The Oxford Dictionary of Plays

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The Cherry Orchard

Cherry Orchard, The (Vishnevy sad)

Author: Anton Chekhov

First Performance: 1904, Moscow

Published: 1904

First English Translation: 1908

Genre: Tragicom. in 4 acts; Russian prose

Setting: Russian estate, 1900s

Cast: 9m, 5f, extras

Madame Ranevskaya, born into the aristocracy but the widow of a simple lawyer, now finds herself in financial difficulties. She returns to her country estate from Paris with her daughter Anya. Because of her spendthrift behaviour, the heavily mortgaged estate will have to be auctioned by the bank to pay for outstanding interest. Lopakhin, who grew up as the son of a serf on the estate, is now a wealthy businessman and urges Ranevskaya to sell her famous old cherry orchard as plots of land for holiday homes. Ranevskaya is horrified at the idea and refuses, just...

[The entire page is 494 words long]

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