The Cherry Orchard - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre

Moscow Art Theatre

The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...

17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

and it does contain some elements of farce

Farce

In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...

; however, Stanislavski insisted on directing the play as a tragedy

Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...

. Since this initial production, directors have had to contend with the dual nature of this play.

The play concerns an aristocratic Russian woman and her family as they return to the family's estate (which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard) just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. While presented with options to save the estate, the family essentially does nothing and the play ends with the estate being sold to the son of a former serf

SERF

A spin exchange relaxation-free magnetometer is a type of magnetometer developed at Princeton University in the early 2000s. SERF magnetometers measure magnetic fields by using lasers to detect the interaction between alkali metal atoms in a vapor and the magnetic field.The name for the technique...

, and the family leaving to the sound of the cherry orchard being cut down. The story presents themes of cultural futility — both the futility of the aristocracy

Aristocracy

Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...

to maintain its status and the futility of the bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie

In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

to find meaning in its newfound materialism. In reflecting the socio-economic forces at work in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, including the rise of the middle class

Middle class

The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

after the abolition of serfdom in the mid-19th century and the sinking of the aristocracy, the play reflects forces at work around the globe in that period.

Since the first production at the Moscow Art Theatre, this play has been translated and adapted into many languages and produced around the world, becoming a classic work of dramatic literature

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

. Some of the major directors of the world have directed this play, each interpreting the work differently. Some of these directors include Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...

, Peter Brook

Peter Brook

Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...

, Andrei Serban

Andrei Serban

Andrei Șerban is a Romanian-born American theater director. A major name in twentieth-century theater, he is renowned for his innovative and iconoclastic interpretations and stagings...

, Eva Le Gallienne

Eva Le Gallienne

Eva Le Gallienne was a well-known actress, producer, and director, during the first half of the 20th century.-Early life and early career:...

, Jean-Louis Barrault

Jean-Louis Barrault

Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis .Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted...

, Tyrone Guthrie

Tyrone Guthrie

Sir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.-Life and career:Guthrie...

and Giorgio Strehler

Giorgio Strehler

Giorgio Strehler was an Italian opera and theatre director.-Biography:Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste to an Austrian father and a Franco-Slovene mother; he grew up speaking Italian but spoke French well and his German was passable. He became suddenly fatherless at the age of three, his...

.

The play's influence has also been widely felt in dramatic works by many including Eugene O'Neill

Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...

, George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...

and Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller

Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...

Characters

The spellings of character names vary depend on the transliterations used.

Madame Lyubov Andreievna Ranevskaya - a landowner. Ranyevskaya is the linchpin around which the characters revolve. A commanding and popular figure, she represents the pride of the old aristocracy, now fallen on hard times. Her confused feelings of love for her old home, and sorrow at the scene of her son's death, give her an emotional depth that keeps her from devolving into a mere aristocratic grotesque. Most of her humor comes from her inability to understand financial or business matters.
Peter Trofimov - a student and Anya's love interest. Trofimov, is depicted as the "eternal" (or in some translations "wandering") student. An impassioned left-wing political commentator, he represents the rising tide of reformist political opinion in Russia, which struggled to find its place within the authoritarian Czarist autocracy.
Boris Borisovich Simeonov-Pishchik - a landowner. Another old aristocrat, whose own estate has hit hard times. He is constantly discussing new business ventures that may save him, or badgering Ranyevskaya for a loan. His character embodies the irony of the aristocracy's position: despite his financial peril, he spends the play relaxing and socializing with the Gayevs.
Anya - Lyubov's daughter, aged 17. She journeys to Paris to rescue her mother from her desperate situation. She is that rare character, a truly virtuous, strong, young female. She is in love with Trofimov, and listens to his revolutionary ideas, whether she is actually taking them in or not.
Varya - Lyubov's adopted daughter, aged 27. Varya creates one of the mysteries of the play: why did Ranyevskaya adopt her? Is she the illegitimate child of her late husband? Is she the bastard daughter of Gayev? Varya is deeply religious, and very serious, as well as being very controlling towards other characters. She has a troubled relationship with Lopakhin, to whom she is romantically linked, but of whom she disapproves.
Leonid Andreieveitch Gayev - the brother of Madame Ranevskaya. One of the more obviously comic characters, Gayev is a talkative eccentric. His addiction to billiards (often manifesting itself at times of discomfort) is symbolic of the aristocracy's decadent life of leisure, which renders them impotent in the face of change. Gayev tries hard to save his family and estate, but ultimately, as an aristocrat, lacks the drive.
Yermolai Alexeievitch Lopakhin - a merchant. Lopakhin is by far the richest character in the play, but comes from the lowest social class. This contrast defines his character: he is enjoying living the high life, but at the same time is uncomfortably conscious of his low beginnings and obsession with business. Often portrayed as an unpleasant character because of his greedy tendencies, and ultimate betrayal of the Gayev family, there is nothing in the play to suggest this: he works strenuously to help the Gayevs, but to no avail. Lopakhin represents the new middle class in Russia, one of many threats to the old aristocratic way of doing things.
Charlotta Ivanovna - a governess. By far the most eccentric character, Charlotta is the only governess the Gayevs could afford to provide a companion for Anya. She is a melancholy figure, raised in by a German woman without any real knowledge of whom her Circus Entertainer parents were. She performs card tricks and ventriloquism at the party in the third act, and accepts the loss of her station, when the family disbands, with pragmatism.
Yepikhodov - a clerk. The Gayev's estate clerk is also another source of comedy. He is unfortunate and clumsy in the extreme, earning him an insulting nickname of "Twenty-Two Calamities" (This nickname varies according to the translation). He considers himself to be in love with Dunyasha, whom he has asked to marry him.
Dunyasha - a housemaid. Like Lopakhin, she is another example of the social mobility in Russia at the time. A peasant who is employed as the Gayev's chambermaid, Dunyasha is an attention seeker, making big scenes, and dressing as a lady, to show herself off. She is in some respects representative of the aristocracy's impotence, as a lowly chambermaid would not normally have the freedom to dress like a lady and flirt with the manservants. She is in love with Yasha.
Firs - a manservant, aged 87. An aging eccentric, Firs considers the emancipation of the Russian serfs to be a disaster, and talks nostalgically of the old days, when everybody admired their masters and owners, such as Gayev's parents and grandparents. His madness and harmlessness are a source of much of the play's poignancy, symbolizing the decay of the old order into muttering madness.
Yasha - a young manservant. The play's only truly unpleasant character, Yasha represents the new, disaffected Russian generation, who dislike the staid old ways, and who provide the foot soldiers of the revolution. A rude, inconsiderate and predatory young man who wears cheap cologne, Yasha, like Dunyasha and Charlotta, is the best the Gayevs can afford. He is in conflict with Yepikhodov for the affections of Dunyasha, whose affections he toys with.
A Stranger - a passer-by who interrupts and insults the Gayevs as they laze around on the Gayevs' estate during Act II. He is symbolic of the intrusion of new ideologies and social movements that infringed on the aristocracy's peace in Russia at the turn of the 20th century.
The Stationmaster and The Postmaster - Both officials attend the Gayevs' party in Act III. Although they both play minor roles in the act (the Stationmaster attempts to recite a poem, and the Postmaster flirts with Dunyasha), they are mostly symbols of the deprecation of the aristocracy in 1900s Russia - Firs comments that, whereas once they had barons and lords at the ball, now it's the postman and the stationmaster, and even they come only to be polite.
Guests, servants, and others.

