V etot sbornik voshli luchshiye p'yesy Chekhova – «Chayka», «Dyadya Vanya», «Tri sestry» i «Vishnevyy sad» Glavnym dostoinstvom vsekh chekhovskikh p'yes i yego novatorstvom bylo to, chto on vpervyye sdelal predmetom issledovaniya mel'chayshiye detali byta i zhizni lyudey On opisyval povsednevnost', i imenno cherez neye chitatel' uznayet o myslyakh i chuvstvakh geroyev Za vneshnim otsutstviyem deystviya skryvayetsya napryazhennaya psikhologicheskaya zhizn' yeye personazhey «Pust' na stsene vse budet tak zhe slozhno i tak zhe vmeste s tem prosto, kak v zhizni Lyudi obedayut, tol'ko obedayut, a v eto vremya slagayetsya ikh schast'ye i razbivayutsya ikh zhizni» – eto slova samogo ChekhovaMozhno beskonechno perechityvat' chekhovskuyu dramaturgiyu, kazhdyy raz otkryvaya v ney chto-to novoye, – rezhissery vsego mira obrashchayutsya k yego p'yesam za poiskom novogo soderzhaniya i novykh form