On our website) take place in an old noble estate, which belongs to Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya. The estate is located not far from the big city. Its main attraction is a huge cherry orchard, which occupies almost a thousand acres. Once this garden was considered one of the most remarkable places in the province and brought a lot of income to the owners. It is even mentioned in encyclopedic dictionary. But after the fall of serfdom, the economy in the estate was upset. There is no demand for cherries that are born only once every two years. Ranevskaya and her brother, Leonid Andreevich Gaev, who lives here on the estate, are on the verge of ruin.

The first act of The Cherry Orchard takes place on a cold May morning. Ranevskaya and her daughter Anya are returning from France. In the estate, where cherries have already blossomed, her eldest (adoptive) daughter Varya (24 years old), who manages the household in the absence of her mother, and the merchant Yermolai Lopakhin, the son of a serf, a grasping man who has become very rich in recent years, are waiting for her.

Lyubov Andreevna and Anya arrive from the railway station, accompanied by Gaev, who met them, and a neighbor, the landowner Simeonov-Pishchik. The arrival is accompanied by a lively conversation, which well describes the characters of all the characters in this Chekhov play.

« The Cherry Orchard". Performance based on the play by A.P. Chekhov, 1983

Ranevskaya and Gaev are typical inactive aristocrats, accustomed to living without labor in a big way. Lyubov Andreevna thinks only of her love passions. Her husband died six years ago, a month later the boy-son Grisha drowned in the river. Having taken most of the estate's funds, Ranevskaya left to console herself in France with her lover, who shamelessly deceived and robbed her. She left her daughters on the estate with almost no money. 17-year-old Anya came to her mother in Paris only a few months ago. Foster Varya had to manage the incomeless estate herself, saving on everything and making debts. Ranevskaya returned to Russia only because she remained abroad completely penniless. The lover squeezed everything he could out of her, even forced her to sell a summer house near Menton, while he himself remained in Paris.

In the dialogues of the first act, Ranevskaya appears as a woman, exaggeratedly sensitive and vulnerable. She loves to show kindness, giving generous tips to footmen. However, in her random words and gestures, spiritual callousness, indifference to loved ones slips every now and then.

To match Ranevskaya and her brother, Gaev. The main interest of his life is billiards - he now and then sprinkles billiard terms. Leonid Andreevich likes to make pompous speeches about “bright ideals of goodness and justice”, about “public self-consciousness” and “fruitful work”, but, as you can understand, he does not serve anywhere and does not even help young Vara manage the estate. The need to save every penny makes Varya stingy, preoccupied beyond her age, like a nun. She expresses a desire to leave everything and go wandering through the splendor of the holy places, however, with such piety, she feeds her old servants with one pea. Varya's younger sister, Anya, is very reminiscent of her mother with a penchant for enthusiastic dreams and isolation from life. A friend of the family, Simeonov-Pishchik, is the same ruined landowner as Ranevskaya and Gaev. He is only looking for where to intercept a loan of money.

A peasant, poorly educated, but businesslike merchant Lopakhin reminds Ranevskaya and Gaev that their estate will be sold in August for debts. He also offers a way out. The estate is located next to a big city and the railway, so its land can be profitably leased to summer residents for 25 thousand rubles of annual income. This will not only pay off the debt, but also make a big profit. However, the famous cherry orchard will have to be cut down.

Gaev and Ranevskaya reject such a plan with horror, not wanting to lose precious memories of their youth. But they can't think of anything else. Without cutting down the estate will inevitably pass to another owner - and the cherry orchard will still be destroyed. However, the indecisive Gaev and Ranevskaya evade destroying him with their own hands, hoping for some kind of miracle that will help them out in unknown ways.

Several other characters also participate in the dialogues of the first act: the unlucky clerk Epikhodov, with whom minor misfortunes constantly occur; the maid Dunyasha, who herself has become sensitive, like a noblewoman, from constant communication with the bars; 87-year-old lackey Gaeva Firs, dog-like devoted to his master and refusing to leave him after the abolition of serfdom; Ranevskoy's lackey Yasha, a stupid and boorish young commoner, who, however, was imbued in France with contempt for "ignorant and wild" Russia; superficial foreigner Charlotte Ivanovna, a former circus performer, and now Anya's governess. For the first time, the former teacher of the drowned son of Ranevskaya also appears, “ eternal student» Petya Trofimov. The nature of this remarkable character will be outlined in detail in the following acts of The Cherry Orchard.

Comedy in 4 acts

Characters
Ranevskaya Lyubov Andreevna, landowner. Anya, her daughter, 17 years old. Varya, her adopted daughter, aged 24. Gaev Leonid Andreevich, brother of Ranevskaya. Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich, merchant. Trofimov Petr Sergeevich, student. Simeonov-Pishchik Boris Borisovich, landowner. Charlotte Ivanovna, governess. Epikhodov Semyon Panteleevich, clerk. Dunyasha, maid. Firs, footman, old man 87 years old. Yasha, a young footman. Passerby. station master. Postal official. Guests, servants.

The action takes place in the estate of L. A. Ranevskaya.

Act one

The room, which is still called the nursery. One of the doors leads to Anna's room. Dawn, soon the sun will rise. It's already May, the cherry trees are blooming, but it's cold in the garden, it's a matinee. The windows in the room are closed.

Enter Dunyasha with a candle and Lopakhin with a book in his hand.

Lopakhin. The train arrived, thank God. What time is it now? Dunyasha. Two soon. (Extinguishes the candle.) It's already light. Lopakhin. How late was the train? Two hours, at least. (Yawns and stretches.) I'm good, what a fool I made! I came here on purpose to meet me at the station, and suddenly I overslept... I sat down and fell asleep. Annoyance... If only you would wake me up. Dunyasha. I thought you left. (Listens.) It looks like they are already on their way. Lopakhin (listens). No ... Get luggage, then and there ...

Lyubov Andreevna lived abroad for five years, I don’t know what she has become now ... She is a good person. Easy, simple person. I remember when I was a boy of about fifteen, my late father - he then traded here in the village in a shop - hit me in the face with his fist, blood came out of my nose ... Then we came together for some reason to the yard, and he was drunk. Lyubov Andreevna, as I remember now, still young, so thin, led me to the washstand, in this very room, in the nursery. “Don’t cry, he says, little man, he will heal before the wedding ...”

Little man ... My father, however, was a man, but here I am in a white waistcoat, yellow shoes. With a pig's snout in a kalashny row ... Only now he is rich, there is a lot of money, but if you think and figure it out, then a peasant is a peasant ... (Flips through the book.) I read the book and didn't understand anything. Read and fell asleep.

 Dunyasha. And the dogs did not sleep all night, they can smell that the owners are coming. Lopakhin. What are you, Dunyasha, such a ... Dunyasha. Hands are shaking. I will faint. Lopakhin. You are very gentle, Dunyasha. And you dress like a young lady, and your hair too. You can not do it this way. We must remember ourselves.

Epikhodov enters with a bouquet; he is in a jacket and in brightly polished boots that creak strongly; entering, he drops the bouquet.

Epikhodov (raises bouquet). Here the Gardener sent, he says, put it in the dining room. (Gives Dunyasha a bouquet.) Lopakhin. And bring me kvass. Dunyasha. I'm listening. (Exits.) Epikhodov. Now it's a matinee, the frost is three degrees, and the cherry is all in bloom. I can't approve of our climate. (Sighs) I can't. Our climate cannot help just right. Here, Ermolai Alekseich, allow me to add, I bought myself boots the third day, and I dare to assure you, they creak so that there is no possibility. What to grease? Lopakhin. Leave me alone. Tired. Epikhodov. Every day some misfortune happens to me. And I don’t grumble, I’m used to it and even smile.

Dunyasha enters, serves kvass to Lopakhin.

I will go. (Bumps into a chair, which falls over.) Here... (As if triumphant.) You see, pardon the expression, what a circumstance, by the way... It's just wonderful! (Exits.)

 Dunyasha. And to me, Ermolai Alekseich, I confess, Epikhodov made an offer. Lopakhin. A! Dunyasha. I don’t know how ... He is a meek person, but only sometimes, as soon as he starts talking, you won’t understand anything. And good, and sensitive, just incomprehensible. I seem to like him. He loves me madly. He is an unhappy man, every day something. They tease him like that among us: twenty-two misfortunes ... Lopakhin (listens). Looks like they're on their way... Dunyasha. They're coming! What's the matter with me... I've gone cold all over. Lopakhin. They go, in fact. Let's go meet. Will she recognize me? Haven't seen each other for five years. Dunyasha (in agitation). I'm going to fall... Oh, I'm going to fall!

