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Anton Chekhov is known the world over for his writings on love, and yet the most memorable of Chekhov’s love stories is not one that he wrote, but rather one that he lived – with Olga Knipper, actress and leading lady of the Moscow Art Theatre. The story spans six short years, in which they play evolving roles – first as playwright and actress, then as lovers, then as husband and wife, and finally as invalid and caretaker – until Chekhov’s untimely death at the age of 44. Most of that time they spent apart by necessity – she at the Moscow Art Theatre, he in exile in Yalta, suffering from consumption. And yet they shared more than a full lifetime of love and theatre as their relationship flourished and survived almost insurmountable obstacles through a constant stream of letters.

Adapted from Chekov and Nipper’s loveletters, this play is the passionate and enduring record of their extraordinary love affair. Directed by multi-award winning director Ariette Taylor and produced by multi-award winning company A.C.T. (formerly Petty Traffikers), it promises to be a piece not to be missed. This will be the first public showing of the play to be given by husband and wife team Stewart Morritt and Anastasia Malinoff.