Background

There were several experiences in Chekhov's own life that are said to have directly inspired his writing of The Cherry Orchard. When Chekhov was sixteen, his mother went into debt after having been cheated by some builders she had hired to construct a small house. A former lodger, Gabriel Selivanov, offered to help her financially, but in turn secretly bought the house for himself. At approximately the same time, his childhood home in Taganrog

Taganrog

Taganrog is a seaport city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the north shore of Taganrog Bay , several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: -History of Taganrog:...

was sold to pay off its mortgage. These financial and domestic upheavals imprinted themselves on his memory greatly and would reappear in the action of The Cherry Orchard.

Later in his life, living on a country estate outside Moscow, Chekhov developed an interest in gardening and planted his own cherry orchard. After relocating to Yalta

Yalta

Yalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black...

due to his poor health, Chekhov was devastated to learn that the buyer of his former estate had cut down most of the orchard. Returning on one trip to his childhood haunts in Taganrog, he was further horrified by the devastating effects of industrial deforestation

Deforestation

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....

. It was in those woodlands and the forests of his holidays in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

that he had first nurtured his ecological passion (this passion is reflected in the character of Dr. Astrov, whose love of the forests is his only peace, in his earlier play Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....

). A lovely and locally famous cherry orchard stood on the farm of family friends where he spent childhood vacations, and in his early short story "Steppe", Chekhov depicts a young boy crossing the Ukraine amidst fields of cherry blossoms. Finally, the first inklings of the genesis for the play that would be his last came in a terse notebook entry of 1897: "cherry orchard". Today, Chekhov's Yalta garden survives alongside The Cherry Orchard as a monument to a man whose feeling for trees equaled his feeling for theatre. Indeed, trees are often unspoken, symbolic heroes and victims of his stories and plays; so much so that Chekhov is often singled out as Europe's first ecological author.

Chekhov wrote The Cherry Orchard during the course of several years, alternating between periods of lighthearted giddiness and despondent frustration which he considered as bordering upon sloth (in a letter he wrote, "Every sentence I write strikes me as good for nothing.") Throughout this time he was also further inhibited by his chronic tuberculosis. Guarded by nature, Chekhov seemed overly secretive about all facets of the work, including even the title. As late as the Summer of 1902 he still had not shared anything about the play with anyone in his immediate family or the Art Theatre. It was only to comfort his wife Olga Knipper

Olga Knipper

Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova was a Russian stage actress. She was married to Anton Chekhov.Knipper was among the 39 original members of the Moscow Art Theatre when it was formed by Constantin Stanislavski in 1898...