You can hear two carriages pulling up to the house. Lopakhin and Dunyasha leave quickly. The stage is empty. There is noise in the neighboring rooms. Through the stage, leaning on a stick, Firs hastily passes, who went to meet Lyubov Andreevna; he is in an ancient livery and a tall hat; something speaks to itself, but not a single word can be made out. The background noise gets louder and louder. Voice: "Let's go here..." Lyubov Andreevna, Anya and Charlotte Ivanovna with a dog on a chain, dressed in a travel way. Varya in a coat and scarf, Gaev, Simeonov-Pishchik, Lopakhin, Dunyasha with a bundle and an umbrella, servants with things - they all go across the room.

Anya. Let's go here. Do you remember what room this is? Lyubov Andreevna (joyfully, through tears). Children's! Varya . How cold, my hands are numb. (Lyubov Andreevna.) Your rooms, white and purple, are the same, Mommy. Lyubov Andreevna. Children's, my dear, beautiful room ... I slept here when I was little ... (Crying.) And now I'm like a little ... (He kisses his brother, Varya, then again his brother.) And Varya is still the same, she looks like a nun. And I recognized Dunyasha... (Kisses Dunyasha.) Gaev. The train was two hours late. What is it? What are the orders? Charlotte (to Pischiku). My dog ​​eats nuts too. Pishchik (surprised). You think!

Everyone leaves except Anya and Dunyasha.

Dunyasha. We've been waiting... (Takes off Ani's coat and hat.) Anya. I didn't sleep on the road for four nights... now I'm very cold. Dunyasha. You left during Great Lent, then there was snow, there was frost, and now? My darling! (Laughs, kisses her.) I've been waiting for you, my joy, my little light... I'll tell you now, I can't stand one minute... Anya (weakly). Something again... Dunyasha. The clerk Epikhodov proposed to me after the Saint. Anya. You are all about the same... (Fixes her hair.) I lost all my pins... (She is very tired, even staggers.) Dunyasha. I don't know what to think. He loves me, he loves me so! Anya (looks at his door, tenderly). My room, my windows, like I never left. I'm home! Tomorrow morning I will get up and run to the garden... Oh, if only I could sleep! I did not sleep all the way, anxiety tormented me. Dunyasha. On the third day Pyotr Sergeyevich arrived. Anya (joyfully). Peter! Dunyasha. They sleep in the bathhouse, they live there. I'm afraid, they say, to embarrass. (Glancing at his pocket watch.) We ought to wake them up, but Varvara Mikhailovna didn't tell them to. You, he says, don't wake him up.

Varya enters, she has a bunch of keys on her belt.

Varya . Dunyasha, coffee as soon as possible... Mommy asks for coffee. Dunyasha. This minute. (Exits.) Varya . Well, thank God, they arrived. You are at home again. (Coursing.) My darling has arrived! Beauty has arrived! Anya. I suffered. Varya . I imagine! Anya. I left on Holy Week, when it was cold. Charlotte talks all the way, doing tricks. And why did you force Charlotte on me... Varya . You can't go alone, my dear. At seventeen! Anya. We arrive in Paris, it's cold there, it's snowing. I speak French terribly. Mom lives on the fifth floor, I come to her, she has some French, ladies, an old priest with a book, and it's smoky, uncomfortable. I suddenly felt sorry for my mother, so sorry, I hugged her head, squeezed her hands and could not let go. Mom then caressed everything, cried ... Varya (through tears). Don't talk, don't talk... Anya. She had already sold her dacha near Menton, she had nothing left, nothing. I didn't even have a penny left, we barely got there. And my mom doesn't understand! We sit down at the station to dine, and she demands the most expensive thing and gives the lackeys a ruble for tea. Charlotte too. Yasha also demands a portion, it's just awful. After all, my mother has a footman Yasha, we brought him here ... Varya . I saw a scoundrel. Anya. Well, how? Did you pay interest? Varya . Where exactly. Anya. My God, my God... Varya . The estate will be sold in August... Anya. My God... Lopakhin (looks in the door and hums). Me-ee... (Exit.) Varya (through tears). That's what I would give him... (Shakes fist.) Anya (hugs Varya, quietly). Varya, did he propose? (Varya shakes her head negatively.) After all, he loves you ... Why don't you explain what you are waiting for? Varya . I don't think we can do anything. He has a lot to do, he is not up to me ... and does not pay attention. God bless him at all, it's hard for me to see him... Everyone talks about our wedding, everyone congratulates, but in reality there is nothing, everything is like a dream... (In a different tone.) Your brooch looks like a bee. Anya (sadly). Mom bought this. (Goes to his room, speaks cheerfully, like a child.) And in Paris I flew in a hot air balloon! Varya . My darling has arrived! Beauty has arrived!

Dunyasha has already returned with a coffee pot and is making coffee.

(Stands near the door.) I go, my dear, the whole day doing housework and dreaming all the time. If I had married you off as a rich man, then I would have been calmer, I would have gone to the desert, then to Kiev ... to Moscow, and so I would have walked all over the holy places ... I would have walked and walked. Blessing!.. Anya. The birds are singing in the garden. What time is it now? Varya . Must be the third. It's time for you to sleep, darling. (Entering Anna's room.) Grace!

Yasha enters with a blanket, a travel bag.

Yasha (walks across the stage, delicately). Can you go through here? Dunyasha. And you don't recognize you, Yasha. What did you become abroad. Yasha. Um... And who are you? Dunyasha. When you left here, I was like... (Points from the floor.) Dunyasha, Fyodor Kozoedov's daughter. You do not remember! Yasha. Hm... Cucumber! (He looks around and hugs her; she screams and drops her saucer. Yasha quickly leaves.) Varya (at the door, in an unhappy voice). What else is there? Dunyasha (through tears). Broke the saucer... Varya . This is good. Anya (leaving her room). You should warn your mother: Petya is here ... Varya . I ordered him not to wake up. Anya (thoughtfully.) Six years ago my father died, a month later my brother Grisha, a pretty seven-year-old boy, drowned in the river. Mom couldn’t bear it, she left, left, without looking back ... (Starts.) How I understand her, if only she knew!

And Petya Trofimov was Grisha's teacher, he can remind ...

Firs enters; he is wearing a jacket and a white vest.

Firs (goes to the coffee pot, anxiously). The lady will eat here ... (Puts on white gloves.) Ready for coffee? (Strictly Dunyasha.) You! What about cream? Dunyasha. Oh, my God... (Quickly leaves.) Firs (bustles around the coffee pot). Oh you fool... (Mumbling to himself.) They came from Paris ... And the master once went to Paris ... on horseback ... (Laughs.) Varya . Firs, what are you talking about? Firs. What would you like? (Joyfully.) My mistress has arrived! Waited! Now even die... (Crying for joy.)

Enter Lyubov Andreevna, Gaev, Lopakhin and Simeonov-Pishchik; Simeonov-Pishchik in a fine cloth coat and trousers. Gaev, entering, makes movements with his arms and torso, as if playing billiards.

Lyubov Andreevna. Like this? Let me remember... Yellow in the corner! Doublet in the middle! Gaev. I cut into the corner! Once upon a time, you and I, sister, slept in this very room, and now I am already fifty-one years old, oddly enough ... Lopakhin. Yes, time is ticking. Gaev. Whom? Lopakhin. Time, I say, is running out. Gaev. And it smells like patchouli in here. Anya. I'll go to sleep. Good night, Mom. (Kisses mother.) Lyubov Andreevna. My beloved child. (Kisses her hands.) Are you glad you're home? I won't come to my senses. Anya. Farewell, uncle. Gaev (kisses her face and hands). The Lord is with you. How you look like your mother! (To her sister.) You, Lyuba, were exactly like that at her age.

Anya offers her hand to Lopakhin and Pishchik, goes out and shuts the door behind her.

Lyubov Andreevna. She was very tired. Pishchik. The road is a long one. Varya (Lopakhin and Pishchik). Well, gentlemen? The third hour, it's time and honor to know. Lyubov Andreevna(laughs). You are still the same, Varya. (He draws her to him and kisses her.) I'll drink coffee, then we'll all leave.

