Swan Song

University of Oxford Student Season: Michaelmas Term 2026By Anton ChekhovAfter his farewell performance in provincial Russian theatre, an actor has drunk himself to sleep. Vasilyich Svetlovidov is left behind after closing. His only company in the empty auditorium is a cue-caller, Nikita Ivanich, who dutifully listens to him whinge and whine about the woes of his life, and at one point is even co-opted into an impromptu performance of Shakespeare. The two men wallow and despair as they come to terms with their age and realise that this, the last stage of their lives, is their swan song.