The
Cherry Orchard was first produced at the Moscow Art Theater on January
30, 1904 under the direction of Konstantin StanislavskyMadame Ranevsky and her daughter, Anya,
return home from Paris to find that their
family estate is about to be
sold at auction for debt. To all the family it is quite unthinkable
that they should lose the wonderful cherry orchard whose white blooms
are part of their childhood memories. Madame Ranevsky is an
irresponsible soul who cannot be made to realize the value of
money.
Her brother, Gaev, is quite as hopeless where money is concerned.
Varya, the step-daughter, is the only practical one, but how can a
woman raise money?
Lopahkin, a former
serf, has become a wealthy landowner. Out of his admiration for Madame
Ranevsky and a genuine affection that remains from childhood days, he
suggests that if they will tear down the house and raze the cherry
orchard, they can cut the property up into the popular new villa sites.
The entire property, he assures them, will promptly be leased and the
substantial income it will afford, will enable them to live where and
as they please.
Family pride combined with
a spirit of procrastination prevents their accepting this suggestion
even if their fondness for their cherry orchard would permit their
considering its destruction. They continue to believe that some miracle
will save their orchard. Thus they drift along until the day set for
the sale. Grandmother has sent them fifteen hundred pounds and Madame
Ranevsky and her brother feel sure this will serve to redeem the
place.
When Gaev and Lopahkin return from the sale, however, it is to report
that Gaev's paltry sum has been ludicrously insufficient. Lopahkin has
bought the place and is full of an immense satisfaction at owning the
estate where his grandfather and father had once been slaves.
Now
that the inevitable has happened, the various members of the family
readjust themselves surprisingly well. Madame Ranevsky prepares to
return to Paris to live on the fifteen hundred pounds; Gaev takes a job
in the bank; Varya, a position as a housekeeper. Trofimov, the former
tutor and "perpetual student," prepares to return to his beloved
university. Even young Anya looks forward to taking her independent
place in the world. So they separate ... each one intent on his own
future. At the last, with characteristic inefficiency, they lock the
old manservant, Firs, in the house, believing that he has already been
sent to the hospital. The only sound as the curtain falls is the
ringing of axes in the cherry orchard.