Firs puts a pillow under her feet.

Thank you dear. I'm used to coffee. I drink it day and night. Thanks my old man. (Kisses Firs.)

 Varya . See if all the things have been brought... (Exits.) Lyubov Andreevna. Is this me sitting? (Laughs.) I want to jump, wave my arms. (He covers his face with his hands.) And suddenly I'm sleeping! God knows, I love my homeland, I love dearly, I could not look out of the car, I kept crying. (Through tears.) However, you must drink coffee. Thank you, Firs, thank you, my old man. I'm so glad you're still alive. Firs. Day before yesterday. Gaev. He is hard of hearing. Lopakhin. I now, at five o'clock in the morning, go to Kharkov. Such an annoyance! I wanted to look at you, talk ... You are still the same magnificent. Pishchik (breathing heavily). Even prettier ... Dressed in Parisian style ... my cart, all four wheels ... Lopakhin. Your brother, that's Leonid Andreevich, says about me that I'm a boor, I'm a kulak, but it makes absolutely no difference to me. Let him speak. I only wish that you believed me as before, that your amazing, touching eyes looked at me as before. Merciful God! My father was a serf of your grandfather and father, but you, in fact, you once did so much for me that I forgot everything and love you like my own ... more than my own. Lyubov Andreevna. I can't sit, I can't... (Jumps up and walks around in great agitation.) I won't survive this joy... Laugh at me, I'm stupid... My closet... (Kisses the closet.) My table. Gaev. And without you here the nanny died. Lyubov Andreevna (sits down and drinks coffee). Yes, the kingdom of heaven. They wrote to me. Gaev. And Anastasius died. Petrushka Kosoy left me and now lives in the city with the bailiff. (Takes a candy box out of his pocket and sucks.) Pishchik. My daughter, Dashenka... bows to you... Lopakhin. I want to tell you something very pleasant, cheerful. (Glancing at the clock.) I’m leaving now, there’s no time to talk ... well, yes, I’ll say it in two or three words. You already know that your cherry orchard is being sold for debts, auctions are scheduled for the twenty-second of August, but don't worry, my dear, sleep well, there is a way out ... Here is my project. Attention please! Your estate is only twenty versts from the city, there is a railway nearby, and if the cherry orchard and the land along the river are divided into summer cottages and then leased out for summer cottages, then you will have at least twenty-five thousand a year income. Gaev. Sorry, what nonsense! Lyubov Andreevna. I don't quite understand you, Yermolai Alekseich. Lopakhin. You will charge the dacha owners at the very least twenty-five rubles a year for a tithe, and if you announce it now, I will guarantee anything, you will not have a single free patch left until the autumn, everything will be sorted out. In a word, congratulations, you are saved. The location is wonderful, the river is deep. Only, of course, you need to clean it up, clean it up ... for example, let's say, demolish all the old buildings, this house, which is no longer good for anything, cut down the old cherry orchard ... Lyubov Andreevna. Cut down? My dear, I'm sorry, you do not understand anything. If there is anything interesting, even remarkable, in the whole province, it is only our cherry orchard. Lopakhin. The only remarkable thing about this garden is that it is very large. Cherry is born every two years, and even that has nowhere to go, no one buys. Gaev. And the Encyclopedic Dictionary mentions this garden. Lopakhin (looking at the clock). If we don’t think of anything and come to nothing, then on the twenty-second of August both the cherry orchard and the whole estate will be auctioned off. Make up your mind! There is no other way, I swear to you. No and no. Firs. In the old days, forty or fifty years ago, cherries were dried, soaked, pickled, jam was cooked, and it happened ... Gaev. Shut up, Firs. Firs. And, it used to be, dried cherries were sent by carts to Moscow and Kharkov. There was money! And then dried cherries were soft, juicy, sweet, fragrant... Then they knew the way... Lyubov Andreevna. Where is this method now? Firs. Forgot. Nobody remembers. Pishchik (Lyubov Andreevna). What's in Paris? How? Did you eat frogs? Lyubov Andreevna. Ate crocodiles. Pishchik. You think... Lopakhin. Until now, there were only gentlemen and peasants in the village, but now there are also summer residents. All towns, even the smallest ones, are now surrounded by dachas. And we can say that in twenty years the summer resident will multiply to extraordinary. Now he only drinks tea on the balcony, but it may happen that on his one tithe he will take care of the household, and then your cherry orchard will become happy, rich, luxurious ... GAYEV (indignant). What nonsense!

Varya and Yasha enter.

Varya . Here, mommy, two telegrams for you. (Selects a key and clangs open an old cabinet.) Here they are. Lyubov Andreevna. This is from Paris. (Tears telegrams without reading.) Paris is over... Gaev. Do you know, Lyuba, how old is this closet? A week ago, I pulled out the bottom drawer, and I looked, and the numbers were burned there. The wardrobe was made exactly one hundred years ago. What is it? A? We could celebrate an anniversary. An inanimate object, but still, after all, a bookcase. Pishchik (surprised). One hundred years ... Just think! .. Gaev. Yes... It's a thing... (Feeling the closet.) Dear, respected closet! I salute your existence, which for more than a hundred years has been directed towards the bright ideals of goodness and justice; your silent call to fruitful work has not weakened for a hundred years, maintaining (through tears) in the generations of our kind cheerfulness, faith in a better future and educating in us the ideals of goodness and social self-consciousness. Lopakhin. Yes... Lyubov Andreevna. You're still the same, Lepya. Gaev (slightly confused). From the ball to the right into the corner! I cut in the middle! Lopakhin (looking at the clock). Well, I have to go. Yasha (gives Lyubov Andreevna medicine). Maybe take some pills now... Pishchik. There is no need to take medicines, my dear ... they do no harm or good ... Give it here ... dear. (He takes pills, pours them into his palm, blows on them, puts them in his mouth, and drinks kvass.) Here! Lyubov Andreevna(scared). Yes, you are crazy! Pishchik. I took all the pills. Lopakhin. What an abyss.

Everyone laughs.

Firs. They were with us at Svyatoy, they ate half a bucket of cucumbers ... (Mumblings.) Lyubov Andreevna. What is it about? Varya. She's been muttering like that for three years now. We are used to. Yasha. Advanced age.

Charlotte Ivanovna in a white dress, very thin, tight, with a lorgnette on her belt, passes through the stage.

Lopakhin. Excuse me, Charlotte Ivanovna, I haven't had time to say hello to you yet. (Tries to kiss her hand.) Charlotte (withdrawing her hand). If you let me kiss your hand, then you will later wish on the elbow, then on the shoulder ... Lopakhin. I'm not lucky today.

Everyone laughs.

Charlotte Ivanovna, show me the trick!

 Lyubov Andreevna. Charlotte, show me the trick! Charlotte. No need. I wish to sleep. (Exits.) Lopakhin. See you in three weeks. (Kisses Lyubov Andreevna's hand.) For now, goodbye. It's time. (to Gaev) Goodbye. (Kissing Pishchik.) Goodbye. (Gives her hand to Varya, then to Firs and Yasha.) Don't want to leave. (Lyubov Andreevna.) If you think about dachas and decide, then let me know, I'll get fifty thousand on loan. Think seriously. Varya (angrily). Yes, finally leave! Lopakhin. I'm leaving, I'm leaving... (Leaves.) Gaev. Ham. However, sorry ... Varya is marrying him, this is Varya's fiance. Varya . Don't talk too much, uncle. Lyubov Andreevna. Well, Varya, I will be very glad. He is a good man. Pishchik. A man, you have to tell the truth... worthy... And my Dashenka... also says that... he says different words. (Snores, but wakes up immediately.) But still, dear, lend me... two hundred and forty rubles on loan... to pay the interest on the mortgage tomorrow... Varya (frightened). No, no! Lyubov Andreevna. I really don't have anything. Pishchik. There will be. (Laughs.) I never lose hope. So, I think, everything is gone, perished, but lo and behold, the railway passed through my land, and ... they paid me. And there, look, something else will happen not today or tomorrow ... Dashenka will win two hundred thousand ... she has a ticket. Lyubov Andreevna. Coffee is drunk, you can rest. Firs (brushes Gaev, instructively). Again, they put on the wrong trousers. And what am I to do with you! Varya (quietly). Anya is sleeping. (Quietly opens the window.) The sun is up, it's not cold. Look, mommy: what wonderful trees! My God, air! The starlings sing! Gaev (opens another window). The garden is all white. Have you forgotten, Luba? This long avenue runs straight, like a stretched out belt, it glitters on moonlit nights. Do you remember? Didn't forget? Lyubov Andreevna (looks out the window at the garden). Oh, my childhood, my purity! I slept in this nursery, looked from here at the garden, happiness woke up with me every morning, and then it was exactly like that, nothing has changed. (Laughs with joy.) All, all white! Oh my garden! After a dark, rainy autumn and a cold winter, you are young again, full of happiness, the angels of heaven have not abandoned you ... If only I could remove a heavy stone from my chest and shoulders, if I could forget my past! Gaev. Yes, and the garden will be sold for debts, oddly enough ... Lyubov Andreevna. Look, the dead mother is walking through the garden... in a white dress! (Laughs with joy.) That's her. Gaev. Where? Varya . The Lord is with you, mommy. Lyubov Andreevna. Nobody, I thought. To the right, at the turn to the gazebo, a white tree leaned over like a woman...