, who was recovering from a miscarriage, that he finally let her in on the play's title, whispering it to her despite the fact that the two were alone. Chekhov was apparently delighted with the very sound of the title, and enjoyed the same sense of triumph months later when he finally revealed it to Stanislavski. By October 1903 the play was finished and sent to the Moscow Art Theater. Three weeks later Chekhov arrived at rehearsals in what would be a vain attempt to curb all the "weepiness" from the play which Stanislavski had developed. The author apparently also snickered when, during rehearsals, the word "orchard" was replaced with the more practical "plantation", feeling he had perfectly and symbolically captured the impracticality of an entire way of life.

Although critics at the time were divided in their response to the play, the debut of The Cherry Orchard by the Moscow Art Theater on January 17, 1904 (Chekhov's birthday) was a resounding theatrical success and the play was almost immediately presented in many of the important provincial cities. This success was not confined only to Russia, as the play was soon seen abroad with great acclaim as well. Shortly after the play's debut, Chekhov departed for Germany due to his worsening health, and by July 1904 he would be dead.

Act I

Opens in the early morning hours of a cool day in May in the nursery

Nursery (room)

A nursery is usually, in American connotations, a bedroom within a house or other dwelling set aside for an infant or toddler. A typical nursery would contain a crib , a table or platform for the purpose of changing diapers , as well as various items required for the care of the child...

of Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya's ancestral estate somewhere in the provinces of Russia just after the turn of the 20th Century. Ranevskaya has been away for five years, since the death by drowning of her young son, living in France with her unnamed lover. After news that she had tried to kill herself Ranevskaya's 17-year-old daughter Anya and Anya's governess

Governess

A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...

Charlotta Ivanovna have gone to fetch Ranevskaya to bring her home to Russia. They are also accompanied by Yasha, Ranevskaya's valet who was with her in France. Upon returning the group is met, in addition to Lopakhin and Dunyasha, by Varya, Ranevskaya's adopted daughter and housekeeper who has overseen the estate in her absence; Leonid Andreyevich Gayev, Mme. Ranevskaya's brother; Boris Borisovich Simeonov-Pishchik, a neighbor who is constantly asking for loans; Semyon Yepikhodov, a clumsy clerk in the Ranevskaya household; and the aged footman, Firs, who has worked for the Ranevskaya family since before the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, and regrets the emancipation as a great loss of societal structure.

Lopakhin has come to remind Ranevskaya and Gayev that their estate, including the cherry orchard, is due to go to auction in August to pay off the family's debts. He offers a plan to save the estate if only they will allow part of it to be developed into summer cottages. However, this will incur the destruction of their famous cherry orchard which is nationally known for its size. While Ranevskaya enjoys the view of the orchard as day breaks, she is surprised by Peter Trofimov, a young student and the former tutor of Ranevskaya's son, Grisha, whose death prompted Ranevskaya to leave Russia five years ago. Ranevskaya is grief-stricken at the reminder of this tragedy, despite Trofimov's insistence on seeing her upon her return (much to the consternation of Varya.)

After Ranevskaya retires for the evening, Anya confesses to Varya that their mother is heavily in debt. They all go to bed with a renewed hope that the estate will be saved and the cherry orchard preserved. Trofimov stares after the departing Anya and mutters "My sunshine, my spring" in adoration.

Act II

Act II takes place outdoors on the family estate nearby to the cherry orchard in mid-summer. The act opens with Yepikhodov and Yasha vying for the affection of Dunyasha, while Sharlotta soliloquizes about her life as she cleans a shotgun. In Act I it was revealed that Yepikhodov proposed to Dunyasha around Easter time, however she has since become infatuated with the more "cultured" Yasha. Sharlotta leaves and soon after Dunyasha sends Yepikhodov off to fetch her cloak so that she and Yasha might have some time alone, but that too is interrupted when they hear their employer coming. Yasha shoos Dunyasha away so they won't be caught and Ranevskaya, Gayev, and Lopakhin appear, once more discussing the uncertain fate of the cherry orchard. Shortly Anya, Varya, and Trofimov arrive as well. Lopakhin teases Trofimov for his being a perpetual student and Trofimov espouses his philosophy of work and useful purpose to the delight and humour of everyone around. During their conversations, a drunken and disheveled vagrant passes by and begs for money; Ranevskaya thoughtlessly gives him all of her money, despite the protestations of Varya. Shaken by the disturbance, the family departs for dinner, with Lopakhin futilely insisting that the cherry orchard be sold to pay down the debt. Anya stays behind to talk with Trofimov, who disapproves of Varya's constant hawk-like eyes, reassuring Anya that they are "above love". To impress Trofimov and win his affection, Anya vows to leave the past behind her and start a new life. The two depart for the river as Varya calls scoldingly in the background.

