[1] In 1891, Konstantin Stanislavski achieved success directing the play for his Society of Art and Literature, the first of several increasingly sophisticated Moscow performances.

Three years later, his children and wife persuaded him to complete the manuscript sufficiently for a house performance in Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy's home near Tula.

Tolstoy initially resisted but quickly took the lead in directing the amateur actors; the cast included four of his children, two nieces, a court prosecutor from Tula, and a judge from Moscow.

The first performance washed out the border between imaginary characters and the real personalities playing them, removing the fourth wall between actors and the audience; it has never been reproduced in this form.

The audience received the play well, and it was reproduced by Tula amateurs, including Tatyana Tolstaya, in April 1890, with the proceeds donated to a local orphanage.