Enter Trofimov, in a worn student uniform, with glasses.

What an amazing garden! White masses of flowers, blue sky...

Trofimov. Lyubov Andreevna!

She looked back at him.

I will only bow to you and leave immediately. (He kisses his hand warmly.) I was ordered to wait until morning, but I did not have the patience...

Lyubov Andreevna looks on in bewilderment.

Varya (through tears). This is Petya Trofimov... Trofimov. Petya Trofimov, former teacher of your Grisha... Have I really changed so much?

Lyubov Andreyevna embraces him and weeps softly.

GAYEV (embarrassed). Full, full, Lyuba. Varya (crying). She said, Petya, to wait until tomorrow. Lyubov Andreevna. My Grisha... my boy... Grisha... son... Varya . What to do, mommy. God's will. Trofimov (softly, through tears). Will be, will be... Lyubov Andreevna(weeping softly). The boy died, drowned... For what? For what, my friend? (Hush.) Anya is sleeping there, and I'm talking loudly ... making a fuss ... Well, Petya? Why are you so mad? Why are you getting old? Trofimov. One woman in the carriage called me like this: shabby gentleman. Lyubov Andreevna. You were then just a boy, a sweet student, and now your hair is not thick, glasses. Are you still a student? (Goes to the door.) Trofimov. I must be a perpetual student. Lyubov Andreevna (kisses brother, then Varya). Well, go to sleep... You've grown old too, Leonid. PISCHIK (goes after her). So, now to sleep... Oh, my gout. I'll stay with you... I would, Lyubov Andreyevna, my soul, tomorrow morning... two hundred and forty rubles... Gaev. And this one is all mine. Pishchik. Two hundred and forty rubles... to pay the interest on the mortgage. Lyubov Andreevna. I have no money, my dear. Pishchik. I'll give it back, dear ... The amount is trifling ... Lyubov Andreevna. Well, all right, Leonid will give it... You give it, Leonid. Gaev. I'll give it to him, keep your pocket. Lyubov Andreevna. What to do, give... He needs... He will give.

Lyubov Andreevna, Trofimov, Pishchik and Firs leave. Gaev, Varya and Yasha remain.

Gaev. My sister has not yet lost the habit of overspending money. (To Yasha.) Move away, my dear, you smell like chicken. Yasha (with a smile). And you, Leonid Andreevich, are still the same as you were. Gaev. Whom? (to Varya) What did he say? Varya (Yashe). Your mother came from the village, she has been sitting in the servants' room since yesterday, she wants to see... Yasha. God bless her! Varya . Ah, shameless! Yasha. Very necessary. I could come tomorrow. (Exits.) Varya . Mom is the same as she was, she has not changed at all. If she had the will, she would give everything away. Gaev. Yes...

If a lot of remedies are offered against any disease, it means that the disease is incurable. I think, I strain my brains, I have a lot of funds, a lot, and, therefore, in essence, not a single one. It would be nice to receive an inheritance from someone, it would be nice to marry our Anya to a very rich person, it would be nice to go to Yaroslavl and try your luck with the aunt countess. My aunt is very, very rich.

 Varya (crying). If only God could help. Gaev. Do not Cry. My aunt is very rich, but she does not like us. My sister, firstly, married a barrister, not a nobleman ...

Anya appears at the door.

She married a non-nobleman and behaved, one might say, very virtuously. She is good, kind, nice, I love her very much, but no matter how you think of mitigating circumstances, nevertheless, I must admit, she is vicious. It is felt in her slightest movement.

 Varya (in a whisper). Anya is at the door. Gaev. Whom?

Surprisingly, something got into my right eye ... I began to see badly. And on Thursday, when I was in the county court...

Anya enters.

Varya . Why aren't you sleeping, Anya? Anya. Can't sleep. I can not. Gaev. My baby. (Kisses Anya's face and hands.) My child... (Through tears.) You are not my niece, you are my angel, you are everything to me. Believe me, believe... Anya. I believe you, uncle. Everyone loves you, respects you... but, dear uncle, you need to be silent, just be silent. What did you just say about my mother, about your sister? Why did you say that? Gaev. Yes Yes... (She covers her face with her hand.) In fact, it's terrible! My God! God save me! And today I gave a speech in front of the closet... so stupid! And only when he finished, I realized that it was stupid. Varya . Really, uncle, you should be silent. Be silent, that's all. Anya. If you remain silent, then you yourself will be calmer. Gaev. I am silent. (Kisses Anna and Varya's hands.) I am silent. Only here about business. On Thursday I was in the district court, well, the company agreed, a conversation began about this and that, the fifth or tenth, and it seems that it will be possible to arrange a loan against bills to pay interest to the bank. Varya . If the Lord would help! Gaev. I'll go on Tuesday and talk again. (Vara.) Don't cry. (But not.) Your mother will talk to Lopakhin; he, of course, will not refuse her ... And when you get some rest, you will go to Yaroslavl to the countess, your grandmother. This is how we will act from three ends and our business is in the bag. We'll pay the interest, I'm sure... (Puts a lollipop in his mouth.) By my honor, whatever you want, I swear, the estate will not be sold! (Excitedly.) I swear by my happiness! Here's my hand, then call me a lousy, dishonorable person if I let you go to the auction! I swear with all my being! Anya (calm mood returned to her, she is happy). How good you are, uncle, how smart! (Hugging uncle.) I'm calm now! I am calm! I'm happy!

Enter Firs.

Firs (reproachfully). Leonid Andreich, you are not afraid of God! When to sleep? Gaev. Now. You go, Firs. I'll undress myself, so be it. Well, kids, bye-bye... Details tomorrow, now go to sleep. (Kisses Anya and Varya.) I am a man of the eighties... They do not praise this time, but still I can say that for my convictions I got a lot in my life. No wonder the man loves me. The man needs to know! You need to know what... Anya. You again, uncle! Varya . You, uncle, shut up. Firs (angrily). Leonid Andreich! Gaev. I'm coming, I'm coming... Lie down. From two sides to the middle! I put clean... (He leaves, Firs trotting after him.) Anya. I am now calm. I don’t want to go to Yaroslavl, I don’t love my grandmother, but still I am calm. Thanks uncle. (Sits down.) Varya . Need sleep. I'll go. And here without you there was dissatisfaction. As you know, only old servants live in the old servants' quarters: Yefimyushka, Polya, Yevstigney, and, well, Karp. They began to let in some rogues to spend the night, I kept silent. Only now, I hear, they spread a rumor that I ordered them to be fed only peas. From stinginess, you see... And that's all Yevstigney... Well, I think. If so, I think, then wait. I call Yevstigney ... (Yawns.) He comes ... How are you, I say, Yevstigney ... you are such a fool ... (Looking at Anya.) Anechka!..

I fell asleep!.. (Takes Anna by the arm.) Let's go to bed... Let's go!... (He leads her.) My darling has fallen asleep! Let's go to...