Act III

It is the end of August, and the evening of Ranevskaya's party has come. Offstage the musicians play as the family and their guests drink, carouse, and entertain themselves. It is also the day of the auction for the estate and the cherry orchard; Gayev has received a paltry amount of money from his and Ranevskaya's stingy aunt in Yaroslavl, and the family members, despite the general merriment about them, are both anxious and distracted while they wait for word of their fates. Varya worries about paying the musicians and scolds their neighbour Pischik for drinking, Dunyasha for dancing and Yepikhodov for playing billiards. Sharlotta entertains the group by performing several magic tricks. Ranevskaya scolds Trofimov for his constant teasing of Varya, whom he refers to as "Madame Lopakhin". She then urges Varya to marry Lopakhin, but Varya demurs, reminding her that it is Lopakhin's duty to ask for her hand in marriage, not the other way around. She says that if she had money she would move as far away from him as possible. Left alone with Ranevskaya, Trofimov insists that she finally face the truth that the house and the cherry orchard will be sold at auction. Ranevskaya shows him a telegram she has received from Paris and reveals that her former lover is ill again and has begged for her to return to his aid. She also reveals that she is seriously considering joining him, despite his cruel behaviour to her in the past. Trofimov is stunned at this news and the two argue about the nature of love and their respective experiences. Trofimov leaves in a huff but offstage falls down the stairs and is carried in by the others. Ranevskaya laughs and forgives him for his folly and the two quickly reconcile. Anya enters declaring a rumour that the cherry orchard has been sold. Lopakhin arrives with Gayev, both of whom are exhausted from the trip and the day's events. Gayev is distant, virtually catatonic and goes to bed without saying a word of the outcome of the auction. When Ranevskaya asks who bought the estate, Lopakhin reveals that he himself is the purchaser and intends to chop down the orchard with his axe. Ranevskaya, distraught, clings to Anya, who tries to calm her and reassure her that the future will be better now that the cherry orchard has been sold.

Act IV

It is several weeks later, once again in the nursery (as in Act I), only this time the room is being packed and taken apart as the family prepares to leave the estate forever. Trofimov enters in search of his galoshes, and he and Lopakhin exchange opposing world views. Anya enters and reprimands Lopakhin for ordering his workers to begin chopping down the cherry orchard while the family is still in the house. Lopakhin apologizes and rushes out to stop them for the time being in the hopes that he will be somehow reconciled with them. Charlotta enters, lost and in a daze, and insists that the family find her a new position. Ranevskaya tearfully bids her old life goodbye and leaves as the house is shut up forever. In the darkness Firs wanders into the room and discovers that they have left without him and boarded him inside the abandoned house to die. He lies down on the couch and resigns himself to his fate (apparently dying on the spot), as offstage we hear the axes as they cut down the cherry orchard.

Themes

One of the main themes of the play is the effect social change

Social change

Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. It may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic...

has on people. The emancipation of the serfs on 19 February 1861 by Alexander II

Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...

allowed former serfs to gain wealth and status while some aristocrats were becoming impoverished, unable to tend their estates without the cheap labor of slavery. The effect of these reforms was still being felt when Chekhov was writing forty years after the mass emancipation.

Chekhov originally intended the play as a comedy (indeed, the title page of the work refers to it as such), and in letters noted that it is, in places, almost farcical. When he saw the original Moscow Art Theatre

Moscow Art Theatre

production directed by Constantin Stanislavski, he was horrified to find that the director had moulded the play into a tragedy. Ever since that time, productions have had to struggle with this dual nature of the play (and of Chekhov's works in general).

Ranevskaya's failure to address problems facing her estate and family mean that she eventually loses almost everything and her fate can be seen as a criticism of those people who are unwilling to adapt to the new Russia. Her petulant refusal to accept the truth of her past, in both life and love, is her downfall throughout the play. She ultimately runs between her life in Paris and in Russia (she arrives from Paris at the start of the play and returns there afterwards). She is a woman who lives in an illusion of the past (often reliving memories about her son's death, etc.). The speeches by the student Trofimov, attacking intellectuals were later seen as early manifestations of Bolshevik

Bolshevik

The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

ideas and his lines were often censored by the Tsar

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

ist officials. Cherry trees themselves are often seen as symbols of sadness or regret at the passing away of a certain situation or of the times in general.

The theme of identity, and the subversion of expectations of such, is one that can be seen in The Cherry Orchard; indeed, the cast itself can be divided up into three distinct parts: the Gayev family (Ranevskaya, Gayev, Anya and Varya), family friends (Lopakhin, Pishchik and Trofimov), and the "servant class" (Firs, Yasha, Dunyasha, Sharlotta and Yepikhodov), the irony being that some of them clearly act out of place - think of Varya, the adopted daughter of an aristocrat, effectively being a housekeeper; Trofimov, the thinking student, being thrown out of university; Yasha considering himself part of the Parisian cultural élite; and both the Ranevskayas and Pishchik running low on money while Lopakhin, born a peasant, is practically a millionaire.

While the Marxist view of the play is more prevalent, an alternative view is that The Cherry Orchard was Chekhov's tribute to himself. Many of the characters in the play hearken back to his earlier works and are based on people he knew in his own life. It should also be noted that his boyhood house was bought and torn down by a wealthy man that his mother had considered a friend. The breaking guitar string in acts 2 and 4 herald back to his earliest works. Finally the classic "loaded gun"

Chekhov's gun

Chekhov's gun is a literary technique whereby an apparently irrelevant element is introduced early in the story whose significance becomes clear later in the narrative. The concept is named after Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, who mentioned several variants of the concept in letters...

that appears in many of Chekhov's plays appears here, but this is his only play in which a gun is shown but not fired.

