The Bear

The young widow Elena Ivanovna Popova has not left her house for seven months: she has sworn never to put off her mourning or see the world again, and orders an extra measure of oats for Toby, her late husband’s favourite horse. Then her neighbour, the landowner Smirnov, bursts into her drawing room — rude, angry and in a terrible hurry. Her husband owed him money on two promissory notes; tomorrow Smirnov must pay interest to the land bank, and he has no intention of leaving without his money. One word leads to another: an argument about debt becomes an argument about men and women, fidelity and pretence — and then a challenge to a duel.

Chekhov called The Bear a farce. It is one of his funniest plays, performed around the world for more than a century: brief and spirited, with two stubborn characters and the old servant Luka trying to calm them down.