About the work
One-act play by Anton Chekhov, written in December 1891 and first published in May 1892 as a lithographed Moscow edition. The farce reworks Chekhov's own 1887 short story "A Defenceless Creature" and belongs to the short comic pieces he wrote for the stage.
Plot
The action takes place on the day a provincial Russian bank celebrates its fifteenth anniversary. While the chairman Shipuchin awaits a delegation bringing an address of congratulation and a gift, the accountant Khirin works frantically to finish the jubilee report. Preparations keep being derailed: Shipuchin's wife Tatiana rambles on about her travels, and the persistent widow Merchutkina demands overdue wages owed to her dismissed husband. When Khirin loses patience and drives both women from the office, the delegation arrives in the middle of the chaos and withdraws in embarrassment.
Cultural significance
The play is among the most successful of Chekhov's short stage pieces and was praised by contemporary critics for its farcical timing. It shows Chekhov turning routine office bureaucracy into pointed social comedy, and it is still commonly staged today alongside his other one-act plays as part of shared evenings of short works.