Production history

The play opened on January 17, 1904, the playwright's birthday, at the Moscow Art Theatre

Moscow Art Theatre

under the direction of actor-director Constantin Stanislavski. During rehearsals, the entire structure of Act Two was re-written (to include the passer-by and the twang from the string dying away to empathise the audience with the mining disaster of the time). Famously contrary to Chekhov's wishes, Stanislavski's version was, by and large, a tragedy. Chekhov disliked the Stanislavski production intensely, concluding that Stanislavski had "ruined" his play, which was in turn under-rehearsed (the Moscow Arts Theatre only rehearsing it for six months, unlike the common practise to rehearse for 18 months, or even more). In one of many letters on the subject, Chekhov would complain, "Anya, I fear, should not have any sort of tearful tone... Not once does my Ania cry, nowhere do I speak of a tearful tone, in the second act there are tears in their eyes, but the tone is happy, lively. Why did you speak in your telegram about so many tears in my play? Where are they? ... Often you will find the words "through tears," but I am describing only the expression on their faces, not tears. And in the second act there is no graveyard."
The modest and newly-urbanized audiences attending pre-revolutionary performances at S. V. Panin's People's House in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

reportedly cheered as the cherry orchard was felled onstage.

The playwright's wife Olga Knipper

Olga Knipper

played Madame Ranevskaya in the original Moscow Art Theatre

Moscow Art Theatre

production, as well as in the 300th production of the play by the theatre in 1943.

A 1925 production at the Oxford Playhouse by J. B. Fagan

J. B. Fagan

James Bernard Fagan was an Irish-born actor, theatre manager, producer and playwright in England. After turning from the law to the stage, Fagan began an acting career, including four years from 1895 to 1899 with Herbert Beerbohm Tree's company at Her Majesty's Theatre. He then began writing...

and a 1934 production at the Sadler's Wells Theatre

Sadler's Wells Theatre

Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...

in London directed by Tyrone Guthrie

Tyrone Guthrie

and translated by Hubert Butler

Hubert Butler

Hubert Marshal Butler was an Irish essayist who wrote on a wide-range of topics, from local history and archaeology to the political and religious affairs of eastern Europe before and during World War II.-Early life:...

were among the first English-language productions of the play.

A television version featuring Helen Hayes

Helen Hayes

Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...

as Ranevskaya, and Susan Strasberg

Susan Strasberg

Susan Elizabeth Strasberg was an American film and stage actress.-Background and career:Strasberg was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of theatre director and drama coach Lee Strasberg of the Actors Studio and former actress Paula Strasberg...

as Anya, directed by Daniel Petrie

Daniel Petrie

Daniel Mannix Petrie was a Canadian television and movie director.Petrie was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Mary Anne and William Mark Petrie, a soft-drink manufacturer. He moved to the United States in 1945...

, was broadcast as part of the Play of the Week television series in 1959.

The Royal Shakespeare Company/BBC TV, black and white, Peggy Ashcroft

Peggy Ashcroft

Dame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...

plays Ranevskaya, Ian Holm

Ian Holm

Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...

plays Trofimov,John Gielgud

John Gielgud

Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...

Gaev, Judi Dench

Judi Dench

Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...

Anya, Dorothy Tutin

Dorothy Tutin

Dame Dorothy Tutin DBE was an English actor of stage, film, and television.An obituary in The Daily Telegraph described her as "one of the most enchanting, accomplished and intelligent leading ladies on the post-war British stage...

Varya, production by Michel Saint-Denis

Michel Saint-Denis

Michel Saint-Denis , dit Jacques Duchesne, was a French actor, theater director, and drama theorist whose ideas on actor training have had a profound influence on the development of European theater from the 1930s on.Michel Saint-Denis was born in Beauvais, France, the nephew of Jacques Copeau, who...

, directed by Michael Elliott, 1962, released on DVD by BBC Worldwide Ltd 2009.

A production starring Irene Worth

Irene Worth

Irene Worth, CBE was an American stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the English and American theatre. -Early life:...

as Ranevskaya, Raul Julia

Raúl Juliá

Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay was a Puerto Rican actor.Born in San Juan, he gained interest in acting while still in school. Upon completing his studies, Juliá decided to pursue a career in acting. After performing in the local scene for some time, he was convinced by entertainment personality Orson...

as Lopakhin, Mary Beth Hurt

Mary Beth Hurt

Mary Beth Hurt is an American actress of stage and screen.-Personal life:Hurt was born Mary Supinger in 1946 in Marshalltown, Iowa, the daughter of Delores Lenore and Forrest Clayton Supinger. Her childhood babysitter was actress Jean Seberg, also a Marshalltown native...

as Anya and Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...

as Dunyasha, directed by Andrei Şerban

Andrei Serban

Andrei Șerban is a Romanian-born American theater director. A major name in twentieth-century theater, he is renowned for his innovative and iconoclastic interpretations and stagings...

and featuring Tony Award

Tony Award for Best Costume Design

These are the winners and nominees for the Tony Award for Best Costume Design. The award was first presented in 1947 and included both plays and musicals...

