Fathers and sons

Brian Friel

'Fathers and Sons' is set in rural Russia of the mid-nineteenth century. A brilliant, anarchic young medical student, Bazarov, arrives at the provincial family villa of his best friend, Arkady, for the summer vacation. He wants to despise the family for their imperturbable complacency, and bourgeois effeteness. But he is tormented by conflicting emotions, and takes desperate action, with tragic consequences. 'Fathers and Sons' opened at the Lyttelton Theatre, South Bank, London, in July 1987.