In his memoirs about A.P. Chekhov he wrote:

“Look, I found a wonderful title for the play. Wonderful!” he announced, looking straight at me. "Which?" I got excited. “The Cherry Orchard,” and he rolled with joyful laughter. I did not understand the reason for his joy and did not find anything special in the title. However, in order not to upset Anton Pavlovich, I had to pretend that his discovery made an impression on me ... Instead of explaining, Anton Pavlovich began to repeat in different ways, with all sorts of intonations and sound coloring: “The Cherry Orchard. Look, it's a wonderful name! The Cherry Orchard. Cherry!”... After this meeting, several days or a week passed... Once, during a performance, he came to my dressing room and sat down at my table with a solemn smile. Chekhov liked to watch us prepare for the performance. He followed our make-up so closely that you could guess from his face whether you successfully or unsuccessfully put paint on your face. “Listen, not the Cherry, but the Cherry Orchard,” he announced and burst into laughter. At first I didn't even understand what in question, but Anton Pavlovich continued to savor the title of the play, emphasizing the gentle sound yo in the word "Cherry", as if trying with its help to caress the former beautiful, but now unnecessary life, which he destroyed with tears in his play. This time I understood the subtlety: "The Cherry Orchard" is a business, commercial garden that generates income. Such a garden is needed now. But the "Cherry Orchard" does not bring income, it keeps in itself and in its blooming whiteness the poetry of the former aristocratic life. Such a garden grows and blooms for a whim, for the eyes of spoiled aesthetes. It is a pity to destroy it, but it is necessary, since the process of the country's economic development requires it.

Characters

  • Ranevskaya, Lyubov Andreevna - landowner
  • Anya - her daughter, 17 years old
  • Varya - her adopted daughter, 24
  • Gaev Leonid Andreevich - brother Ranevskaya
  • Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich - merchant
  • Trofimov Petr Sergeevich - student
  • Simeonov-Pishchik Boris Borisovich - landowner
  • Charlotte Ivanovna - governess
  • Epikhodov Semyon Panteleevich - clerk
  • Dunyasha - housemaid.
  • Firs - footman, old man 87 years old
  • Yasha - young footman
  • passerby
  • station master
  • Postal official
  • Guests
  • servant

Plot

The action takes place in the spring on the estate of Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya, who, after several years of living in France, returns to Russia with her seventeen-year-old daughter Anya. Gaev, Ranevskaya's brother, Varya, her adopted daughter are already waiting for them at the station.

Ranevskaya had practically no money left, and the estate with its beautiful cherry orchard could soon be sold for debts. The familiar merchant Lopakhin tells the landowner his solution to the problem: he proposes to break the land into plots and lease them to summer residents. Lyubov Andreevna is very surprised by such a proposal: she cannot imagine how it is possible to cut down a cherry orchard and rent out her estate, where she grew up, where her young life passed and where her son Grisha died, for rent to summer residents. Gaev and Varya are also trying to find some way out of the current situation: Gaev reassures everyone by saying that he swears that the estate will not be sold. He plans to borrow money from a rich Yaroslavl aunt, who, however, does not like Ranevskaya.

In the second part, all the action is transferred to the street. Lopakhin continues to insist on his plan as the only true one, but they don't even listen to him. At the same time, philosophical themes appear in the play and the image of the teacher Trofimov is more fully revealed. Having entered into a conversation with Ranevskaya and Gaev, Trofimov talks about the future of Russia, about happiness, about a new person. The dreamy Trofimov enters into an argument with the materialist Lopakhin, who is not able to appreciate his thoughts, and left alone with Anya, who understands him alone, Trofimov tells her that one must be "above love."

In the third act, Gaev and Lopakhin leave for the city, where the auction is to take place, and in the meantime, dances are held on the estate. Governess Charlotte Ivanovna entertains guests with her ventriloquism tricks. Each of the characters is busy with their own problems. Lyubov Andreevna worries about why her brother does not return for so long. When Gaev nevertheless appears, he informs his sister, full of unfounded hopes, that the estate has been sold, and Lopakhin has become its buyer. Lopakhin is happy, he feels his victory and asks the musicians to play something funny, he does not care about the sadness and despair of Ranevsky and Gaev.

The final act is devoted to the departure of Ranevskaya, her brother, daughters and servants from the estate. They leave the place that meant so much to them and start new life. Lopakhin's plan came true: now, as he wanted, he will cut down the garden and lease the land to summer residents. Everyone leaves, and only the old lackey Firs, abandoned by everyone, delivers the final monologue, after which the sound of an ax banging on wood is heard.

Criticism

Artistic Features

Theatrical performances

First production at the Moscow Art Theater

  • On January 17, 1904, the premiere of the play took place at the Moscow Art Theatre. Directed by Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, artist V. A. Simov

Cast:

Stanislavsky as Gaev

  • On April 17, 1958, a new production of the play was staged at the Moscow Art Theater (dir. V. Ya. Stanitsyn, art director L. N. Silich).
  • On the stage of the Art Theater (where the play took place in 1904-1959 1273 times) at different times were busy: A. K. Tarasova, O. N. Androvskaya, V. Popova (Ranevskaya); Koreneva, Tarasova, A. O. Stepanova, Komolova, I. P. Goshev (Anya); N. N. Litovtseva, M. G. Savitskaya, O. I. Pyzhova, Tikhomirova (Varya); V. V. Luzhsky, Ershov, Podgorny, Sosnin, V. I. Kachalov, P. V. Massalsky (Gaev); N. P. Batalov, N. O. Massalitinov, B. G. Dobronravov, S. K. Blinnikov, Zhiltsov (Lopakhin); Bersenev, Podgorny, V. A. Orlov, Yarov (Trofimov); M. N. Kedrov, V. V. Gotovtsev, Volkov (Simeonov-Pishchik); Khalyutina, M. O. Knebel, Mores (Charlotte Ivanovna); A. N. Gribov, V. O. Toporkov, N. I. Dorokhin (Epikhodov); S. Kuznetsov, Tarkhanov, A. N. Gribov, Popov, N. P. Khmelev, Titushin (Firs); Gribov, S. K. Blinnikov, V. V. Belokurov (Yasha).
  • Simultaneously with the Art Theatre, on January 17, 1904, at the Dyukova Kharkov Theater (dir. Pesotsky and Aleksandrov; Ranevskaya - Ilnarskaya, Lopakhin - Pavlenkov, Trofimov - Neradovsky, Simeonov-Pishchik - B. S. Borisov, Charlotta Ivanovna - Milic, Epikhodov - Kolobov, Firs - Gluske-Dobrovolsky).
  • Partnership new drama(Kherson, 1904; director and performer of the role of Trofimov - V. E. Meyerhold)
  • Alexandrinsky Theater (1905; director Ozarovsky, art director Konstantin Korovin; resumed in 1915; director A. N. Lavrentiev)
  • Petersburg Public Theater and Mobile Theater under the direction of. P. P. Gaideburov and N. F. Skarskoy (1907 and 1908, director and performer of the role of Trofimov - P. P. Gaideburov)
  • Kyiv Theater of Solovtsov (1904)
  • Vilna Theater (1904)
  • Petersburg Maly Theater (1910)
  • Kharkov Theater (1910, dir. Sinelnikov)

and other theaters.

Among the performers of the play: Gaev - Dalmatov, Ranevskaya - Michurina-Samoilova, Lopakhin - Khodotov, Simeonov-Pishchik - Varlamov.