-winning costumes and set by Santo Loquasto

Santo Loquasto

Santo Richard Loquasto is a Sicilian-Italian-American production designer, scenic designer and costume designer for stage, film, and dance. He is a descendant of Libertino lo Guasto of Serradifalco, Caltanissetta, Sicily. Indy race car driver Al Loquasto was his first cousin...

, opened at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...

in 1977.

A production directed by Peter Hall, translated by Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn

Michael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...

and starring Dorothy Tutin

Dorothy Tutin

as Ranevskaya, Albert Finney

Albert Finney

Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....

as Lopakhin, Ben Kingsley

Ben Kingsley

Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...

as Trofimov and Ralph Richardson

Ralph Richardson

Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....

as Firs, appeared at the Royal National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

in London in 1978to nearly universal acclaim. A minimalist production directed by Peter Gill opened at the Riverside Studios in London also in 1978, to good reviews.

In 1981, Peter Brook

Peter Brook

Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...

mounted a production in French (La Cérisaie) with an international cast including Brook's wife Natasha Parry as Ranevskaya, Niels Arestrup as Lophakin, and Michael Piccoli as Gayev. The production was remounted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....

in 1988 after tours through Africa and the Middle East.

Also in 1981, the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

produced a version for British television by Trevor Griffiths

Trevor Griffiths

Trevor Griffiths is an English dramatist.Raised as a Roman Catholic, he attended Saint Bede's College, before being accepted into Manchester University in 1952 to read English...

from a translation by Helen Rappaport

Helen Rappaport

Helen Rappaport is a British historian, author, and former actress. As a historian, she specialises in the Victorian era and revolutionary Russia.-Biography:...

and directed by Richard Eyre

Richard Eyre

Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE is an English director of film, theatre, television, and opera.-Biography:Eyre was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in the market town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse at the University...

. Instead of her 1962 BBC role as daughter Anya, Judi Dench here played the mother Ranevskaya to Bill Paterson's Lopakhin, Anton Lesser as Trofimov, Frederick Treves

Frederick Treves (actor)

Frederick William Treves BEM, is an English character actor with an extensive repertoire, specialising in avuncular military and titled types....

as Gaev, Anna Massey

Anna Massey

Anna Raymond Massey, CBE was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel du Lac.-Early life:...

as Sharlotta, and a 24-year-old Timothy Spall

Timothy Spall

Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...

as Yepikhodov.

A film version starring Charlotte Rampling

Charlotte Rampling

Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...

as Ranevskaya, Alan Bates

Alan Bates

Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...

as Gayev, Owen Teale as Lophakin, Melanie Lynskey

Melanie Lynskey

Melanie Jayne Lynskey is a New Zealand actress best known for playing Charlie Harper's neighbor/stalker Rose on Two and a Half Men, and a range of characters in films such as Win Win, Up in the Air, The Informant!, Away We Go, Flags of Our Fathers, Shattered Glass, Sweet Home Alabama, Ever After...

as Dunyasha and Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler

Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...

as Yasha, directed by Michael Cacoyannis, appeared in 1999.

The Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...

(Chicago, Illinois) performed a version that was translated by Associate Artistic Director Curt Columbus and directed by ensemble member Tina Landau

Tina Landau

Tina Landau is an American playwright and theatre director.Born in New York City to film and television producers Edie and Ely Landau, Landau moved with her family to Beverly Hills, California, where she graduated from Beverly Hills High School before attending Yale University, where she directed...

. The play premiered on November 4, 2004 and ran until March 5, 2005 at the Upstairs Theatre. Appearing in the performance were Robert Breuler

Robert Breuler

Robert Breuler is an American stage actor, primarily known as a longtime ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, in Chicago, Illinois, where he won a Joseph Jefferson Award for his role as a Russian negotiator in A Walk in the Woods....

, Francis Guinan

Francis Guinan

Francis V. Guinan, Jr. is an American film, television and stage actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Edgar Teller the patriarch in the short-lived NBC series Eerie, Indiana....

, Amy Morton

Amy Morton

Amy Morton is an American actress best known for her work in theatre. A member of Steppenwolf Theater's core group of actors since 1997, Morton has spent most of her career working in the Chicago theater scene. She made her Broadway debut starring opposite Gary Sinise as Nurse Ratched in the Tony...

, Yasen Peyankov, Rondi Reed

Rondi Reed

Rondi Reed is an American stage actress, singer and performer.-Career:Reed has been a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, Illinois, for 30 years, appearing in 51 productions with the company....

, Anne Adams, Guy Adkins, Chaon Cross, Leonard Kraft, Julian Martinez

Julian Martinez

Julian Martinez, also known as Pacano, was a Native American potter and the patriarch of the most important family of Native American artisans in the United States. Born on the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico, Martinez was instrumental in reviving the black San Ildefonso pottery and Santa Clara...

, Ned Noyes, Elizabeth Rich, Ben Viccellio, and Chris Yonan.

The Atlantic Theatre Company (New York, New York) in 2005 mounted a new adaptation of The Cherry Orchard by Tom Donaghy, where much more of the comedy was present as the playwright had originally intended.

