In The Cherry Orchard, shoes squeak, would-be lovers tumble down stairs, glasses break; timing is everything and nothing. Comedy marches on even as time begins to pass Chekhov's characters by. As currents of a new century strengthen and threaten to sweep them away, Ranevskaya and her family cling to the past in a frenzy of ridiculous passivity that only pushes them and their orchard toward the inevitable end.
Anton Chekhov's last play marks a famous historical moment of discord: Stanislavsky, who directed the 1904 premiere, insisted the play was a tragedy, while Chekhov labeled it "a comedy in four acts." A nostalgic class-conscious work about a gracelessly fading aristocracy, The Cherry Orchard is the invisible border around the hysterical pitfalls found in any family life.
With a new translation by Marina Brodskaya.