'Dear Dr Chekhov tells the imaginary story of the Russian writer Anton Chekhov’s epistolary friendship with Phoebe Jane Phillips, a lighthouse keeper’s daughter who lived on Lady Elliot Island, on the Great Barrier Reef. The action takes place while Chekhov is at work on cold Sakhalin Island, an island that lies just north of Japan.' (Production summary)
Program credits:
Actors
Narrator: Ella Scott Lynch
Anton Chekhov: Shai Alexander
Phoebe Jane Phillips: Freya Irving
Atsuo Goto: Kengo Hasuo
Raj Kumar: Gerard Miranda
Ship’s captain, Albert Ellis: Greg Refeld
James Phillips, lighthouse keeper: Gary Bryson
Mrs Phillips, lighthouse keeper’s wife: Margaret Irving
First Officer, Fred Angel: Adam Beale
Sakhalin Convicts: As Gusev, Dimitry Nikolaev and as Anya, Esther Krause with Galina Lazareva and Greg Refeld
Music
Singer: Galina Lazareva
Musical improvisations: Violin—Christopher Latham and Veren Grigorov, wind instruments—Jim Denley, piano—Chris Abrahams, percussion—Nightflight to Venus
Incorporated into one of the violin improvisations was a melody composed by Hollis Taylor for the ABC Radio program Dance of the Hungry Ghosts.
Production
Writer: Jane Messer
Field recordings, sound design: Jane Ulman
Final mix: Phillip Ulman
Voice recordings and additional mix: Peter Ring
Produced at Macquarie University’s Faculty of Arts sound and drama studios
Dear Dr Chekhov was produced and directed by Jane Messer and Jane Ulman.
