The Cherry Orchard

By Anton Chekhov

"The Cherry Orchard", first performed and published in 1904, is one of Anton Chekhov´s famous plays and is also the last.

Madame Ranevskaya, who has spent five years in Paris to escape grief over her young son’s death, returns to her home in Russia ridden with debt. She is obliged to decide how to dispose of her family’s estate, with its beautiful and famous cherry orchard. The coarse but wealthy merchant Ermolai Lopakhin suggests that Mme Ranevskaya develop the land on which the orchard sits. Eventually Lopakhin purchases the estate and proceeds with his plans for a housing development. As the unhappy Ranevskayas leave the estate...

Interestingly enough, Anton Chekhov intended for "The Cherry Orchard" to be a comedy, but the director staged it as a tragedy. The subject matter of the play is heavy, but there are comical elements, especially in regards to Madame Ranevskaya's brother's addiction to billiards.

Another interesting fact about the play is that it is the only play in which Anton Chekhov included a gun but never had the gun fired. You may have heard about Chekhov's gun, a dramatic principle which states that every single item put into a play or story should have relevance. Therefore, a playwright should never introduce a gun into a play if he doesn't intend for it to go off at some point. Filmmakers still adhere to the Chekhov's gun rule today, though Chekhov himself broke his own rule in "The Cherry Orchard".

• Language: English
• Publisher: E-BOOKARAMA
• Release date: Sep 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9788835335023

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.

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