The company originated in a student production of Chekhov’s Ivanov translated by Patrick Miles and directed by Laurence Brockliss and Patrick Miles at the A.D.C. Theatre, Cambridge, 19-23 February 1974. It was presented by the Shadwell Society of Gonville & Caius College.[1]

Programme for Ivanov, designed by Gavin Stamp

In the summer of 1974 the cast and production team were constituted as the Cambridge Young Chekhov Company (CYCC), since they were concentrating on works written by Anton Chekhov in his twenties.

The CYCC performed Ivanov at Hutton Rudby, North Yorkshire, on 24 August 1974,[2] then went on to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it performed Happiness!, a late-night programme of four Chekhov vaudevilles and British premieres of three stage adaptations of early stories. The production was directed by Laurence Brockliss and Patrick Miles and ran from 27 August to 7 September at Nicolson Square Theatre.[3] In its last week, it was preceded by performances of Ivanov.[4]

On their return to Cambridge, the CYCC performed Happiness! at the A.D.C. Theatre from 29 October to 2 November.[5]

Programme of Happiness!

The directors of the CYCC strongly believed in ensemble acting and the Moscow Arts idea of a theatre company. Every member of the CYCC who subscribed £5 to the Company for its 1975 productions owned an equal share in its assets.

In 1975 the company rehearsed The Cherry Orchard in a translation by Patrick Miles, who also directed. The production focussed on the play’s comedy. Members performed The Most Absolute Freedom, a late-night entertainment about the young Chekhov, at the A.D.C. Theatre, Cambridge, 21-25 July 1975. The Cherry Orchard was performed in the Cambridge Festival at the A.D.C. Theatre 4-9 August 1975,[6] then at Nicolson Square Theatre, Edinburgh, 24 August-6 September 1975.[7] Ranevskaia was played by Mavis Mitchell, Gaev by Neil Coulbeck, Lopakhin by Julian Scopes, and Trofimov by Vivian Bickford-Smith (for full company list see Image 4).

Front cover of programme of The Cherry Orchard

Page 3 of programme of The Cherry Orchard

During the Edinburgh tour, the CYCC performed Patrick Miles’s farce Rabbits in a double bill with Chekhov’s The Proposal.[8] Members of the Company directed their own productions of Lady Audley’s Secret, Lorca by Neil Coulbeck, and Lorca’s The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden.[9] The CYCC also presented the Misfit Theatre in Geoff Nicholson’s rock revue Short [But Not So] Suite.[10]

Programmes of Rabbits, Lady Audley’s Secret, Short [But Not So] Suite

Returning to Cambridge, the company was renamed The Cambridge Chekhov Company (CCC), Patrick Miles was appointed Artistic Director, and several members became professional actors.

The CCC presented Short [But Not So] Suite at the A.D.C. Theatre 21-25 October 1975.[11]

In 1976 the CCC presented Geoff Nicholson’s Amateur Traumatics and Oscar at the Cambridge and Edinburgh Festivals,[12] and members of the CCC performed The Most Absolute Freedom at the Lacemarket Theatre, Nottingham.

At this time, the Company consisted of 15 permanent members (10 actors and 5 production team).

The CCC subsequently gave financial support to the following productions by other theatre companies:

A Lesson from Aloes, by Athol Fugard, A.D.C. Theatre, 27 April-1 May 1982.[13]

Petersburg, by Andrei Belyi, St Paul’s Church Hammersmith, 8-11, 17-23, 28-29 September 1993. (British premiere) [14]

Sara, by Patrick Miles after Chekhov, the Bridewell Theatre, 10 February-6 March 1999. (British premiere) [15]

Company curtain call for The Cherry Orchard, 9 August 1975

The Cambridge Chekhov Company was wound up on 14 October 2019 when its assets were divided between its remaining 12 subscribers.

[1] Cambridge Evening News 20 February 1974, Broadsheet 1974, No. 5.
[2] Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough) 23 August 1974, Darlington and Stockton Times 3 September 1974.
[3] The Scotsman 29 August 1974.
[4] The Scotsman 4 September 1974.
[5] Cambridge Evening News 30 October 1974, ‘Stop Press’ with ‘Varsity’ 26 October 1974, Broadsheet 30 October 1974.
[6] Cambridge Evening News 6 August 1975.
[7] The Scotsman 25 August 1975, The Times Educational Supplement 5 September 1975.
[8] Festival Times 1975, No. 2, Financial Times 26 August 1975, Cambridge Evening News 27 August 1975.
[9] The Scotsman 26 August 1975.
[10] The Scotsman 3 September 1975.
[11] Cambridge Evening News 23 October 1975, Broadsheet 23 October 1975, Stop Press 25 October 1975.
[12] The Scotsman 1 September 1976.
[13] Cambridge Evening News 28 April 1982.
[14] The Stage 22 July 1993.
[15] New Theatre Quarterly 16, part 4 (NTQ 64) (November 2000), p. 359-63.