My Wives. Artists' Wives. Audio Play

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov began his writing career in satirical magazines—“The Alarm,” “Fragments,” and “Dragonfly.” Endowed with a rare sense of observation and wit, and with the ability to notice funny touches in people’s actions and characters, Chekhov wrote short humorous stories and published them under the pseudonym Antosha Chekhonte.

“Wives of Artists” and “My Wives” are two parody works united by one theme: the fate of wives.

The story “My Wives” is styled as a letter to the editor from a certain Raul Bluebeard, in which he protests against the false operetta “Bluebeard.” You can’t help but sympathize with Raul, because he is terribly unlucky again and again: one of his wives is far too caring, the second too love of life, the third—too smart… It’s only possible to feel sorry for the unfortunate husband, to whom such emotional suffering needs to be “served” in the form of poison mixed into his food.

“Wives of Artists” is a narrative about everyday life and manners among servants of the arts—young writers, artists, and musicians. The hero is outraged: is it even imaginable how these empty-headed women don’t value the happiness of being near geniuses! The painter’s wife refuses to pose nude by the window; the singer’s wife complains about the nighttime singing that, apparently, keeps the child from sleeping; and the writer’s wife—can you believe it!—fell asleep over his latest novel after struggling through exhausting work…

The audio performances were created by:

Stage adaptation and director: Viktor Trukhan

Composer — Shandor Kallos

Sound engineer — Galina Zasimova

Editor — Natalia Sholokhova

In the monoplay “My Wives”:

Raul Bluebeard — Dmitry Nazarov

In the production “Wives of Artists”:

From the author — Avangard Leontiev

The writer Zinzaga — Alexander Gruzdev

Amaranta — Lyubov Germanova

Butronca’s artist — Sergey Kutasov

Carolina — Irina Kireeva

The artist’s wife — Natalya Loskutova

The singer’s wife — Yana Balanovskaya

Singer Lai — Dmitry Filimonov