Lebedinaia pesnia

Lebedinaia pesnia (лебединая песня in Cyrillic script, or "Swan Song" in English) is a one-act Russian play by Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)[1].

The original text

Written in 1887 about an old actor who spends the night reminiscing about his life and career in an empty theatre.

Translations and adaptations

English

Originally translated into English by Marian Fell and published in 1912 by Charles Scribner's Sons.

Since then translated and adapted into English a number of times, including a celebrated adaptation by Michael Frayn performed by Paul Scofield and * in 2006.

Also found as Swansong or Swan Song in English.

Afrikaans

There are three Afrikaans plays called Swanesang (= Swan Song), all three translations of Anton Chekhov's one-act play:

Swanesang by Pietro Nolte (Unpublished, performed 1972/3?)

Swanesang by Salomi Louw, published as an acting text by DALRO.

Swanesang by Nico Luwes, published on the Litnet Spens (http://www.litnet.co.za/Article/litnet-spens-swanesang)

Performance history in South Africa

1972 or 1973: Swanesang presented by the Kaapse Teatergroep. Mavis Lilenstein was the stage manager.

Sources

World Drama by Allardyce Nicoll, 1947. 683.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov

https://archive.org/details/AntonChekhov-SwanSong-AOneActPlay-AlanDavisDrake

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