Historically speaking, the first Russian Symbolist playwright was probably Konstantin Treplev in Chekhov's The Seagull ("Chayka"). His poetic play about the Soul of the World and her enemy, the Devil, has occasionally been read by critics as Chekhov's satire on Russian Symbolist drama. However, in 1895, when The Seagull was first staged, there were no Russian Symbolist playwrights to satirise.¹ The earliest significant Russian Symbolist plays, such as Alma by Nikolay Minsky, ">Sacred Blood ("Svyataya krov") by Zinaida Gippius and the first verse tragedies on Greek mythological themes by Innokenty Annensky all date from the first five years of the twentieth century.