Chekhov's reputation as a founder of modern drama rests on the four plays in this volume. So revolutionary were these plays in their simplicity and naturalness of form, subject, and dialogue, that to produce them required a new school of acting, and a new Russian theater. Immediately popular in Russia, Chekhov's plays soon were produced all over Europe. So purely original that they could not be imitated, these plays, with Ibsen's, laid to rest the outmoded forms of European theater, opening it to innovation in all areas. Today they are as popular as ever.