The Wood Demon (Russian: Леший, tr. Goblin, 1889) is a comedic play in four acts by Anton Chekhov. Written in September and October 1889, it was totally reworked in December, and premiered on December 27, 1889 at the private Abramova Theatre in Moscow. This second version of The Wood Demon was completed in April 1890 and received the permission to be staged by Imperial Theatres in May. It was published by the Rassokhin Publishers on 23 August 1890.The play was first refused by the Alexandrinsky Theatre of Saint Petersburg and the Maly Theatre of Moscow. Eight years after this play failed, Chekhov returned to the work. He reduced the cast list by half, changed the climactic suicide into an anti-climax of a failed homicide, and published the reworked play, much more successfully, under the title Uncle Vanya. Source: Wikipedia (en)