Chasing Two Hares. Ivan Nechui-Levytskyi, Mykhailo Starytskyi

For the first time — “Following Four Hares”. The second edition in our theater series included Ivan Nechui-Levytskyi’s play “On the Leathers” and its adaptation by Mykhailo Starytskyi — the famous comedy “Following Two Hares”.

“Dear and highly respected Ivan Semenovych! The Drama Committee instructed me to review your “Leathers” and develop a plan for how to prepare them for the stage. I did so and read my plan, and it was highly praised; therefore, I am now sending it to you for approval,” Mykhailo Starytskyi wrote to Ivan Nechui-Levytskyi in 1883.

Ultimately, under Starytskyi’s editorship, the comedy achieved the expected success.

Our edition of both plays is supplemented with comments and an introduction by Mykhailo Nazarenko.

The book was illustrated by Halia Verheles. It was important for her to show the transition from the realistic work of Ivan Nechui-Levytskyi to the theatrical, decorated and colored version of Mykhailo Starytskyi. In Halia's illustrations, you can see the eclecticism of the bourgeois life and architecture of Kyiv, where new houses grow next to old ones.

The Theater Series is a collection of art books that reinterprets classic plays and reveals modern drama, comedy and tragedy through visual direction.