The Burgtheater (known locally as the Burg) was built from 1874 to 1888 off the designs of Gottfried Semper and Karl von Hasenauer. The roots of the theater trace back to 1741 when an entrepreneur wanted to convert a disguised building on the Michaelerplatz into a stage. Despite the blessing of Empress Maria Theresa, the theatre struggled to establish itself. However, Emperor Joseph II founded the Court and National Theater in 1776, and it became the Burgehater in 1918.

Anton Chekhov was an incredible Russian playwright and is considered to be the father of the modern short story and the modern play. In his lifetime he wrote seventeen plays and almost six hundred short stories. His best pieces lack complexity and feature simple resolutions. He was known for using simple technique without obtrusive literary devices, and he fully explored the genre of Realism (written based on facts rather than emotions).