First performed in 1889.Fiodor Korsh, owner of the Korsh Theatre in Moscow, Russia, commissioned Chekhov to write a comedy. It was first performed in St. Petersburg in 1889.The play tells the story of Nikolai Ivanov, a man struggling to regain his former glory. For the past five years, he has been married to Anna Petrovna, a disinherited 'jewess', who has become very ill. Ivanov's estate is run by a distant relative, Mikhail Borkin, who is frequently advising people on how he can help them make money.