The Argument

Fascinating . . . there is real ingenuity here, and a manifest love and understanding of the Russian writer . . . Boyd ingeniously combines these two narrative strands . . . a truly Chekhovian atmosphere of rueful longing and the cruel inequality of love . . . this partnership between William Boyd and Anton Chekhov is undoubtedly blessed with both wit and moments of deeper feeling.

Fascinating . . . there is real ingenuity here, and a manifest love and understanding of the Russian writer . . . Boyd ingeniously combines these two narrative strands . . . a truly Chekhovian atmosphere of rueful longing and the cruel inequality of love . . . this partnership between William Boyd and Anton Chekhov is undoubtedly blessed with both wit and moments of deeper feeling.

The play itself is a reverent tribute to Chekhov. There is no mistaking the depth of Boyd’s immersion in his work.

William Boyd is the author of eleven novels including A Good Man in Africa , winner of the Whitbread Award and the Somerset Maugham Award; An Ice-Cream War , winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Brazzaville Beach , winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; Any Human Heart , winner of the Prix Jean Monnet and adapted into a Channel 4 drama; Restless , winner of the Costa Novel of the Year, the Yorkshire Post Novel of the Year and a Richard & Judy selection; Ordinary Thunderstorms and, most recently, the Sunday Times bestseller, Waiting for Sunrise . His first play, Longing , was an adaptation of various short stories by Chekhov and was premiered by Hampstead Theatre. William Boyd lives in London and France.