A new production of the play starring Annette Bening

Annette Bening

Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...

as Ranevskaya and Alfred Molina

Alfred Molina

Alfred Molina is a British-born American actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his supporting role in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears...

as Lophakin, translated by Martin Sherman and directed by Sean Mathias

Sean Mathias

Sean Gerard Mathias is a British theatre director, film director, writer and actor.Mathias was born in Swansea, south Wales. He is known for directing the film, Bent, and for directing highly acclaimed theatre productions in London, New York, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Sydney...

opened at the Mark Taper Forum

Mark Taper Forum

The Mark Taper Forum is a 739 seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles...

in Los Angeles in February 2006.

The Huntington Theatre Company

Huntington Theatre Company

The Huntington Theatre Company is a non-profit professional theater company in Boston, Massachusetts. The Huntington has garnered six Elliot Norton Awards and three Tony Award nominations for productions that were transferred to Broadway after critically acclaimed productions in Boston...

at Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

produced a version in January 2007 using Richard Nelson

Richard Nelson (playwright)

Richard Nelson is an American playwright and librettist. He wrote the books for the musicals James Joyce's The Dead and the Broadway version of Chess.-Personal life:Nelson was born in Chicago, Illinois....

's translation, directed by Nicholas Martin with Kate Burton

Kate Burton (actress)

-Personal life:Burton was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the daughter of producer Sybil Burton and actor Richard Burton . She was thus the stepdaughter of actress Elizabeth Taylor and of Sybil's second husband Jordan Christopher. In 1979, Burton earned a bachelor's degree in Russian studies and...

as Madame Ranevskaya, Joyce Van Patten

Joyce Van Patten

Joyce Benignia Van Patten is an American stage, film and television actress.-Personal life:Van Patten was born in New York City, the daughter of Josephine Rose , an Italian American magazine advertising executive, and Richard Byron Van Patten, a Dutch American interior decorator.She is the younger...

as Sharlotta Ivanova, and Dick Latessa

Dick Latessa

Richard Robert "Dick" Latessa is an American actor.Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother who was an automotive upholstery maker. Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968...

as Firs.

Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller

Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...

directed the play in March-April 2007 at the Crucible Theatre

Crucible Theatre

The Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....

, Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

, England. The play represents Miller's return to the British stage after nearly a decade away and stars Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lamond Lumley, OBE, FRGS is a British actress, voice-over artist, former-model and author, best known for her roles in British television series Absolutely Fabulous portraying Edina Monsoon's best friend, Patsy Stone, as well as parts in The New Avengers, Sapphire & Steel, and Sensitive...

as Ranevskaya.

Libby Appel

Libby Appel

Libby Appel , the fourth artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, retired in June 2007. and was succeeded by Cornerstone Theatre Company artistic director, Bill Rauch. Appel directed more than 25 productions at OSF, and her artistic vision influenced the 11 plays presented each year...

adapted and directed the play in 2007 for her farewell season as artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The festival annually produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to October...

(Ashland, Oregon). The new translation, based on an original literal translation by Allison Horsley, is considered to be "strongly Americanized".

A version of the play was performed as the opening production on the Chichester Festival Theatre

Chichester Festival Theatre

Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....

Stage in May-June 2008, with a cast including Dame Diana Rigg

Diana Rigg

Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....

, Frank Finlay, Natalie Cassidy, Jemma Redgrave

Jemma Redgrave

Jemma Redgrave is a fourth-generation English actress of the Redgrave family.-Early life/family:Born in London as Jemima Rebecca Redgrave, she is the daughter of the late actor Corin Redgrave and his first wife, the late Deirdre Hamilton-Hill, a former fashion model. They divorced when Jemma was...

and Maureen Lipman

Maureen Lipman

Maureen Diane Lipman CBE is a British film, theatre and television actress, columnist and comedienne.-Early life:Lipman was born in Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Maurice Julius Lipman and Zelma Pearlman. Her father was a tailor; he used to have a shop between the...

.

In 2009, a new version of the play by Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard

Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...

was performed as the first production of The Bridge Project, a partnership between North American and UK theatres. The play ran at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....

. Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes

Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...

directed the production with a cast including Simon Russell Beale

Simon Russell Beale

Simon Russell Beale, CBE is an English actor. He has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation."-Early years:...

, Sinéad Cusack

Sinéad Cusack

Sinéad Moira Cusack is an Irish stage, television and film actress. She has received two Tony Award nominations: once for Best Leading Actress in Much Ado About Nothing , and again for Best Featured Actress in Rock 'n' Roll .-Background:...

, Richard Easton

Richard Easton

Richard Easton is a Canadian actor. He is best known in for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial The Brothers.-Biography:...

, Rebecca Hall

Rebecca Hall

Rebecca Maria Hall is an English actress.In 2003, Hall won the Ian Charleson Award for her debut stage performance in a production of Mrs. Warren's Profession...

and Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...

.

A brand new adaptation of the play was produced by the Blackeyed Theatre in spring 2009 as a UK tour, with a cast of four.

