The inspiration for Chekhov's Three Sisters

Summary

Witness History: The Inspiration for Chekhov's Three Sisters

Podcast: Witness History
Host: Tarek Hussain
Date: June 11, 2026
Episode Length: ~9 minutes

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Episode Overview

This episode revisits 1938 through a rare BBC archival interview with Paul Shishkov, who, as a 10-year-old boy in 1897, befriended the renowned Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Host Tarek Hussain guides listeners through Shishkov’s recollections, shedding light on the Boyce (Shishkov) family’s personal connection to Chekhov and their influence on his celebrated play, "Three Sisters." The episode offers intimate, first-hand accounts of Chekhov’s demeanor, creative process, and the rural setting that inspired his work, capturing the interplay between real life and art in late 19th-century Russia.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Meeting Chekhov: First Impressions

[01:09] Paul Shishkov:

• Describes Chekhov as "unassuming," with a gentle, aloof presence:

  "He was a very unassuming man, rather small features, kind eyes. I don't remember the color of his eyes, they were hidden behind his pince-nez. But kind he was gentleness personified. You couldn't imagine him ever arguing or losing his temper, but in the same time you couldn't imagine taking liberties with him."

• Chekhov’s detachment kept even the most aggressive personalities at bay:

  "...the quietness of his voice and the complete absence of heat in his speech."

2. Shared Pastimes and Country Life

[01:53] Paul Shishkov:

• Details their summertime activities: foraging, fishing, and walking.
• Chekhov favored quiet contemplation by the lake and found peace in fishing:

  "But the fishing gave something else for his hands to do, and that helped him to be all the more at rest." [02:58]

3. Chekhov’s Dogs: A Glimpse into His Character

[02:29] Paul Shishkov:

• Chekhov’s dachshunds were named after medical substances: Bromide and Quinine.

  "Chekhov was a doctor, you know, and he gave his dogs medical names, you see... Brom. Hina. Brom. Hina, Hinata. You see?"

• Avoided walking dogs when thinking about new stories:

  "They would have been a nuisance in the forest when he wanted to concentrate on thinking out a new story or a play." [02:58]

4. The Boyce Family as Muse for "Three Sisters"

[03:47; 04:26] Paul Shishkov:

• Chekhov absorbs the rhythm of Shishkov’s family, who mirrored the play’s central figures:

  "He was beginning to work on the idea of his play the Three Sisters... my father was an army doctor, and my mother and her two unmarried sisters were the daughters of a general. The Three Sisters was what our neighbors used to call them..."

• Anecdote about witnessing a duel, which mirrored events later seen in the play:

  “I once saw two officers fight a duel in front of our house...” [04:36]

5. Life Imitating Art: The Play’s Reception

[06:13] Paul Shishkov:

• Family recognized themselves and their surroundings in the play:

  “Again and again in the part of Masha, the married sister, she could recall the conversations and discussions she had had with Checho and the other characters. Well, we could all recognize them so vividly...”

• Chekhov’s ability to recreate a world he'd only observed through them is emphasized.

6. Chekhov’s Private Life and Attitudes on Marriage

[07:19] Paul Shishkov:

• Shishkov’s mother attempted to pair Chekhov with eligible women, believing he needed companionship.
• Chekhov’s own ironic advice on marriage:

  “I once heard Chekhov say you should never marry an interesting woman. She'll only interfere with your work. And when mother pressed him... he answered, ‘Well, an interesting woman. She's a woman who is quite virtuous, but with an element of vice. And the next thing is Jewish blood. It improves a woman very much. And then there are the actresses. You should never marry an interesting woman like that.’”
  Shishkov adds: "Well, the next thing we heard was that Chekhov had married Knipper, the leading lady of his plays at the Moscow Art Theater. And someone said he'd broken all his three rules at once." [07:55]

7. Chekhov’s Health and Later Years

[08:12; 08:25] Tarek Hussain & Paul Shishkov:

• Diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1897, Chekhov’s declining health was evident:

  “Well, I remember him having his portrait painted... Chekhov looking on. All that as a painful duty that had to be gone through... We all said the nose was far too red. Chekhov certainly had a bit of a red nose. That was probably due to bad circulation." [08:25]

• Chekhov moved to Crimea, finished "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard," and died in 1904 at 44.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Fishing developed patience in a boy. An accurate observation of nature. He'd certainly learned that.” – Chekhov, relayed by Paul Shishkov [03:47]
• “We shall never go to Moscow. I know we won't. We shall never get there.” (BBC dramatization excerpt) [06:00]
• “It was amazing to think that Chof had never seen that life himself. And his first ideas of it might have come when he sat fishing with me by the lake or walking through the forest with my mother.” – Paul Shishkov [06:54]

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Key Timestamps

• 01:09 – First impressions of Chekhov’s personality
• 01:53 – Shared rural routines and Chekhov’s predilection for solitude
• 02:29 – Chekhov’s dogs and their quirky medical names
• 03:47 – Family rules, Chekhov’s view on fishing, and its value for children
• 04:26 – Chekhov begins work on "Three Sisters," inspired by the Boyce family
• 05:29 – Duel story, parallel to key scenes in "Three Sisters"
• 06:00 – BBC dramatization excerpt emphasizing the play’s tone
• 06:13 – Family reflects on seeing themselves represented on stage
• 07:19 – Matchmaking and Chekhov’s witty, idiosyncratic thoughts on marriage
• 08:12 – Chekhov’s declining health and final years

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Episode Tone & Style

• The tone is warm, nostalgic, and lightly humorous, filtered through the direct recollections of Shishkov and insightful commentary by Hussain.
• Shishkov’s anecdotes bring Chekhov’s private world to life, offering details both tender and gently ironic.

