Acclaimed as one of the great authors of modern drama, Chekhov gains popularity with his smaller comedies as well. In the sellected one-act “jocular pieces” –  “The Bear” and “The Proposal”, the situation of love at first sight and proposal for marriage are presented as extreme experiences in which people either overcome their fears with extreme will or give in to their passions straightaway. In “About The Harm Of Smoking” a young man who has been married for a long while is still in the terrible predicament of barely surviving. All these themes of love, marriage, the tensions between the sexes, the original director Elena Panayotova arranges elegantly into a comedic puzzle of human manias and passions.