The Cherry Orchard

By Anton Chekhov and Pam Gems

Oh, the trees! Nothing but white and green as far as you can see - remember, Lyuba?
Oh my lovely childhood. Waking up to happiness, looking out at blossom and trees and there they are - the same trees, the same blossom - after cruel winter, warmth and light and feeling!


In his masterpiece The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov maintains an exquisite balance between elegiac celebration of the romance of the past, as embodied in the cherry orchard in full bloom, and the awesome prescience of what is so soon to overwhelm Russia - revolution. The themes are majestic, and yet at the centre of the play is Ranévskaya, a tragic woman who lacks adroitness for survival in a changing world but who has one asset: a capacity for love. It is her solution - and Chekhov's.

This new version of The Cherry Orchard by Pam Gems opened at the Crucible, Sheffield in March 2007.

• Language: English
• Publisher: OBERON BOOKS Ltd
• Release date: Mar 14, 2007
• ISBN: 9781849438704

Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian doctor, short-story writer, and playwright. Born in the port city of Taganrog, Chekhov was the third child of Pavel, a grocer and devout Christian, and Yevgeniya, a natural storyteller. His father, a violent and arrogant man, abused his wife and children and would serve as the inspiration for many of the writer’s most tyrannical and hypocritical characters. Chekhov studied at the Greek School in Taganrog, where he learned Ancient Greek. In 1876, his father’s debts forced the family to relocate to Moscow, where they lived in poverty while Anton remained in Taganrog to settle their finances and finish his studies. During this time, he worked odd jobs while reading extensively and composing his first written works. He joined his family in Moscow in 1879, pursuing a medical degree while writing short stories for entertainment and to support his parents and siblings. In 1876, after finishing his degree and contracting tuberculosis, he began writing for St. Petersburg’s Novoye Vremya, a popular paper which helped him to launch his literary career and gain financial independence. A friend and colleague of Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and Ivan Bunin, Chekhov is remembered today for his skillful observations of everyday Russian life, his deeply psychological character studies, and his mastery of language and the rhythms of conversation.

Reviews for The Cherry Orchard

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

De Kersentuin draait in wezen om de komst van het moderne, om verandering. Kracht van Tsjechov is montage, van gevoel naar gevoel, voor alles uitgesproken is, vb gebruik pauzes. Omstreden: drama of komedie, naturalistische of symbolische lectuur

[electrascaife · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nope.No likeable characters whatsoever, with a plot that I couldn't bring myself to care about at all. Gah.

[maxernst11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

De Kersentuin draait in wezen om de komst van het moderne, om verandering. Kracht van Tsjechov is montage, van gevoel naar gevoel, voor alles uitgesproken is, vb gebruik pauzes. Omstreden: drama of komedie, naturalistische of symbolische lectuur

[mamzel_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Poor money management forces a family to sell its property including a large cherry orchard. Before closing the property, however, everyone returns to bid each other farewell. Comedic moments include a man who is totally obsessed with billiards and a bittersweet moment when they leave and lock in the old, faithful retainer. Job-lot!

[leslie398 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I found it difficult to sympathize with any of the characters, even Lubov who had the most tragic background. As a tale of the decline of Russian nobility and rising of the former serfs into middle class, it was fairly effective but not entertaining. Perhaps I would like a stage production more...

[cait815 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I fell asleep twice while reading this play (and it's not that long). It felt so choppy, like there were 10 different conversations going on at the same time, none of them related. My interest picked up in the second half though, and I liked the ending. I'd love to experience this on stage and see if I came away with a better opinion of it.

[booksfordinner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great edition; it has a short but thorough bio of Chekhov, an intro with some basic interpretation, and great notes throughout based on letter the author wrote to some of the original productions' principals.

[lizpatanders · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having already read Chekhov's Ivanov, I founded myself comparing the two as a bit and enjoying this play more. It's about a family who is losing their wealth and needs to sell their cherry orchard, and I thought that was much more relatable than the story of Ivanov.The one thing that I really enjoyed about this play was the sense of memory that I got while I was reading it. I think Chekhov did a good job of showing why this place was important to the family. I got a sense that there was a lot of sorrow about losing the orchard, but in some ways he very much incorporated the hope for the future which I enjoyed. Overall I'd say it's a really good story about family and we hold certain places dear to us. My only complaint is that at times the names got a bit confusing.

[joririchardson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A sad, sentimental play filled with frustrated romance and financial problems.The edition that I read (Cambridge Literature) had a study guide and resource notes in the back, which I would definitely recommend reading before you venture into this short, yet complicated, play.The symbolism enriches the play very deeply.I love Russian literature, and this is the first work of Russian theater I have read.Great play.

[cinesnail88 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Chekhov is always someone I grapple with from time to time before deciding what I really think of the play. This was good, but mildly pointless. I didn't feel changed or moved by reading it, and I wonder about what seeing it would have changed. It certainly would have a different feel to it in production than it did in reading.

[takeitorleaveit_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

saw Anette Benning and Alfred Molin star in this play. not Chekhov's best but good times.

[name99_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Another example of how I'm usually disappointed when I listen to something that other people consider great, but which does not a priori sound appealing.This probably reveals me as a philistine, but I just couldn't found much of value in this. We have a bunch of upper-class Russian twits who think the world owes them a living, who do absolutely nothing of value to anyone, not even things of abstract value like art or science, and who are bitterly disappointed when the tragedy that everyone has been warning them about for years finally arrives and no deus ex machina saves them. The only character in the play I had the remotest sympathy for was the student who tells them to their faces that they are parasites and that their day is over, not that his warnings are heeded.Maybe this play is viewed in the same way as Gone with the Wind nostalgia --- everyone who pines for this better simpler way of life assumes that for some reason they're going to be part of the aristrocracy in this alternate world, not one of the lower classes.

[et.carole · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Tragedy, on leaving home.

[mickyfine · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

LATW audio production of the classic play recounting the challenges facing an aristocratic Russian family who desperately wants to maintain their way of life even as their finances fall on hard times. I found it challenging to keep characters straight in this one and wasn't always certain which character was who - possibly complicated by the complexities of Russian names. This would have been easier to keep straight in a traditional production as you have faces to track with the voice. Not a bad listen but not a play I'm likely to revisit.

[juva_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A sad tale about an aristocratic family in decline. With their fortune spent and their ancestral home up for auction, they spend their last days recalling better times and overlooking opportunities to save themselves. It's mournful and haunting with layers of complexity and depth.

[nialle-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This play is different every time I read it. When I was younger and still believed that my family's land would continue to be passed down the generations, it was tragic; when I had learned about the Japanese word "aware" it was beautiful; when I had learned something about how easily even clever women fall into traps and call them love, I wanted to believe somehow that Lyuba's generosity meant something anyway; as a young person of business I feared becoming Lopakhin with his, as it seemed to me, idealistic excuses for exploitation no different from those of the old aristocracy; after a few years of good fortune I looked less pityingly on old Pishtchik, whose attitude really isn't so absurd, though he may not be a gifted accountant.Through this reading, though, all I could think about was Firs saying "They knew some way in those days.... They've forgotten. Nobody remembers how to do it." And I look out the window at people who don't remember when shoes were supposed to last more than one season, lenders weren't allowed to charge 25%, growing food wasn't just a health craze but a normal way of life, books didn't cost $10 plus a special $180 decoder gizmo that would be outmoded in a year - and I think about all the people my age who have no idea how to run a business or why it would be desirable to own land - and I think it may not be the cherry orchard, but the Firs of this world, the ones who remember good sense and precaution, the ones who knew their ancestors' knowledge, we must fear most to lose.