work
"Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" (planned vaudeville)
the planned vaudeville
also: Гамлет, принц датский
Chekhov's private joke title for an unrealized collaborative vaudeville farce he was planning to co-write with A. S. Lazarev (Gruzinsky) in late 1887, laid out with numbered comic 'conditions' (thorough muddle, sharply individuated characters, no longueurs, constant motion, named Korsh Theater actors to write parts for, and satire of theatrical customs); despite the title, it is not a Shakespeare adaptation and was apparently never completed.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Lazarev, 15 November 1887. Moscow. §6 "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"
Chekhov's private joke title for the collaborative vaudeville farce he and Lazarev were planning together -- not a reference to Shakespeare's play. It is simply a comic working title for a piece of unserious backstage theatrical business, chosen for its incongruous grandeur against the planned farce's actual subject matter.