USSR

  • Leningrad Comedy Theater (1926; dir. K. P. Khokhlov; Ranevskaya - Granovskaya, Yasha - Kharlamov, Firs - Nadezhdin)
  • Nizhny Novgorod Drama Theater (1929; director and performer of the role of Gaev - Sobolshchikov-Samarin, artist K. Ivanov; Ranevskaya - Zorich, Lopakhin - Muratov, Epikhodov - Khovansky, Firs - Levkoev)
  • Theater-studio under the direction of R. N. Simonov (1934; dir. Lobanov, artistic director Matrunin); Ranevskaya - A. I. Delektorskaya, Gaev - N. S. Tolkachev, Lopakhin - Yu. T. Chernovolenko, Trofimov - E. K. Zabiyakin, Anya - K. I. Tarasova.
  • Voronezh Bolshoi Soviet Theater (1935; director and performer of the role of Gaev - Shebuev, artist Sternin; Ranevskaya - Danilevskaya, Anya - Opposite, Lopakhin - G. Vasiliev, Charlotte Ivanovna - Mariuts, Firs - Peltzer; the performance was shown in the same year in Moscow)
  • Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theater (1940; directed by P. P. Gaideburov, art director T. G. Bruni; Ranevskaya - Granovskaya, Epikhodov - Safronov, Simeonov-Pishchik - Larikov)
  • Theatre. I. Franko (1946; dir. K. P. Khokhlov, artist Meller; Ranevskaya - Uzhviy, Lopakhin - Dobrovolsky, Gaev - Milyutenko, Trofimov - Ponomarenko)
  • Yaroslavl Theater (1950, Ranevskaya - Chudinova, Gaev - Komissarov, Lopakhin - Romodanov, Trofimov - Nelsky, Simeonov-Pishchik - Svobodin)
  • Theatre. Ya. Kupala, Minsk (1951; Ranevskaya - Galina, Firs - Grigonis, Lopakhin - Platonov)
  • Theatre. Sundukyan, Yerevan (1951; director Ajemyan, art director S. Arutchyan; Ranevskaya - Vartanyan, Anya - Muradyan, Gaev - Dzhanibekian, Lopakhin - Malyan, Trofimov - G. Harutyunyan, Charlotte Ivanovna - Stepanyan, Epikhodov - Avetisyan, Firs - Vagarshyan )
  • Latvian Drama Theatre, Riga (1953; dir. Leimanis; Ranevskaya - Klint, Lopakhin - Katlap, Gaev - Videniek, Simeonov-Pishchik - Silsniek, Firs - Jaunushan)
  • Moscow Theatre. Lenin Komsomol (1954; director and performer of the role of Ranevskaya - S.V. Giatsintova, art. Shestakov)
  • Sverdlovsk Drama Theater (1954; dir. Bityutsky, art director Kuzmin; Gaev - Ilyin, Epikhodov - Maksimov, Ranevskaya - Aman-Dalskaya)
  • Moscow Theatre. V. V. Mayakovsky (1956, dir. Dudin, Ranevskaya - Babanova)
  • Kharkov Theater of Russian Drama (1935; dir. N. Petrov)
  • Theater "Red Torch" (Novosibirsk, 1935; dir. Litvinov)
  • Lithuanian Drama Theatre, Vilnius (1945; dir. Dauguvetis)
  • Irkutsk Theater (1946),
  • Saratov Theater (1950),
  • Taganrog Theater (1950, renewed in 1960);
  • Rostov-on-Don Theater (1954),
  • Tallinn Russian Theater (1954),
  • Riga Theater (1960),
  • Kazan Big Dram. theater (1960)
  • Krasnodar Theater (1960),
  • Frunze Theater (1960)
  • In the Youth Theater: Lengostyuz (1950), Kuibyshevsky (1953), Moscow regional regional (1955), Gorky (1960), etc.
  • - Taganka Theatre, director A. V. Efros. In the role of Lopakhin - Vladimir Vysotsky
  • - "The Cherry Orchard" (television performance) - director Leonid Kheifets. Cast: Rufina Nifontova - Ranevskaya, Innokenty Smoktunovsky - Gaev, Yuri Kayurov - Lopakhin
  • - Theater of Satire, director V. N. Pluchek. Cast: Andrey Mironov - Lopakhin, Anatoly Papanov - Gaev
  • - Moscow Art Theatre. Gorky, director S. V. Danchenko; as Ranevskaya T. V. Doronina

England

Stage Society Theater (1911), The Old Vic (1933 and others) in London, the Sadler's Wells Theater (London, 1934, dir. Tyron Guthrie, trans. Hubert Butler), Sheffield Repertory Theater (1936), Cornwall University theater (1946), Oxford Dramatic Society Theater (1957 and 1958), Liverpool Theater

  • the Royal National Theatre, (London, 1978, dir. Peter Hall, per. Michael Frayn (Noises Off) Ranevskaya - Dorothy Tutin, Lopakhin - A. Finney Albert Finney, Trofimov - B. Kingsley, Firs - Ralph Richardson.
  • the Riverside Studios (London), 1978 dir. Peter Gill (Gill)
  • 2007: The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield dir. Jonathan Miller, Ranevskaya - Joanna Lumley.
  • 2009: The Old Vic, London, dir. Sam Mendes, adaptation - Tom Stoppard

USA

  • New York Civic Repertory Theater (1928, 1944; director and performer of the role of Ranevskaya Eva Le Gallienne), University theaters in Iowa (1932) and Detroit (1941), New York 4th Street Theater (1955)
  • the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (1977, Ranevskaya - Irene Worth, Dunyasha - M. Streep, dir. Andrei Serban, Tony Award for costumes - Santo Loquasto)
  • The Atlantic Theater Company, 2005 (Tom Donaghy)
  • the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, California, 2006; Ranevskaya - Annette Bening, Lopakhin - A. Molina, trans. Martin Sherman (Bent); dir. Sean Mathias
  • 2007 The Huntington Theater Company (Boston University) trans. Richard Nelson, dir. Nicholas Martin, Ranevskaya - Kate Burton, Charlotte Ivanovna - Joyce Van Patten, Firs - Dick Latessa.

Other countries

  • Germany - Leipzig mountains. theater (1914 and 1950), Folk Stage, Berlin (1918), Berlin Comedy (1947), Frankfurt (Oder) Theater (1951), Heidelberg Theater (1957), Frankfurt (Main) Theater (1959)
  • France - Marigny theater in Paris (1954)
  • in Czechoslovakia - the theater in Brno (1905 and 1952), the Prague National Theater (191, 1951, 1952), the Prague Theater in Vinohrady (1945), the theater in Ostrava (1954), the Prague Realistic Theater (1959)
  • in Japan - the Kin-dai gekijo troupe (1915), the theater of the Shigeki Kekai society (1923), the Tsukidze theater (1927), the Bungakuza and Haiyuza troupes (1945), etc.
  • Independent Theater in Sydney (1942); Budapest National Theater (1947), Teatro Piccolo in Milan (1950), Royal Theater in The Hague (Netherlands, 1953), National Theater in Oslo (1953), Sofia Free Theater (1954), Paris Theater Marigny (1954; dir. J.-L. Barro, Ranevskaya - Renault), the National Theater in Reykjavik (Iceland, 1957), the Krakow Theater "Stari", the Bucharest Municipal Theater (1958), the Simiento Theater in Buenos Aires (1958), the theater in Stockholm (1958 ).
  • 1981 P. Brook (in French); Ranevskaya - Natasha Parry (dir.'s wife), Lopakhin - Niels Arestrup, Gaev - M. Piccoli. Restored to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (1988).
  • Staging in Paris by the master of the French theater Bernard Sobel of the trilogy: Anton Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard" (1903) - Isaac Babel "Maria" (1933) - Mikhail Volokhov "The Blind Man's Bluff" (1989). press
  • 2008 Chichester Festival Theater Stage (starring: Dame Diana Rigg, Frank Finlay, Natalie Cassidy, Jemma Redgrave, Maureen Lipman)
  • The Bridge Project 2009, T. Stoppard
  • Ukraine - 2008 - Rivne Ukrainian Academic Music and Drama Theatre. Director - Dmitry Lazorko. Costume designer - Alexey Zalevsky. Ranevskaya - folk art. Ukraine Nina Nikolaeva. Lopakhin - honored art. Ukraine Victor Yanchuk.
  • Israel - 2010 - Khan Theater (Jerusalem). Translation - Rivka Meshulah, production - Michael Gurevich, music - Roy Yarkoni.
  • Catalonia 2010 - Teatro Romea (Barcelona). Translation - Julio Manrique, adaptation - David Mamet, production - Christina Genebat.
  • Ukraine - 2011 - Dnepropetrovsk Theater and Art College.
  • - "Contemporary", dir. Galina Volchek, set design - Pavel Kaplevich and Pyotr Kirillov; Ranevskaya- Marina Neyolova, Anya- Maria Anikanova, Varya- Elena Yakovleva, Gaev- Igor Kvasha, Lopakhin- Sergey Garmash, Trofimov- Alexander Khovansky, Simeonov-Pishchik- Gennady Frolov, Charlotte Ivanovna- Olga Drozdova, Epikhodov- Alexander Oleshko, Dunyasha- Daria Frolova, Firs- Valentin Gaft - press
  • - Theater "At the Nikitsky Gates", dir. Mark Rozovsky; Ranevskaya- Galina Borisova, Gaev- Igor Staroseltsev, Petya Trofimov- Valery Tolkov, Varya- Olga Olegovna Lebedeva, Firs- Alexander Karpov, Lopakin- Andrey Molotkov
  • - Stanislavsky Foundation (Moscow) & Meno Fortas (Vilnius), dir. E. Nyakroshus; Ranevskaya- Lyudmila Maksakova, Varya- Inga Oboldina, Gaev- Vladimir Ilyin, Lopakhin- Evgeny Mironov, Firs- Alexey Petrenko - press - press
  • - Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov; dir. Adolf Shapiro, Ranevskaya- Renata Litvinova, Gaev- Sergei Dreiden, Lopakhin- Andrey Smolyakov, Charlotte- Evdokia Germanova, Epikhodov- Sergey Ugryumov, Firs- Vladimir Kashpur. - program, press - press
  • - Russian Academic Youth Theatre, dir. Alexey Borodin - press
  • - "Kolyada-theatre", Yekaterinburg. Directed by Nikolai Kolyada.
  • - "Lenkom", dir. Mark Zakharov; Ranevskaya- Alexandra Zakharova, Gaev- Alexander Zbruev, Petya Trofimov- Dmitry Gizbrecht, Varya- Olesya Zheleznyak, Firs- Leonid Armor, Lopakhin- Anton Shagin - press
  • - St. Petersburg Theater "Russian Entreprise" named after Andrei Mironov, dir. Yuri Turcanu; Ranevskaya- Nelly Popova, Gaev- Dmitry Vorobyov, Petya Trofimov- Vladimir Krylov / Mikhail Dragunov, Varya- Olga Semyonova, Firs- Ernst Romanov, Lopakhin- Vasily Shchipitsyn, Anya- Svetlana Shchedrina, Charlotte- Ksenia Katalimova, Yasha- Roman Ushakov, Epikhodov- Arkady Koval/Nikolay Danilov, Dunyasha- Evgenia Gagarina
  • - Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Drama Theater named after M. Gorky, dir. Valery Sarkisov; Ranevskaya- Olga Beregova/Elena Turkova, Anya- Daria Koroleva, Varya- Maria Melnikova, Gaev- Anatoly Firstov/Sergei Kabailo, Lopakhin- Sergey Blokhin, Trofimov- Alexander Suchkov, Simeonov-Pishchik- Yuri Filshin / Anatoly Firstov, Charlotte- Elena Surodeikina, Epikhodov- Nikolai Ignatiev, Dunyasha- Veronica Blokhina, Firs- Valery Nikitin, Yasha- Evgeny Zerin, passerby- Valentin Ometov, First guest- Artyom Prokhorov, Second guest- Nikolai Shubyakov.

