Chekhov Translated: Shaw's Use of Sound Effects in Heartbreak House

Abstract

Critics familiar with readings of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard will recognise the significance placed upon the play's sound effects. Writing of the "enigmatic" breaking string heard in Act Two and Act Four of Chekhov's play, J.L. Styan famously noted, "to interpret the sound is to interpret the play." Still earlier in the play's performance history, Vsevolod Meyerhold wrote to Chekhov, "the producer must first understand [The Cherry Orchard] with his hearing." In this article I want to argue that Shaw, too, recognised the importance of sound as a method of communicating the meaning of The Cherry Orchard. By looking at Shaw's play Heartbreak House (first published 1919; first performed 1921), sub-titled A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes, I will show how and why Shaw used sound effects to translate and interpret The Cherry Orchard for a British audience.