The FestivitiesThe Festivities is a one-act farce by Anton Chekhov. Written in December 1891, it was first published in May 1892, and is based on his short story "A Defenceless Creature".SynopsisA bank manager named Andrey Andreyevitch Shipuchin prepares to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the branch office he manages. He arranges for a series of tributes to his supposed expertise, but chaos ensues when his wife returns from a visit to her mother's and a crazy woman comes looking for a job for her husband.