Screen adaptations

Translations

Armenian (A. Ter-Avanyan), Azerbaijani (Nigyar), Georgian (Sh. Dadiani), Ukrainian (P. Panch), Estonian (E. Raudsepp), Moldavian (R. Portnov), Tatar (I. Gazi), Chuvash (V. Alager), Gorno-Altaic (N. Kuchiyak), Hebrew (Rivka Meshulakh), etc.

Translated and published in German (Munich - 1912 and 1919, Berlin - 1918), English (London - 1912, 1923, 1924, 1927, New York, 1922, 1926, 1929 and New Haven - 1908), French ( 1922), Chinese (1921), Hindi (1958), Indonesian (R. Tinas in 1972) and others.

In popular culture

In Henry's Crime Thing, the protagonist decides to rob a bank by sneaking through an ancient tunnel, the entrance to which is in the theater behind the bank. At this time, the theater is preparing for the production of " cherry orchard", and the main character gets a job playing Lopakhin there in order to have access to the dressing room, behind the wall of which there is an entrance to the tunnel.

Notes

Literature

  • Collection of the partnership "Knowledge" for 1903, book. 2nd, St. Petersburg, 1904.
  • first separate ed. - A. F. Marx, St. Petersburg. .
  • Efros N. E. "The Cherry Orchard". The play by A.P. Chekhov, staged by Moscow. Artistic theater. - Pg., 1919.
  • Yuzovsky Yu. Performances and plays. - M., 1935. S. 298-309.

Links

  • Tender soul, author A. Minkin
  • A. I. Revyakin The creative history of the play "The Cherry Orchard"


Konstantin Stanislavsky as Gaev. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre. 1904

Leonid Leonidov as Lopakhin. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre. 1904© Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

Alexander Artyom as Firs. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre. 1904© Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

Vasily Kachalov as Petya Trofimov and Maria Lilina as Anya. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre, act II. 1904 © Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

Firs: "Let's go... They forgot about me." Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre, act IV. 1904© Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

Cotillion. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre, act III. 1904© Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

In this very first production of The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov did not like much. Differences between the author and Konstantin Stanislavsky, who staged a piece written especially for the Moscow art theater the play concerned the distribution of roles between the performers, the mood and the genre (Stanislavsky was convinced that he was staging a tragedy), even the staging, reflecting the naturalistic aesthetics of the early Moscow Art Theater. “I will write a new play, and it will begin like this: “How wonderful, how quiet! No birds, no dogs, no cuckoos, no owls, no nightingales, no clocks, no bells, and not a single cricket are heard,” Stanislavsky quoted Chekhov’s sarcastic joke about the sound score recreating the estate life. Today, not a single Chekhov biography or history of the Moscow Art Theater bypasses this conflict between the writer and the theater. But the oppressive atmosphere, streams of tears, and everything that frightened Chekhov is at odds with those few surviving fragments of later versions of The Cherry Orchard, a performance that remained in the theater repertoire until the second half of the 1930s and was constantly changing, including thanks to Stanislavsky. For example, with the short final scene with Firs recorded on film: the voice of the lackey performed by Mikhail Tarkhanov sounds in it - despite the situation of the servant forgotten in the house, how hard every movement is given to this decrepit old man, contrary to everything in general - suddenly unusually young. Just sobbing, Ranevskaya said goodbye to her youth on stage, and miraculously she returned to Firs in these very last minutes.


1954 Renault-Barro Company, Paris. Directed by Jean Louis Barraud

A scene from Jean Louis Barrault's The Cherry Orchard. Paris, 1954© Manuel Litran / Paris Match Archive / Getty Images

A scene from Jean Louis Barrault's The Cherry Orchard. Paris, 1954© Manuel Litran / Paris Match Archive / Getty Images

A scene from Jean Louis Barrault's The Cherry Orchard. Paris, 1954© Manuel Litran / Paris Match Archive / Getty Images

Prominent European productions of The Cherry Orchard only began to appear after the war. Theater historians explain this by the extremely strong impression of Western directors from the performance of the Moscow Art Theater, which more than once took Chekhov's play on tour. The Cherry Orchard, staged by Jean Louis Barrault, did not become a breakthrough, but it is a very interesting example of how the European theater, in search of its own Chekhov, slowly emerged from the influence of the Moscow Art Theatre. From the director Barro, who during these years discovered Camus and Kafka for himself and the audience of his theater, and continued to stage his main author, Claudel, one could expect to read Chekhov through the prism the newest theater. But there is nothing of this in Barro's The Cherry Orchard: listening to the surviving recording of his radio broadcast, you remember about absurdism only when Gaev, in response to business offer Lopakhin about the arrangement of dachas on the site of the estate is indignant: "Absurde!" The Cherry Orchard staged by Renault-Barro Company is first of all (and strictly according to Chekhov) a comedy in which a huge place was given to music. Pierre Boulez, with whom the theater collaborated during these years, was responsible for her in the performance. The role of Ranevskaya was played by Barrot's wife, co-founder of the theater, who earned fame for herself precisely as a comic actress of the Comédie Francaise, Madeleine Renaud. And Barro himself unexpectedly chose the role of Petya Trofimov for himself: perhaps the hero was close to the great mime, who guessed the character of the merchant Lopakhin by his hands - “tender fingers, like those of an artist.”


1974 Teatro Piccolo, Milan. Directed by Giorgio Strehler

Rehearsal of the play "The Cherry Orchard" by Giorgio Strehler. Milan, 1974© Mondadori Portfolio / Getty Images

Tino Carraro in Giorgio Strehler's The Cherry Orchard

Tino Carraro and Enzo Tarascio in Giorgio Strehler's The Cherry Orchard© Mario De Biasi / Mondadori Portfolio / Getty Images

“Craig wants the set to be as mobile as music, and to help refine certain passages in a play, just as music can follow and emphasize turns in an action. He wants the scenery to change with the play,” the artist René Pio wrote in 1910 after meeting with the English director and set designer Gordon Craig. The scenery by Luciano Damiani in The Cherry Orchard directed by Giorgio Strehler, due to its amazing simplicity, was perhaps the best in contemporary theater an example of this way of working with space. Over the snow-white stage was stretched a wide, in the entire depth of the stage, a translucent curtain, which at different moments calmly swayed over the heroes, then dangerously low fell over them, then sprinkled them with dry leaves. The scenery turned into a partner for the actors, and they themselves were reflected in their own way in very few objects on the stage, like children's toys taken from a hundred-year-old cupboard. Ranevskaya's plastic score, played by Strehler's actress Valentina Cortese, was based on rotation, and Gaev's top, launched by Gaev, rhymed with this movement, rotating for a minute and then somehow suddenly flying off its axis.


