The Cherry Orchard

July 2018

The Cherry Orchard 

Chekov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard. The Complete Plays. 1901. Translated by Laurence Senelick, 2006 

Anton Chekov’s longest play, The Cherry Orchard was instrumental in introducing subtext to theatre and was also shows an early blossoms of Symbolist theatre. It follows the story of a wealthy family who is about to lose their estate, but they will not update it so that it can be saved.  This creates a stark look at what happens when the “old guard” of nobility or influence refuses to keep up with a dramatically changing world. I found The Cherry Orchard beautifully haunting and pleasantly entertaining. Chekov intended that the play be a comedy but it became much more of a drama than he intended, possibly because of the illness that he suffered while it was being written. While it talks about the importance of letting go of the past in order to take hold of the future, The Cherry Orchard holds the past with much more reverence and respect than a lot of other artists and writers have been willing to give it. The cherry orchard in the play is a clear symbol of the past. It is stunningly beautiful, extremely delicate and beloved by the family that owns it. All at the same time as it is useless and must be torn down to save them.The symbolism is clear, even while the play does not present a satisfying answer.  The characters also show a similar type of depth as the setting and conflict, they have mixed motivations, and non-evil characters have the capacity to do hurtful things.  I believe that The Cherry Orchard is a significant play in theatre history, a love story to a past era  in Russia, and at its heart it is a beautiful play.