclaim, the show travelled throughout the world, from Berlin, to Sarajevo, Hong Kong and Helsinki. It now returns for the first time to Dublin in a limited run of 5 performances.
★★★★★ “A perceptive and funny dismantling of theatre” The Stage ★★★★ “A brilliant endeavour. Riveting to watch.” The Irish Times ★★★★ “Witty, inventive and original” The Telegraph “An iconoclastic and joyful version of Platonov. Returns us to the essence of theatre.”Le Monde
Headphones are provided and worn throughout the performance. Contains nudity, strong language and loud and sudden noises.
Generously supported by Arts Council Ireland. Co-commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre and Irish Arts Center. A co-production with Dublin Theatre Festival, Baltoscandal and TnBA. Project co-produced by NXTSTP, with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union.
Set design: Andrew Clancy Costume design: Saileóg O’Halloran Lighting design: Stephen Dodd Effects and onstage design: Grace O’Hara Sound design: Jimmy Eadie and Kevin Gleeson Choreography: Liv O’Donoghue Cast Andrew Bennett Alexandra Conlon Tara Egan-Langley Dan Reardon Dylan Tighe Ali White Text by: Anton Chekhov and Dead Centre Directed by: Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd Producer: Natalie Hans Photo Credits Image 1: Photo by Adam Trigg Image 2: Photo by Adrian Bulboaca Image 3: Photo by José Miguel Jimenez  
Dead Centre was founded by Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd in Dublin in 2012. They have made 6 original projects in Dublin, which have toured around the world, to London, New York, Boston, Amsterdam, Brisbane, Hong Kong and Seoul among many others. LIPPY premiered in 2013 in Dublin. It has since toured the UK and around the world including to the Young Vic, Traverse (Edinburgh), Schaubühne (Berlin) It was winner of the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Production, a Fringe First, a Herald Angel, a Total Theatre Award and two OBIE Awards. Chekhov’s First Play premiered in Dublin in 2015, and has since toured around the world including to the Schaubühne, BAC (London), Theatre Vidy (Lausanne), Helsinki Festival, Vie Festival (Italy) and the St Petersburg Cultural Forum. Hamnet premiered in April 2017, and has toured the world, most recently playing at BAM in New York. Their most recent Dublin premieres were Beckett’s Room, which opened at Dublin Theatre Festival in 2019 and To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) which streamed live as part of Dublin Theatre Festival 2020. Dead Centre have also created original projects with the ensembles in Schaubühne, Berlin Burgtheater, Vienna and Stadsteater, Gothenburg.
ISL Performance – 9 June, 19:30 Relaxed Performance – 11 June, 13:30 Headphones are provided and worn throughout the performance. For the relaxed performance on Saturday 11 June at 13:30, there will be headphones available at a lower volume. You can find the latest information about Project’s accessibility here. Please do not hesitate to contact us at access@projectartscentre.ie or call 01 8819 613.
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