1981 Bouffe du Nord Theatre, Paris. Directed by Peter Brook

The Cherry Orchard by Peter Brook at the Bouffe du Nord Theatre. 1981© Nicolas Treatt / archivesnicolastreatt.net

In his lectures on the history of literature, Naum Berkovsky called the subtext the language of enemies, and associated its appearance in the drama with the changing relationships of people in the early 19th century. In The Cherry Orchard by Peter Brook, the characters have no enemies among each other. The director did not have them in the play either. And the subtext in Chekhov's work suddenly radically changed its quality, ceased to be a method of concealment, but, on the contrary, turned into a means of revealing to each other what cannot be conveyed with the help of words. Performed with little or no set (the walls and floor of the old Bouffe du Nord theater in Paris were covered with carpets), this performance was closely associated with post-war literature: “Chekhov writes extremely concisely, using a minimum of words, and his writing style is reminiscent of Pinter or Beckett Brook said in an interview. “For Chekhov, like for them, composition, rhythm, purely theatrical poetry of the only exact word, pronounced then and in the right way, plays a role.” Among the innumerable interpretations of The Cherry Orchard as a drama of the absurd that have arisen to this day, perhaps the most unusual thing about Brook's performance was precisely that, read through Beckett and Pinter, his Chekhov sounded in a new way, but remained himself.


2003 K. S. Stanislavsky International Foundation and Meno Fortas Theatre, Vilnius. Directed by Eymuntas Nyakroshus

The play "The Cherry Orchard" by Eymuntas Nyakroshyus. Golden Mask Festival. Moscow, 2004

Yevgeny Mironov as Lopakhin in the play "The Cherry Orchard" by Eymuntas Nyakroshyus. Golden Mask Festival. Moscow, 2004 © Dmitry Korobeinikov / RIA Novosti

The first thing that the audience saw on the stage was the clothes of the inhabitants of the house thrown at each other, low columns standing behind, two hoops coming from nowhere: it seemed to be a manor, but as if reassembled from almost random objects. In this "Cherry Orchard" there were references to Strehler, but there was no trace of the poetry of the Italian Chekhov performance. However, Nyakroshyus's performance itself was built rather according to the laws of a poetic text. The six hours that he walked, the connections between things, gestures (as always with Nyakroshus, an unusually rich plastic score), sounds (like the unbearably loud cry of swallows) and music, unexpected animal parallels of the characters - these connections multiplied at an extraordinary speed, penetrating all levels . “A gloomy and magnificent bulk,” wrote theater critic Pavel Markov about Meyerhold’s The Inspector General, and this was the impression of the Lithuanian director’s performance, staged together with Moscow artists on the centenary of Chekhov’s
plays.

The origins of the work

Very often the question arises, what is supposed to be in the history of the creation of Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard"? In order to understand this, it is necessary to remember at the turn of which eras Anton Pavlovich worked. He was born in the 19th century, society was changing, people and their worldview were changing, Russia was moving towards a new system, which developed rapidly after the abolition of serfdom. The history of the creation of the play "The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov - the final work of his work - begins, perhaps, with the very departure of young Anton to Moscow in 1879.

From an early age, Anton Chekhov was fond of dramaturgy and, being a student of the gymnasium, tried to write in this genre, but these first attempts at writing became known after the death of the writer. One of the plays is called "Fatherlessness", written around 1878. A very voluminous work, it was staged on the stage of the theater only in 1957. The volume of the play did not correspond to Chekhov's style, where "brevity is the sister of talent", but those touches that changed the entire Russian theater are already visible.

Anton Pavlovich's father had a small shop, located on the first floor of the Chekhovs' house, the family lived on the second. However, since 1894, things in the store went from bad to worse, and in 1897 the father went bankrupt completely, the whole family was forced, after the sale of property, to move to Moscow, in which the older children had already settled by that time. Therefore, from an early age, Anton Chekhov learned what it was like when you have to part with the most precious thing - your home to pay off your debts. Already at a more mature age, Chekhov more than once encountered cases of the sale of noble estates at auctions to "new people", and modern language- businessmen.

Originality and timeliness

creative history The Cherry Orchard begins in 1901, when Chekhov, for the first time in a letter to his wife, announces that he has conceived a new play, unlike those that he had written before. From the very beginning, he conceived it as a kind of comedic farce, in which everything would be very frivolous, fun and carefree. The plot of the play was the sale of an old landowner's estate for debts. Chekhov had already tried to reveal this topic earlier in "Fatherlessness", but it took him 170 pages of handwritten text, and a play of such a volume could not fit into the framework of one performance. Yes, and Anton Pavlovich did not like to remember his early offspring. Having honed the skill of the playwright to perfection, he again took up her.

The situation of the sale of the house was close and familiar to Chekhov, and after the sale of his father's house in Taganrog, he was interested and excited by the psychic tragedy of such cases. Thus, his own painful impressions and the story of his friend A.S. Kiselev became the basis of the play. Also before the eyes of the writer passed many abandoned noble estates in the Kharkov province, where he rested. The action of the play takes place, by the way, in those parts. Anton Pavlovich observed the same deplorable state of the estates and the situation of their owners on his estate in Melikhovo, and as a guest in the estate of K.S. Stanislavsky. He observed what was happening and comprehended what was happening for more than 10 years.

The process of impoverishment of the nobles lasted a long time, they simply lived out their fortunes, wasting them unwisely and not thinking about the consequences. The image of Ranevskaya became collective, displaying the proud, noble people who have difficulty adapting to modern life, from which the right to own a human resource in the form of serfs working for the well-being of their masters disappeared.

A play born in pain

About three years passed from the beginning of work on the play to its production. This was due to a number of reasons. One of the main ones is the author's poor health, and even in letters to friends he complained that the work was progressing very slowly, sometimes it turned out to write no more than four lines a day. However, despite feeling unwell, he tried to write a work that was light in genre.

The second reason can be called Chekhov's desire to fit into his play, intended for staging on the stage, the whole result of thoughts about the fate of not only ruined landowners, but also about such people typical of that era as Lopakhin, the eternal student Trofimov, in whom one feels a revolutionary-minded intellectual . Even work on the image of Yasha required enormous efforts, because it was through him that Chekhov showed how he was erased historical memory about their roots, how society and attitudes towards the Motherland as a whole are changing.

The work on the characters was very meticulous. It was important for Chekhov that the actors could fully convey the idea of ​​the play to the audience. In letters, he described in detail the characters of the characters, gave detailed comments on each scene. And he emphasized that his play is not a drama, but a comedy. However, V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko and K.S. Stanislavsky did not manage to consider anything comedic in the play, which greatly upset the author. The production of The Cherry Orchard was difficult for both the stage directors and the playwright. After the premiere, which took place on January 17, 1904, on Chekhov's birthday, disputes broke out between critics, but no one remained indifferent to her.

Artistic methods and style

On the one hand, the history of writing Chekhov's comedy "The Cherry Orchard" is not so long, and on the other hand, Anton Pavlovich went to her all his creative life. The images have been collected for decades, artistic techniques, showing everyday life without pathos on stage, have also been honed for more than one year. "The Cherry Orchard" became another cornerstone in the annals of the new theater, which began largely thanks to Chekhov's talent as a playwright.

From the moment of the first production to the present day, the directors of this performance do not have a common opinion on the genre of this play. Someone sees a deep tragedy in what is happening, calling it a drama, some perceive the play as a tragicomedy or tragedy. But everyone is unanimous in the opinion that The Cherry Orchard has long become a classic not only in Russian, but also in the global dramaturgy.

A brief description of the history of the creation and writing of the famous play will help grade 10 students prepare a summary and lessons while studying this wonderful comedy.

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