In September 2009, a new adaptation of the play by Stuart Paterson was produced at the Dundee Repertory Theatre

Dundee Repertory Theatre

Dundee Repertory Theatre or Dundee Rep is a theatre and arts company in the city of Dundee, Scotland. It operates as both a producing house - staging at least six of its own productions each year, and a receiving house - hosting work from visiting companies throughout Scotland and the United...

with guest director Vladimir Bouchler

Vladimir Bouchler

Vladimir Bouchler is a theatre director and pedagogue of acting and directing in theatre and film.-Biography:After starting life as an electric engineer in Soviet Union's Republic of Uzbekistan, Vladimir headed to The Ostrovsky Theatre School to study for five years as an actor...

.

A new translation of the play in Punjabi was performed in September 2009 by the students of Theatre Art Department of Punjabi University, Patiala, India.

A version of the play in Afrikaans was performed in late September 2009 by students of the Department of Drama at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

A new adaption was commissioned by the Brighton Festival and performed by the dreamthinkspeak group. They renovated the old co-op home-store on the London Road using the whole store as a stage. They renamed it Before I Sleep and said it was inspired by the original play. It received positive reviews from both The Guardian and The Independent newspapers. It was funded by Arts Council England, National Lottery and a long list of other Brighton and Hove based businesses.

In April 2010 at the Royal Lyceum Theatre

Royal Lyceum Theatre

The Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658 seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by architect C. J. Phipps at a cost of UK£17,000 on behalf...

in Edinburgh the Scottish playwright John Byrne staged a new version of the play as a Scottish 'social comedy', taking place in 1979 Scotland.

The Royal National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

, London, staged a new version starring Zoë Wanamaker

Zoe Wanamaker

Zoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...

from May to August 2011, reuniting director Howard Davies

Howard Davies

Howard Davies is the name of:* Howard Davies , Wales rugby union international* Sir Howard Davies , Former Director of the London School of Economics and former British financial regulator...

with writer Andrew Upton

Andrew Upton

Andrew Upton is an Australian playwright, screenwriter, and director. He is the husband of the actress Cate Blanchett.-Career:As a playwright, Upton created adaptations of Hedda Gabler, The Cherry Orchard, Cyrano de Bergerac, Don Juan and Uncle Vanya for the Sydney Theatre Company and Maxim...

,which was also shown at cinemas internationally through National Theatre Live

National Theatre Live

National Theatre Live is an initiative operated by the Royal National Theatre in London, which broadcasts live via satellite, performances of their productions to movie theaters, cinemas and arts centres around the world.-About:...

In popular culture

In Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...

's film The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd (film)
The Good Shepherd is a 2006 spy film directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, with an extensive supporting cast. Although it is a fictional film loosely based on real events, it is advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the...

, a performance of the play is attended by a CIA agent, portrayed by Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...

.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...

included a sketch on their record Another Monty Python Record
Another Monty Python Record
Another Monty Python Record is the second album produced by the Monty Python comedy group, released in 1971. It was packaged as "Beethoven Symphony No. 2 In D Major", but defaced by the Pythons to serve as their own record jacket...

which involved a production of the play performed entirely by Gumbies
Gumbies
Gumbys are recurring characters in Monty Python's Flying Circus, characterized by a very distinctive appearance. If a name was listed for them, the surname given would always be "Gumby", and the first name would usually be given as two initials...

.
The plot of Gabriele Salvatores
Gabriele Salvatores
Gabriele Salvatores , is an Italian Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in Naples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in Milan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directed several avant-garde pieces until 1989.In that year, he directed his...

's Turnè revolves around a company that performs The Cherry Orchard in various theatres in Italy.
In Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American black comedy-fantasy film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. It stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich, who plays a fictional version of himself...

a portion of the play is read by John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...

.
In J.D. Salinger's short story "Franny and Zooey
Franny and Zooey
Franny and Zooey is a book by American author J.D. Salinger which comprises his short story, "Franny", and novella, Zooey. The two works were published together as a book in 1961; the two stories originally appeared in The New Yorker in 1955 and 1957, respectively...

", Zooey reads from a letter his elder brother Buddy wrote to him years prior. Buddy laments in the letter that nobody has yet staged a production of The Cherry Orchard that matches "word for word" Chekhov's brilliance.
The Fever
The Fever
"The Fever" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:Franklin and his wife Flora go to Las Vegas because she won a slogan contest. He detests gambling, but his wife is excited about their vacation. Franklin is given a coin by a drunk man at the casino,...

, starring Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...

, features a scene in which the main character attends the play.
In The Royal Tenenbaums
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Royal Tenenbaums is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson and co-written with Owen Wilson. The film stars Gene Hackman and Anjelica Huston, with Danny Glover, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, and Owen Wilson....

, Margot Tenenbaum is seen reading The Cherry Orchard in an early scene.

Books

Chekhov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard, translated by David Magarshack. Modern and Contemporary Drama edited by Miriam Gilbert, Carl H. Klaus and Bradford S. Field, Jr. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. ISBN 0-312-09077-3
Chekhov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard, translated by Stephen Mulrine. London: Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nick Hern in 1988.-History:...

, 1998. ISBN 978-1854594129

External links

Full text of The Cherry Orchard
Project Gutenberg eText, English translations of several Chekhov plays, including The Cherry Orchard
A public domain version of the play (English translation)
The Cherry Orchard study guide, themes, quotes, teacher resources

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.