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Conclusion

This episode of Witness History provides a deeply personal window into Anton Chekhov’s life and creative inspiration, framing "Three Sisters" not as an abstract work but as a vivid, living response to specific people and places. Through the reminiscences of Paul Shishkov, listeners gain an intimate sense of Chekhov’s character, the lively provincial world of turn-of-the-century Russia, and the quiet ways in which reality shapes great art.

Transcript

[Narrator]

Foreign.

[Tarek Hussain]

Hello and welcome to Witness History. I'm Tarek Hussain and this is the podcast that looks back at a key moment in history that's helped to shape our world. If you've listened before, you'll know new episodes come out every weekday and are just nine minutes long. Make sure you never miss an episode by hitting subscribe and turning on your push notifications. I work in the BBC's archives and today I'm taking you back to 1938 to hear an incredible interview I found with a man who was just 10 years old when he met the great Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Paul Shishkov spoke to the BBC about their friendship and I'm going to tell you how the Boyce family became the inspiration for one of Chekhov's most famous works, which is widely regarded as a masterpiece of 20th century drama. This interview contains language of its time it's the summer of 1897 and young Paul is living with his family around 50 miles from Moscow in rural Vaskina when he first meets Chekhov. The 37 year old writer is spending the warmer months at his home in neighboring Melikovo and resting after the end of Moscow's theater season.

[Paul Shishkov]

He was a very unassuming man, rather small features, kind eyes. I don't remember the color of his eyes, they were hidden behind his pince knee. But kind he was gentleness personified. You couldn't imagine him ever arguing or losing his temper, but in the same time you couldn't imagine taking liberties with him. He was too aloof. Aloofness, you know, that kind of detachment and the quietness of his voice and the complete absence of heat in his speech. Somehow he kept even the most aggressive

[Tarek Hussain]

type at bay during the long, hot summer days they spend together. Shishkov often accompanies Chekhov on fishing expeditions and rambling through the countryside and gets to see a side of the writer hidden from the outside world.

[Paul Shishkov]

Chekhov liked walking in the forest, hunting for our Russian white mushrooms or wild berries, and fishing. Chov loved fishing, but he had very little chance in Medikova, just an artificial pond dug out, poorly stocked with fish. But at Vaskina we had a big lake with fish of all kind in it, and carp and pikes and perch and so on. We used to have important discussions about the best kind of bait to use or the position of the float.

[Tarek Hussain]

The schoolboy already knew two members of Chekhov's household meeting the author's dachshund dogs after arriving earlier with his family that spring.

[Paul Shishkov]

These dogs were called Bromide and quinine. Chekhov was a doctor, you know, and he gave his dogs medical names, you see. They are short names in Russian, quite good for dogs. Bromide and quinine are Brom. Hina. Brom. Brom. Brom. Hina, Hinata. You see? Yes. And Yod. Erd. Yod. Yod.

[Tarek Hussain]

The puppies were a gift from Chekhov's publisher a few years earlier. The animals follow him everywhere, but not on days when he needs time to think about his writing.

[Paul Shishkov]

Chov didn't take his dogs out for walks much. That's a purely English habit, you know, to take dogs for walks all the time. There would have been a nuisance in the forest when he wanted to concentrate on thinking out a new story or a play. I knew without him telling me that he wanted to be quiet. He liked just sitting quietly by the shores of the lake, avoiding everybody and meditating. But the fishing gave something else for his hands to do, and that helped him to be all the more at rest.

[Tarek Hussain]

Shishkov makes frequent visits to the playwright's cottage, surrounded by apple trees and a cherry orchard. From here, Chekhov uses his medical skills to provide free care to some of the laborers. And it's also where he was at his most creative and wrote numerous works, including the first of his four major plays, The Seagull, in 1895.

[Paul Shishkov]

My mother had made it a strict rule that I was never to talk to him at all when we were out together. But one day she caught us talking and she said, I mustn't ever go out with him again. I might interfere with his thinking anyhow. She said putting live worms on hooks and catching fish by their mouth was cruel and not good for little boys. But Chekhov protested. He said fishing developed patience in a boy. An accurate observation of nature. He'd certainly learned that. Anyhow, Chekhov won the argument.

[Tarek Hussain]

And as their closeness grows during the days spent together, Chekhov begins thinking about a new play based on Shizkov's family and what he sees and hears during his regular visits.

