A Month in the Country

A Month in the Country [1] is the English title of Mesiats v derevne, a comedy in five acts by Russian playwright Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) [2]. It was written in France between 1848 and 1850 and was first published in 1855. The play was not staged until 1872, when it was given as a benefit performance for the Moscow actress E N Vasilyeva, who was keen to play the leading role of Natalya Petrovna.

Translations and adaptations

It has been translated into English by various translators, including Isaiah Berlin and Richard Freeborn and has been adapted for the local stage by various authors, including Emlyn Williams and Brian Friel.

Translated from the English into Afrikaans by Pieter-Paul Fourie as 'n Maand op die Platteland.

Performance history in South Africa

A Month in the Country, Emlyn Williams’s adaptation of Turgenev’s play. Performed in the Standard Theatre, Johannesburg and Cape Town's Alhambra Theatre in 1946, with Gwen ffrangçon-Davies, Sidney James, Rolf Lefebvre, Wensley Pithey, C. de Wet Marais, Marda Vanne, John van Eyssen, Zoë Randall, Siegfried Mynhardt, Gert van den Bergh. Costumes by John Dronsfield.

In May 1969 a PACT production at the Alexander Theatre, presented in the Emlyn Williams version, was directed by Leonard Schach, with Lorna Cowell, John Rogers, Frank Wise, Kerry Jordan, Siegfried Mynhardt, John Hayter, Erica Rogers, Frank Douglass (?) and Vivienne Drummond. Designs by Graham Brown.

Sources

Wikipedia [3]

South African Opinion, 3(4):23; Trek, 11(3):18, 1946.

World Drama by Allardyce Nicoll. Harrap, 1949.

Teater SA, 1(4), 1969.

Inskip, 1977. p 126

PACT theatre programme, 1979.

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