Pioneering writers are rarely recognized upon their appearance. Doctor Anton Chekhov, of humble origins, a tuberculosis patient since his student days, with a great sensitivity to the social problems of his time, a prose writer and playwright with a humanitarian focus, encountered great coldness with his first multi-act play, Platonov, written in 1881 but performed in 1920, as no one agreed to stage it and the sensitive author hid it in his drawers.

This bitterness is reflected in the hero of The Seagull, which was written 14 years later, in 1895, and achieved triumphant success in 1898 as the third work staged by the now legendary and significant, for the History of Theater and the art of acting, "Moscow Art Theatre."

(Konstantinos Bouras, theaterologist)