[Paul Shishkov]

He was beginning to work on the idea of his play the Three Sisters. It's about life in a small Russian garrison town. Chekhov had no firsthand knowledge of military life, but my father was an army doctor, and my mother and her two unmarried sisters were the daughters of a general. The Three Sisters was what our neighbors used to call them, and we lived in the winter season in the garrison town of Batum. It was wonderful to see the way Chekhov set to work, to drink in the atmosphere of our life there. One day, while we were fishing, he began to ask me about it, and I remember telling him with great excitement. I once saw two officers fight a duel in front of our house. I saw one of them turn around in front of my nursery window and fire three shots at the direction of our front door. I rushed to the drawing room and the other officers staggered in covered with blood, right in front of me. Well, you can see for yourself. A check of Medovit and the three Sisters.

[Narrator]

What's happened? This is a terrible day. I. I don't know how to tell you. Irina, my darling.

[Paul Shishkov]

What?

[Narrator]

Tell me quickly. What is it, for God's sake?

[Paul Shishkov]

The Baron's been killed in a duel.

[Tarek Hussain]

This BBC radio dramatization of Three Sisters in 1973 shows Chekhov's style focusing on the everyday lives of real people. The sisters are desperate to leave their provincial town and return to Moscow. But as the drama continues, you realise the trip will never be made.

[Narrator]

Life slipping away, and it will never, never come back. We shall never go to Moscow. I know we won't. We shall never get there. There, there, my dear. Oh, I'm so miserable.

[Tarek Hussain]

When it was published in 1901 and Shishkov's family saw the play for the first time, they are flattered by their influence.

[Paul Shishkov]

I quite understand how excited my mother was when she came back from the first night of the Three Sisters in Moscow. Again and again in the part of Masha, the married sister, she could recall the conversations and discussions she had had with Checho and the other characters. Well, we could all recognize them so vividly. The officers of the garrison who used to drop into our house in Batum. The gentle, weak Baron Tusenbach. The dignified type of Colonel Versinin, with his interest in social problems and philosophy. And the aggressive Salioni. Just the typical garrison life with all the little tragedies, the closed circles and the gossip of a small town. It was amazing to think that Chof had never seen that life himself. And his first ideas of it might have come when he sat fishing with me by the lake or walking through the forest with my mother.

[Tarek Hussain]

And it's during those times that Shishkov's mother grows fond of Chekhov and sets out to find someone he can share his life with.

[Paul Shishkov]

I remember they talking about marriage sometime. We used to have various eligible, interesting women staying at our place, and mother hinting that they wanted to catch his eye. But it was pretty hopeless because he always had a way of retiring into his den. I once heard check of safe should never marry an interesting woman. She'll only interfere with your work. And when mother pressed him to say, what makes a woman interesting? He answered, well, an interesting woman. She's a woman who is quite virtuous, but with an element of vice. And the next thing is Jewish blood. It improves a woman very much. And then there are the actresses. You should never marry an interesting woman like that. Well, the next thing we heard was that Chekhov had married Knipper, the leading lady of his plays at the Moscow Art Theater. And someone said he'd broken all his three rules at once.

[Tarek Hussain]

But Chekhov already knew he was severely ill. In March 1897, he'd been diagnosed with tuberculosis after coughing up blood and was advised to change his lifestyle. Shishkov recalls the signs of his worsening health.

[Paul Shishkov]

Well, I remember him having his portrait painted. The famous painter Brass came over to do it and I remember the easel standing in the big house and Chekhov looking on. All that as a painful duty that had to be gone through. Well, the picture became very famous and I suppose blackness was very good. But we all said the nose was far too red. Chekhov certainly had a bit of a red nose. That was probably due to bad circulation.

[Tarek Hussain]

Anton Chekhov moved to a villa in Crimea where he hoped the warmer weather would help with his failing health, and spent a year completing Three Sisters and writing his final play, the Cherry Orchard. He died in 1904, aged 44. I brought you his story using BBC Archive for Witness History from the BBC World Service. And if you'd like to hear more stories about famous writers, just search for Tennessee C. Williams on the BBC. James Salter, writer and pilot or the writer of Mary Poppins. We'd like to know what you think, so please leave us a review. Tell your friends about what you've heard and don't forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Thanks very much for listening.

[Narrator]

A moment in time captured by what they heard I heard some people making phone calls.

[Paul Shishkov]

Okay, which Runway would you like at Teterboro?

[Narrator]

We're going to begin to what they saw. I put my head down. I saw the movie of my life started going through my head what they smelt.

[Tarek Hussain]

I still remember the smell of the

[Narrator]

fresh fish and I completely lost my appetite. Moments captured which last for a lifetime.

[Paul Shishkov]

Scientists have made the atomic bomb that

[Narrator]

sort of flash set on fire the birds and they all fell down without their feathers on the way was clear

[Paul Shishkov]

for Hitler to realize all his demonic

[Narrator]

plans Stories from people with fear first hand accounts of events that have shaped our world. At the end, Kissinger called me into his office and he said, you did a good job. I left the office with tears in my eyes. She called me and told me, I'm doing Studio 54. She had already become a star in Paris. She came back a superstar. Listen now. Search for witness history wherever you get your BBC podcasts.