Other editions of book The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard is a play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It opened at the Moscow Art Theatre on 17 January 1904. Although Chekhov intended it as a comedy, it does contain some elements of farce. The play is often identified on the short list of the three or four outstanding plays written by Chekhov. In The Cherry Orchard, an impoverished landowning family is unable to face the fact that their estate is about to be auctioned off. Lopakhin, a local merchant, presents numerous options to save it, including cutting down their prized cherry orchard. But the family is stricken with denial. The Cherry Orchard charts the precipitous descent of a wealthy family and in the process creates a bold meditation on social change and bourgeois materialism.

The Cherry Orchard is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. The play concerns an aristocratic Russian landowner who returns to her family estate (which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard) just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. Unresponsive to offers to save the estate, she allows its sale to the son of a former serf; the family leaves to the sound of the cherry orchard being cut down.

Tom Donaghy's adaptation of Chekhov's beloved and richly bittersweet comedy about a world in transition preserves the economy and humor of the original while highlighting the lyricism and stylistic ambition of the master playwright's final work. "Tom Donaghy has written a new adaptation of THE CHERRY ORCHARD that feels, at times, like an altogether new play: He propels Ronald Meyer's translation into modern vernacular ... Donaghy does capture the play's comedy and, paradoxically, its existential despair." -Jeremy McCarter, New York Magazine "A swift, modern adaptation by Tom Donaghy ... a distinctly comic and American emphasis." -Adam Feldman, Time Out "Chekhov famously preferred to think of his plays as comedies. Playwright Tom Donaghy honors that fact with a light-on-its feet adaptation ... Mostly, his fluid dialogue manages to lend a pleasing immediacy to the story ..." -Gordon Cox, Newsday

"The Cherry Orchard" was the last play written by Anton Chekhov and is widely regarded as one of his greatest dramatic accomplishments. It is the story of an aristocratic Russian woman and her family who return to their estate, a cherry orchard, to oversee the auction of the estate in order to pay the mortgage. The rise of the middle class and the decline of the aristocracy that was prevalent at the end of the 20th century in Russia, and ultimately led to the Socialistic Revolution, are excellently portrayed in Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard".

For Madame Ranevskaya, her cherry orchard is more than just land; it is her childhood, her memories and her life. Returning for the first time since her young son drowned there, she must come to terms with the fact that in order to free her family of debt the cherry orchard must be sold, the trees must be cleared and she and her family must prepare for life beyond the orchard. This touching and often hilarious play exercises the perfect balance of comedy and tragedy, through the characters, relationships and observations of society.|5 women, 9 men

The Cherry Orchard (1903) is the final play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It is considered as one of four outstanding plays by Chekhov, along with The Seagull, Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya. The narrative recounts an aristocratic landowner who returns to her family estate just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. It dramatizes the socio-economic developments in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, including the rise of the middle class after the abolition of serfdom and the waning power of the aristocracy.

Published to tie in with the world premiere at the Abbey Theatre, DublinIn Chekhov's tragi-comedy - perhaps his most popular play - the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces, forces rooted deep in history and in the society around them. Their estate is hopelessly in debt: urged to cut down their beautiful cherry orchard and sell the land for holiday cottages, they struggle to act decisively. Tom Murphy's fine vernacular version allows us to re-imagine the events of the play in the last days of Anglo-Irish colonialism. It gives this great play vivid new life within our own history and social consciousness.

A room which is still called the nursery. One of the doors leads into ANYA'S room. It is close on sunrise. It is May. The cherry-trees are in flower but it is chilly in the garden. There is an early frost. The windows of the room are shut. DUNYASHA comes in with a candle, and LOPAKHIN with a book in his hand.LOPAKHIN. The train's arrived, thank God. What's the time?DUNYASHA. It will soon be two. [Blows out candle] It is light already.LOPAKHIN. How much was the train late? Two hours at least. [Yawns and stretches himself] I have made a rotten mess of it! I came here on purpose to meet them at the station, and then overslept myself . . . in my chair. It's a pity. I wish you'd wakened me.DUNYASHA. I thought you'd gone away. [Listening] I think I hear them coming.

"Sinead Cusack, Anna Massey, Patricia Routledge, Andrew Sachs, and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies star in this 1974 BBC Radio full-cast production of Chekhov s classic play"Madame Ranyevskaya and her daughter Anya have returned home from Paris to discover that their family estate which includes their beloved cherry orchard has to be sold to cover the family s debts. They believe a miracle can save their orchard. But will their stubborn pride and fond, childhood memories be enough?Chekhov s tragic-comedy is about the passing of an era and is a timeless study of a Russian aristocratic family desperately clinging to the past. Among the star cast in this 1974 production are Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Sinead Cusack, Anna Massey, Patricia Routledge, and Andrew Sachs. The Classic Radio Theatre series presents notable radio productions of much-loved plays by some of the most renowned playwrights and starring some of our finest actors."

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian short story writer and a playwright. His playwriting career produced four classics, while his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Chekhov practiced as a doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife, " he once said, "and literature is my mistress". Chekhov renounced the theatre after the disastrous reception of The Seagull in 1896; but the play was revived to acclaim by Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Uncle Vanya and premiered Chekhov's last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four works present a special challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text". His originality consists in an early use of the stream-of-consciousness technique combined with a disavowal of the moral finality of traditional story structure.