Ibsen and Chekhov

Harvard FAS

The plays of Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov effected an essential shift in the trajectory of Western dramatic writing. From a theater of melodrama and romance, Ibsen and Chekhov helped define and develop theatrical realism, symbolism, and modernism. Psychologically based acting, known generally as the Method, emerged to solve the problem of acting in their plays. Philosophical and political debates across Europe responded to their ideas. Their work became a cornerstone of the independent…